Long Island’s Historic Blizzard: Breaking the All-Time Record of 2026

Long Island doesn’t always get winters like Upstate New York but this winter was way more powerful than ever because I first noticed that the leaves changed in Mid August which this was the first time since 2020 and 2013 which I remembered clearly about the early signs of winter and the squirrels dropped a lot of acorns once School started which means it would be a drastic winter. In the 2025-2026 Season of Winter Long Island first got snow in December and then got snow almost every weekend in the month of January. It was no other winter that we’ve seen on Long Island.

On the day of the Blizzard which was from February 22 to February 24, 2026, the snow was supposed to be 18 to 24 inches of snow but we didn’t know it was going to be heavier and windier than ever. Throughout Long Island, it was heavier and gustier than ever which makes it very dangeorus to be outside and the NYSDOT had very limtied services because of the gust of winds while every essential workers did their best to clear up the snow. On the night of the Blizzard, there was thundersnow that woke up people around 2 to 3 in the morning. On Tuesday, the primary roads were plowed while not every part of town in the residental reaods and secondary roads were done which that was good for schools to stay closed for another day which others took advantage to have a snow day like snowtubing, snowsking and crazy stunts after when the snow stopped. Most people did their part to clear up the roads so people can get out safely as the temperatures are around 30 degrees.

Nassau County, though it was generally lighter than the jackpot amounts farther east in Suffolk. Totals across Nassau ranged from about 15 to 26 inches, with the highest reported at 25.4 inches in North Merrick, followed closely by 24.5 inches in East Massapequa, 24.4 inches in Bethpage, and around 24 inches in spots like Lynbrook and Plainview. Areas like Bellmore and Bethpage saw about 21 inches, East Meadow near 20.8 inches, and northern/central sections often in the 15-18 inch range (e.g., Glen Cove at 18 inches). For Freeport residents on the South Shore, accumulations likely fell in the solid 20-25 inch ballpark based on nearby reports enough to create deep drifts, challenging shoveling, road closures, and some power outages amid gusty winds and whiteout conditions. Nassau County had their blizzard with 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour as it made it imposslbe for road conditions. While Nassau didn't shatter all-time records like parts of Suffolk (where peaks hit 31 inches), this storm still ranked among the biggest in recent decades for the county, causing widespread disruptions including LIRR suspensions and massive cleanup efforts.

Suffolk County bore the brunt of the storm's ferocious snow bands, leading to Long Island's most extreme and record-shattering snowfall totals. Central and eastern Suffolk became the jackpot zone, with Central Islip topping out at a staggering 31 inches the highest single-storm accumulation reported across the island and a new benchmark for many local sites, surpassing longstanding records. Nearby areas followed suit with massive dumps like Babylon at 29.5 inches, Islip (including Long Island MacArthur Airport) at 29.1 inches (preliminarily breaking the prior record of ~27.8 inches from the 2013 Nemo blizzard, dating back to observations since 1963), East Islip nearing 30 inches, North Patchogue at 27.2 inches, Remsenburg-Speonk at 27.5 inches, and communities like Quogue, Shirley, and Nesconset exceeding 25-26 inches. These intense, narrow bands delivered rates of 3-4 inches per hour at peaks, combined with blinding winds (gusts up to 84 mph in Montauk and whiteout conditions), thundersnow, and a full county-wide travel ban that left roads impassable and triggered widespread power outages, LIRR shutdowns, and heroic cleanup efforts. While western Suffolk saw slightly lower but still impressive totals (often 20+ inches), the eastern and central sections' jackpot accumulations of 24-31+ inches directly drove Long Island's all-time blizzard records, making this storm a historic benchmark for the region.

School was closed for 2 days on Long Island and the roads were opened again Tuesday morning into early afternoon while the side roads was left with ice and snow on the roads because it wasn’t fully cleared up.