Brooklyn and the rest of New York City are bracing for what’s predicted to be the area’s largest winter storm in years, with freezing temperatures and several inches of snow expected on Sunday and Monday.
The National Weather Service has issued cold weather and winter storm warnings in wide swaths of the tri-state area, with between eight and 14 inches of snow predicted in New York City.
Snow will begin to fall very early on Sunday morning, Jan. 25, per the NWS, and will continue until Monday afternoon. The storm is expected to be most intense from Sunday morning through evening, and is expected to bring limited visibility and slippery travel conditions.
Temperatures will plummet Saturday night ahead of a chilly weekend, too. Lows on Saturday night are expected to drop to just 13 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of -10 degrees. Sunday and Monday will be marginally warmer, though lows will still hover well below freezing.
The city is already preparing for the storm, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday, brining highways and major roads with a salt and water solution and outfitting garbage trucks and other city vehicles with plows to create what he called the “nation’s largest snow fighting operation.”
“We are going to see more than 2,000 of those sanitation workers begin 12 hour shifts starting tomorrow evening,” Mamdani said during a press conference on Jan. 23. “They will salt as soon as we see the first snowflakes hit the ground, with 700 salt spreaders, and then as soon as we see two inches of snow accumulate, 2,200 plows activate across the city.”
Plows are likely to head out on Sunday morning, he said. The city uses a relatively-new technology dubbed “BladeRunner NYC” to track plow and salting progress in real time, “to ensure that every community, every neighborhood, every part of New York City will be met with the services of city government,” Mamdani said.
Brooklynites can also check when and if their local streets were plowed via PlowNYC.
Janno Lieber, chair and CEO of the MTA, said the agency “will be operational” through the weekend.
“We have detailed plans in place for storms like this to protect the network, to protect our riders and to protect our employees,” he said.
New York City has more than 200 miles of outdoor train tracks, he said, and the agency will be focused on keeping them running with “snowfighting trains” and its de-icing system.
If there are issues on the rails, buses will be prepared to pick up the slack, Lieber said. The city’s long articulated buses will be taken out of service for safety reasons, but the rest of the fleet will be outfitted with snow chains to ensure they can keep running on slick streets.
While officials assured New Yorkers that local roads and train tracks will be kept clear, Mamdani encouraged New Yorkers to stay home during the worst of the storm. The city has issued a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday and Monday, and he encouraged residents to get groceries or make any other necessary trips well before the storm begins.
“I want to encourage New Yorkers to do something we don’t often have the luxury of doing, which is take a breath and stay home,” he said. “Stay indoors, stay off the roads, watch the snow come down, watch the worst possible reality TV show you can find and take some time away from the roads.”
The city’s Office of Emergency Management encouraged New Yorkers to prepare by creating or reviewing a household emergency plan and building a “winter go back” in case of emergencies. The office reminded locals to use space heaters safely by plugging them directly into the wall, not an extension cord, and to keep at least three feet from any flammable materials.
Brooklynites can sign up for real time NotifyNYC alerts by texting “NotifyNYC” to the number 692-692.
Though a final decision has yet to be made for schools on Monday, Mamdani confirmed that a traditional no-school snow day is off the table, and school will either be online or in-person, depending on conditions.
New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the city will announce whether school will be in-person or online by 12 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25.
The last time the city had virtual school for a snow day, the system collapsed, preventing many students and teachers from logging on at all. Samuels said Friday that the city has since shored up its systems and run several simulations, and said they are prepared for all of the city’s students to sign on Monday, if need be.
The city has also issued a Code Blue, meaning all homeless shelters are open to walk-ins and all drop-in shelters will be open 24/7. Outreach teams have been dispatched to connect with homeless New Yorkers and bring them to shelters if they want to go, Mamdani said. If Brooklynites see a homeless person in need of assistance, they’re encouraged to call 311 so a team can respond.
Brooklyn’s drop-in center is located at 2402 Atlantic Ave. in Ocean Hill, near the Atlantic Avenue L train station. Locals in need can also call 311 to find out the address of the shelter closest to them.
Large snow storms have become somewhat of a rarity in New York City in recent years. No measurable snow fell in New York City from January 2022 to February 2024. The storm that swept through the city late last month dropped more than 4 inches in Central Park for the first time in nearly three years.
