By Sasha Himwich and Jack Rosenblum

On both January 23rd, and February 26th New York City had huge amounts of snow, causing mayor Mamdani to first declare a remote learning day, and then declare a real snow day! This is the first real snow day in 7 years, and both days let students have fun in the snow and relax instead of going to school in the snow.

However, on January 23, students did get lucky, because the amount of snow that accumulated in central park was nowhere near the top 10 most in history. This led to Winter Storm Fern being the smallest storm to ever cause NYC schools to close. However, much more snow accumulated in other states, with 22 inches in Toronto, 20 in Boston, and 31 In Bonito Lake New Mexico. 

This storm devastated the US affecting 245 million Americans, and causing at least 34 deaths. This storm, also known as Winter Storm Fern, started over the Pacific ocean on January 22, and struck land in New Mexico on the 23 then over the course of four days it rampaged through the US destroying power lines, and devastating communities. Winter Storm Fern spanned over 2,000 miles.

The hardest hit states, Mississippi, and Kentucky, sustained major tree damage, freezing temperatures, catastrophic car burying snow, and power outages. New York and 19 other states declared state emergencies, and 18 states recorded over a foot of snow.

New York City, while not being hit the hardest, sustained up to almost 15 inches of snow in Fort Washington while other areas got similar amounts of snow but it was not the biggest snowstorm in New York history it brought extreme temperatures, and catastrophic snowfall. This caused public schools, and libraries to close, while canceling over 13,000 flights. It was not an unusual sight during the storm to see one of the thousands of  snowplows going down a block per day, because of the storm.

Winter Storm Fern was caused by air being pushed from Canada which mixed with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean leading to heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain. This also created large amounts of snow, making getting around extremely difficult.

About a week later, just after New York City's mid-winter break, another massive snowfall occurred on February 25th. This time NYC was covered in around 20 inches of snow! The storm was the heaviest one on the east coast in over 121 years! Rhode Island was hit the hardest with Providence getting 33, and T.F Green airport getting a record breaking 37.9 inches of snow. Speaking of airports,  thousands of flights were canceled, and delays were plentiful.

But how hard was New York City Hit? Central park got 19.7 inches, and the most buried neighborhood was Grasmere Staten Island with 24.1 inches of snow in some areas. This snow storm was the 9th biggest snowstorm in NYC  history, and one of the most impactful with LaGuardia Airport getting  22.2 inches of snow.

Layson Lavina from 806 said, “I stayed inside my house and learned to do the dougie. It was pretty to see the snow fall from my window.”With over 30 inches of snow, New York City was hit hard by snow this year. Students had lots of fun playing in the snow and relaxing at home, free from work for a day. Hopefully, we can see some more snow like this in the future. Even with its dangers, a snowstorm is a fun way for students to get free from school and is beloved by Ms 447 students.