New York City Travel Ban is Lifted Says Mayor Mamdani (Full Presser)

New York City has reopened roads and bridges to nonessential traffic, though travel in the area remains difficult as snow continues to fall across the region.

Most of the city is reporting 16 to 19 inches (48.26 centimeters) of snow with more expected as the day progresses, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Monday. Despite lifting the travel ban, he encouraged residents to stay inside.

“This is a city full of people who do not like to sit still. And yet as the snow continues to fall, and conditions remain dangerous, I am asking you to do just that,” Mamdani said at a press conference. “Turn on that crackling fireplace YouTube video, call that relative whose WhatsApp you haven’t responded to, make an enormous pot of soup and bring some to your neighbors upstairs, and above all, stay warm, stay inside, stay prepared and stay safe.”  A powerful winter storm has buried New York City in one of it snowiest days on record, and it’s poised to rank among the worst blizzards in almost 50 years. About 600,000 homes and businesses lost power and more than 10,000 flights were canceled through Tuesday.

Manhattan’s Central Park recorded more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow from Sunday through Monday. The record remains 27.3 inches, set in January 2016. Islip on Long Island received more than 22 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

The nor’easter is expected to continue in New York through Monday afternoon before tapering off, the National Weather Service said. City officials predict another six inches of snow could fall across New York by 8 p.m., with totals up to 22 inches in some areas.

“Anytime you are getting a travel ban and it is involving the Tri-State area, it is an absolutely significant storm,” said Tyler Roys, a meteorologist with commercial-forecaster AccuWeather, Inc. “In terms of the impacts on people’s lives and property in a multitude of different ways this is a very significant storm for them. We have forgotten what these storms are like.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani lifted the directive that closed streets, highways and bridges to most traffic as snow continues to fall across the city. The storm, however, still disrupted transportation across the Northeast and beyond. Amtrak suspended service between New York and Boston, and cancellations mounted nationwide.

“The city’s travel ban is lifted, but conditions on the roads remain icy,” Mamdani said in a social media post. “If you choose to drive, please exercise caution, travel slowly, and be mindful of others on the road.”

In a Monday press conference, Mamdani also said NYC schools will be held in As of 11:50 a.m. New York time, 10,739 US flights scheduled from from Sunday to Tuesday had been canceled, according to FlightAware, an airline tracking service. Many regional airports have been closed, including Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Airports in the Northeast were hit particularly hard, with almost 97% of departing flights at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport canceled, along with roughly 98% at Boston Logan International Airport and nearly 96% at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

“Blizzard conditions are expected and will make travel treacherous and potentially life-threatening,” the New York branch of the US National Weather Service said in a notice late Sunday.

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