New York mayor Zohran Mamdani orders citywide travel ban as major storm hits U.S.

New York Mayor orders citywide travel ban as severe snowstorm threatens millions, creating dangerous travel conditions across the Northeast.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Sunday (February 22, 2026) ordered the shutdown of the city's entire traffic network for all but emergency travel as a massive snowstorm began to hit the northeast United States.

Tens of millions of Americans from the U.S. capital Washington to the northern state of Maine prepared for up to two feet (60 centimeters) of snow forecast in some areas.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said blizzard conditions would "quickly materialize" from Maryland up to southeastern New England, making travel "extremely treacherous."

Snow could fall at a rate of two to three inches per hour at the peak of the storm, with nearly 54 million people in its path, it said.

On Sunday (February 22, 2026) evening, the storm had already begun to hit New York, slashing visibility to the extent that the skyscrapers of Wall Street were barely visible from the adjacent borough of Brooklyn.

A closing sign is pasted on a door as snow falls during a winter storm in New York City, U.S., on February 22, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters