NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — More than 40 million people were under weather warnings in the north-eastern United States on Monday as a winter storm dumped shin-deep snow and officials in New York enforced a citywide travel ban.

The so-called “Nor’easter” pummelled the region overnight, disrupting flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered non-essential drivers off the road until midday Monday and shut down schools. Authorities in neighbouring New Jersey and Rhode Island issued similar travel restrictions.

Some were frustrated by the region’s second major winter storm in weeks.

“I’m sick of it. I don’t want to see no more snow,” Vincent Greer, a resident of Wildwood, New Jersey, said as he shovelled outside his building.

Meanwhile, at New York’s Grand Central station, others were admiring the city blanketed in white.

“It’s beautiful,” Chris Crowell, 45, told AFP after a walk with a friend. “So much snow, it’s just gorgeous. We did not expect to be out this long.”

The National Weather Service said snowfall would ebb overnight, but warned that strong winds would still create blizzard conditions in some areas.

As of 4:00 pm (2100 GMT), more than 5,600 flights in or out of the United States were cancelled and hundreds more delayed, according to tracking service FlightAware.

New York’s three major airports as well as Boston Logan Airport saw the most cancellations.

Rhode Island TF Green International Airport registered almost three feet (32.8 inches, or 83 centimetres) of snow by Monday lunchtime — a record-shattering toll for the state.

The storm comes just weeks after the region recovered from another devastating winter weather system that was linked to more than 100 deaths.

Officials did not hold back in their public warnings ahead of the latest snowfall, urging residents to stay home and avoid congesting roads.

“I know that this is a city full of people who do not like to sit still,” Mayor Mamdani said at a briefing, warning New Yorkers of continuing danger from the storm.

Citing the “historic nature of this blizzard”, he announced the city would up its hourly rate from US$19.14 to US$30 for emergency snow shovellers in a bid to clear up public areas quicker.

Some 19.7 inches (50 centimetres) of snow were recorded in Central Park, the most at New York City’s official reporting station from a single storm in over a decade.

The United Nations, which is headquartered in the city, was closed Monday.

Snowploughs deployed across the north-east as officials sought to reduce prolonged disruption.

Major cities including New York and Philadelphia advertised dedicated warming centres for people caught outside in the cold.

Further north, a travel ban in Rhode Island was prolonged until Tuesday, while Massachusetts’s governor announced new restrictions for non-essential driving in parts of the state.

A closure of Boston public schools was extended to Tuesday due to the heavy snow.

MASSACHUSETTS, United States — High waves pound houses on the shoreline in Scituate, Massachusetts, on February 23, 2026. Tens of millions of Americans from the US capital Washington to the northern state of Maine prepared for up to two feet (60 centimetres) of snow forecast in some areas.

MASSACHUSETTS, United States — A person uses a snow blower to clear their property in Norwell, Massachusetts, on February 23, 2026.

NEW YORK, United States — A Fire Department of New York ambulance drives past in the Hamilton Heights area in the Manhattan borough of New York City on February 23, 2026. New York ordered drivers off the road and shut down schools on Monday, while residents hunkered down for a massive snowstorm hitting the United States northeast.

NEW YORK, United States — A man attempts to enter his car in the Hamilton Heights neighbourhood in the Manhattan borough of New York City on February 23, 2026. New York ordered drivers off the road and shut down schools on Monday, while residents hunkered down for a massive snowstorm hitting the United States north-east.