On February 13, 2024 a powerful nor’easter rolled in and covered New York City’s beloved Central Park with a total of 3.2 inches of snow. Central Park hasn’t seen snow like that since January 29, 2022, that is 744 days of a snowy drought that has brought no more than 1.5 inches of soft white sheets covering the grounds.

New York residents who were lucky enough to have off from school and work seized the advantage of the snowy conditions and took it upon themselves to build snowmen, go sledding, and have intense snowball fights. One New Yorker stated, “It’s just my favorite thing to do, so it’s worth keeping these things in my closet all year-round just for today,” Kristen Lindberg told CBS News outlets. 

Although the fluffy snow provided new experiences for many,  it proved to be hazardous in other areas such as  Peekskill, Chester, and Monroe, NY received up to 13 inches of snow creating a complete snow day filled with chaos. An estimated 130,000 power outages were recorded throughout the East Coast which involved New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia. Police reported that the cause of the outages could have been  the heavy, wet snow that weighed down the power lines as well as the harsh winds that had broken branches causing the lines to snap.

Not only were power outages common but more than 1,000 flights were canceled coming in and out of New York, Boston, and New Jersey airports. Not only was the air travel difficult and deemed too dangerous but more than 250 car accidents were reported to the New Jersey State Police. Due to the dangerous state the roads had been in, many school districts rolled into remote learning for the day.

Although the hazardous weather caused issues, overall, the snowy day allowed many kids in the Tri-State Area to make new childhood memories and even memorable moments for some adults, too.