BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – Although some of us are still digging out from Feb. 22-23’s snowstorm, we will, sooner or later, look back on The Blizzard of 2026 as one for the record books.
What became Snow Storm Hernando – as named by The Weather Channel – started out as a Feb. 20 stormfront from the West Coast. It picked up low pressure while coursing through the Southeast and met a third pressure cell along the East Coast’s Carolina Outer Banks. The combination turned the storm front into a Nor’easter hallmarked by heavy wet snow.
The resulting combination walloped the Northeast Corridor and part of New England with up to three feet of snow before heading out to Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Canada. Newark Liberty International Airport reported 27.2 inches falling within 24 hours to the National Weather Service Hernando met NWS blizzard criteria by narrowing visibility to less than a quarter-mile, up to 50 mph wind gusts here.) having one or two inches of snow falling per hour for at least three hours and being aided by 35 mph-plus wind gusts. (Hernando shad 50+ mph gusts here.)
Feb. 22-23 is currently ranked as the fourth heaviest snowfall in the last 48 years. The 27.2-in Central Park accumulation puts it ahead of the 26 inches from Feb. 7, 1948 but behind Dec. 27, 2010 (28″), Jan. 13, 2016 (28.9″) .and Feb. 2, 2021 (35).
Concerning snowfall totals, “Local Talk” would like to learn where NWS does the recording outside of Newark Airport and Central Park. While EWR scored 27.2, there is also a registered 25.0. Was this recorded from one of the city’s higher elevations, like the North Ward’s Forest Hill section or the West Ward’s Ivy Hill?
Orange, said NWS, got 26.0 with Montclair and Glen Ridge tied at 19. Maplewood got .3″ more than Bloomfield’s 17. West Orange got 16 and Nutley 14.5. But were West Orange and Montclair’s readings made in their valleys or atop the Orange/Watchung Mountains?
The above measurements are not done on plow-made snowpiles or on the piles remaining from last month’s storm.
Hernando, however, put New Jersey and New York into 24-hour states of emergency. Only essential workers were permitted to drive.
NJTransit was completely shutdown 9 p.m. Feb. 22 through 5 a.m. Feb. 24. All bus, light rail and Access Link vehicles were garaged 6 p.m. Sunday with last trips announced at 4:10 p.m. Commuter rail closed at 9 p.m.
PATH suspended is Newark Penn Station-Journal Square service through 5 a.m. Tuesday. Amtrak and private bus carrier runs were either postponed or canceled. Newark Airport joined others in being shutdown Sunday Bay Street early Tuesday.
Although full bus, light rail and Access ride service resumed at 5 a.m. Tuesday, NJTransit commuter rail, at best were on a “modified” President’s Day schedule. What Montclair Boonton Line Bay Street and Morris & Essex Line service were started or ended at Hoboken Terminal due to continuing New Portal and Elizabeth Bridge track switchovers.
Amtrak’s switch between Rahway and Elizabeth meant no NJTransit Union County stops on the Northeast Corridor – and none whatsoever om the North Jersey Coast and Raritan Valley lines. The MTA’s Pascack Valley and Port Jervis service were also suspended because that carrier contracts out to NJTransit.
One saving grace with Hernando was that people were able to prepare well in advance of the blizzard’s 6 p.m. advent. One could go to Sunday worship, walk a dog, shop for last items and/or move their cars while snow flurries fell that afternoon.
“Local Talk” noticed that one Bloomfeld Avenue car dealer moved is cars off their new and used vehicle lots. Bloomfield Ampere section residents were allowed to park on the Carteret School’s back lot, meaning that Toni’s Kitchen would not be making its Sunday food distribution.
Some businesses had already closed for the duration. The weekly Montclair Sunday demonstration was cancelled, although four people briefly showed up to wave American flags, hold a protest sign or recite President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Fear Itself” quote.
“Local Talk” was on an eastbound No. 11 bus through Glen Ridge when an NJTransit dispatcher radioed drivers to start their last scheduled runs no later than 4:10 p.m. and to start heading for the garage at 5 p.m. – all in advance of the bus/light rail system’s 6 p.m. shutdown.
When “LT” arrived at Newark’s Branch Brook Park station, the No. 92 bus driver was talking with the just-arrived No. 90 driver. The No. 92 driver, instead of making her last 4 p.m. scheduled southbound run, announced “We’re suspended!” at 3:57 p.m. and drove away.
