Most New Yorkers hunkered down Monday as a historic blizzard pounded the city and snarled travel — but some suited up and took to the streets to make the most of the fresh snowfall.
“I wanted to get some photos of the snow before everybody tramples on it,” Brooklyn Heights resident Dominique Sicile said amid whiteout conditions on the neighborhood’s famous promenade Monday morning.
“Usually, you can see the Statue of Liberty, you see the ferry coming in and you can see all the beautiful buildings. But now you can’t see anything," she said. "It’s just a blur.”
While commuter hubs like Barclays Center were eerily empty during the morning rush hour, parks and other public spaces teemed with life as residents came out to enjoy the winter wonderland while it lasted.
Officials had warned about the blizzard’s risks, but these New Yorkers would not be stopped.
Locals descended on Fort Greene Park by 8:30 a.m., with out-of-school kids, dogs and sports gear in tow. More than a foot of snow had already accumulated in parts of the city, according to the National Weather Service.
“I saw the snow forecast … I figured I’d get a little adventure in before the day started,” said Pat McInerney, 29, who was preparing to strap on his snowboard at the top of the snow-covered stairs near the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument.
“This is actually my first run of the winter season, which I’m grateful for,” he said, adding that he would try to do as many runs as possible before logging on for work. “Out West, they’ve not got a lot of snow. We’ve been grateful for a decent amount here, and it’s kind of the best you can get.”
A dogwalker walks in the middle of a plowed street near Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn on Feb. 23, 2026.
Nearby, 30-year-old Anna Feldman stood up and brushed herself off after careening down a hill on a sheet pan.
“It was too big for my girlfriend’s oven, so we are using it to sled today. And it’s really good, so I’d recommend,” she said.
Feldman guessed she had taken about 20 runs so far. “I have to work at 9, so we’re trying to pack it in,” she noted.
As joyful as the people in the park were, the dogs seemed even happier.
Corgis, Huskies, Golden Retrievers, and Doodles of all shapes and sizes ran in circles around their owners, who took the opportunity to let their pooches frolic off-leash.
One of the pups was Jojo, a Puerto Rican rescue dog. Even though he’s from the Caribbean, “he still loves the snow,” his owner, Sarah Jackson, said.
Samba Ometu said sledding in the deep, wet snow felt like a roller-coaster ride.
Across town in Harlem, Andreas Frisch grabbed a handful of snow off the top of a parked car and tossed it at his wife, Stephanie Dubsky.
“This is perfect,” Frisch exclaimed as his wife giggled. “This is the best snow you can ever have.”
“It brings out the child in us,” Dubsky chimed in.
Frisch and Dubsky said they are from Switzerland and Austria, respectively, and were thrilled to get the type of wintry weather they grew up with.
“This is like second nature,” Frisch said. “The only thing we’re missing is some real mountains.”
As the couple traversed the not-quite-mountain-like piles of snow in ski pants and goggles, Julie Wepplo glided through Morningside Park, Winter Olympics-style.
“Most of the time my cross-country skis go unused in my closet, and I wonder if it's worth dedicating the small amount of space that I have in my apartment to them,” she said. “But days like today definitely make it all worth it.”
Wepplo said her skis are 20 years old and she was excited to seize the rare chance to use them in her neighborhood park.
“So far it’s been fun here,” she added. “Definitely nice to just get some exercise, and it feels very much like the whole community is out here.”
Julie Wepplo cross-country skis through Morningside Park in Manhattan.
Elsewhere in the park, kids zoomed down a steep hill in multicolored sleds. Dogs raced around without a care. Snowmen of different sizes were slowly buried in new layers of snow.
Sasha Hutchings estimated the snowman she made Sunday night had taken on another 6 to 10 inches of snow since then.
“This looks like Narnia,” she said. “It’s crazy.”
A moment later, a snow pile blew off the trees above and onto her head. She cackled with joy.
Eight-and-a-half-year-old Samba Ometu said the snow was so deep it was hard to sled. She said she started to sink into the soft, wet powder as she slid down the hill.
“It feels fast,” she said. “Bumpy. Kind of like a roller-coaster ride.”
Benjamin Reznik and his mother, Tatyana, prepared for a lunch break after making a snowman.
But Benjamin Reznik, 12, said the texture was perfect for his snow-day activities. He built a snowman and threw some snowballs before preparing to go sledding in Central Park.
“It’s a cool experience to just sink in,” he said. “Although my feet are getting wet.”
Reznik said he was a little disappointed at first when he found out a blizzard would be hitting the city, just as the remnants of last month’s snowstorm had almost melted.
“But then we had no school,” he said. “So I was pretty happy about that.”
