{"id":142909,"date":"2026-02-23T17:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/142909\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T17:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T17:35:10","slug":"nyc-blizzard-warning-did-nyc-get-bomb-cyclone-blizzard-what-nws-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/142909\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC blizzard warning; Did NYC get bomb cyclone blizzard? What NWS says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A life-threatening nor’easter <\/a>and bomb cyclone<\/a> has brought a blizzard to NYC, NJ and along the East Coast, causing widespread PSE&G<\/a> outages, a NYC state of emergency<\/a>, and a NYC travel ban<\/a>, with snowfall expected to last through today, Monday, Feb. 23. But what, exactly, is the definition of a blizzard, what’s a blizzard vs snow storm, and is this snowstorm considered a “bomb cyclone blizzard”?<\/p>\n

According to the National Weather Service, a blizzard doesn’t mean how many inches of snow NYC got, or NYC’s snowfall totals; rather, to define a blizzard warning in NYC<\/a>, it must constitute high winds and whiteout conditions. The “blizzard of 2026” \u2014 likened to blizzard of 96<\/a> in NJ \u2014 has exploded into a powerful bomb cyclone (bombogenesis<\/a>), unfurling the “first blizzard for much of the mid-Atlantic” in four years, according to AccuWeather forecasters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the NYC blizzard<\/a> continues to bear down across Manhattan, Central Park, Nassau and Suffolk counties and across Long Island, here’s what to know about the fiercest of winter’s fury and how a blizzard is defined.<\/p>\n

See New York City buried by the Blizzard of 2026<\/p>\n

1 of 51<\/p>\n

A person walks in the falling snow in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Feb. 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

What is a blizzard?<\/p>\n

According to the National Weather Service<\/a>, a blizzard<\/a> doesn’t always mean “a lot of snow,” or heavy snowfall totals, although it can. NOAA and AccuWeather forecasters have called this storm a major nor’easter and “blockbuster blizzard<\/a>,” meeting a certain “blizzard definition<\/a>” and criteria: A snowstorm with winds regularly above 35 mph and “considerable falling” or blowing snow for at least three hours.<\/p>\n

The combination of winds and blowing<\/a> snow results in “whiteout conditions,” NOAA<\/a>‘s NWS said.<\/p>\n

Did a blizzard hit NYC?<\/p>\n

Yes, the National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning in NYC<\/a>, with blizzard conditions expected in NYC and the tri-state area through 6 p.m. ET today, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. NOAA forecasters in New York’s NWS New York, NY<\/a> and New Jersey’s NWS Philadelphia\/Mount Holly<\/a> office said it has been several years<\/a> since the last blizzard in NJ and NYC.<\/p>\n

The “blockbuster blizzard,<\/a>” as defined by AccuWeather, has caused whiteout conditions across NYC and NJ unleashed by a nor’easter and bomb cyclone overnight. Under NOAA’s NWS<\/a> blizzard criteria, NYC has seen snowfall rates reach 2 to 3 inches per hour, with wind gusts reaching 55 mph across Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Suffolk and Nassau counties.<\/p>\n

What is a bomb cyclone blizzard? Bomb cyclone definition<\/p>\n

An “East Coast blizzard, bomb cyclone, nor’easter” has created a frenzy on social media with The Weather Channel<\/a> combining the phrases, and NYC residents curious: Are we getting a “bomb cyclone blizzard” in NYC right now?<\/p>\n

Technically, a bomb cyclone<\/a>, blizzard<\/a> and nor’easter<\/a> are all occurring in NYC, but all three are distinct weather definitions, although a bomb cyclone<\/a> is the rapid strengthening of a storm \u2014 sending the barometric pressure plunging \u2014 producing widespread heavy snowfall, rapid snowfall rates and high winds.<\/p>\n

Did NYC get a bomb cyclone blizzard?<\/p>\n

According to the National Weather Service<\/a>, the significant winter storm<\/a> qualifies as a nor’easter and bomb cyclone with blizzard conditions across NYC, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the entire tri-state area.<\/p>\n

Bomb cyclone, blizzard, snow storm and nor’easter are distinct weather terms, and while snow storm is a broad term for any snow, sleet, freezing rain or wintry mix, the others must meet certain criteria to be defined as such.<\/p>\n

NOAA’s NWS<\/a> and AccuWeather<\/a> forecasters say this snowstorm has produced a nor’easter, bomb cyclone, blizzard, dropping over a foot of snow, driven by high winds, whiteout conditions, and blowing snow, causing dangerous travel conditions and power outages.<\/p>\n

Blizzard of ’26 begins in New Jersey<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

A man walks along President Street, Sunday morning, February 22, 2026, as snow falls in Passaic.<\/p>\n

Difference between a snow storm and blizzard?<\/p>\n

Curious about the difference between blizzard vs snowstorm<\/a> as a major nor’easter<\/a> hits NYC?<\/p>\n

A snowstorm is defined by the National Weather Service<\/a> as a general weather term for a weather system that brings snow, sleet, freezing rain or a mix of wintry precipitation to any part of the US.<\/p>\n

A blizzard can be life-threatening, and is defined by certain criteria (high winds, low visibility). Blizzards can create hazardous travel and severe, life-threatening winds.<\/p>\n

Lori Comstock is a New Jersey-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Did blizzard, bomb cyclone hit NYC? See NWS, AccuWeather snow forecast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A life-threatening nor’easter and bomb cyclone has brought a blizzard to NYC, NJ and along the East Coast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[31286,60029,59498,41232,60031,534,9,22076,56,63,65,64,60030,59963,40244,59559],"class_list":{"0":"post-142909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-blizzard","9":"tag-blizzard-of-96","10":"tag-blizzard-warning","11":"tag-bomb-cyclone","12":"tag-definition-of-a-blizzard","13":"tag-national-weather-service","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-noaa","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-headlines","19":"tag-nyc-news","20":"tag-nyc-state-of-emergency","21":"tag-nyc-travel-ban","22":"tag-snow-storm","23":"tag-whiteout-conditions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}