Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. On this day after the Blizzard of '26, when different communities in our area are making different choices about reopening schools. Now, lots of schools and school districts remain closed today. You probably haven't heard a lot of this unless you're in those school districts because New York City reopening is getting so much press. Northern New Jersey, Long Island, some are going remote.

Most are closed while the city is going right back to an in-person school day. School systems right across the river from Manhattan, for example, are closed. Hoboken, Jersey City, Weehawken, Fort Lee, Palisades Park, others, while the west side right across the water and the rest of the city hope the staff and kids can all get to their seats.

Same thing to the east, let's say just across the border from Brooklyn and Queens, Great Neck, closed. Valley Stream, closed. Floral Park, Bellerose closed. Some districts out on the South Fork interestingly seem not to be able to figure themselves out or, as a region, they can't figure themselves out. East Hampton and Sag Harbor have remote learning today. We'll see if there's any learning. They have remote instruction. West Hampton Beach and Bridgehampton, from the list I saw, are fully closed again.

By the way, Adelphi University's main campus, for those of you affected, is also still closed. Back in Jersey, at the college level, though, the pre-K through 12 schools are fully closed. In Montclair, Montclair State, the university will have remote instruction, as will Rutgers. It's sort of a choose your own adventure day for school districts around the area.

Did you hear, by the way, that the way the mayor, Mayor Mamdani, announced the closure for Monday was that he called one 8th grader on the phone, told her individually, and then posted the call online as the announcement to the whole city? That was clever. Well, that 8th grader decided to make a statement of her own when the mayor announced the school will reopen today. Here she is, 8th grader Victoria Mompoint.

Victoria Mompoint: The conditions are unsafe. It's not even like, okay, kids don't want to go to school. Kids don't want to wait for their bus station, take probably 30 minutes plus, and climb over mountains of snow.

Brian Lehrer: "Look what he unleashed. Mr. Mayor, allow me to retort," said the 8th grader who he had elevated to a public figure. Mamdani said kids can throw snowballs at him if they want. More substantively, he said.

Zohran Mamdani: Unlike in the prior winter storm where we could take the steps in advance on Friday or Thursday to ensure that we were sending students home with their devices, this was all being done in response to a previously scheduled break.

Brian Lehrer: By the way, here is yet another take on how to open or close schools. Somebody just wrote in, who I know is connected to it, that South Huntington schools are doing remote for the older kids, high school at least, and a snow day for elementary school. This particular Huntington mom is not sure about middle school, but that's how varied it is. That's how much of a choose your own adventure snow policy day it is today.

Some of these snow totals, by the way, Newark Airport, 27 inches, Islip Airport, 29 inches, 22 at JFK, 20 at LaGuardia. I read that parts of Rhode Island got 3 feet of snow. Providence got 33 inches. Brown University there is closed for in person. Listen to what they're doing. They're leaving remote instruction up to the discretion of the individual professor at Brown. How would you like to be the one prophet at school who makes the students log on?

I had a teacher like that one time when I was in 9th grade. There was a power blackout one night. None of the kids did our homework, and none of the other teachers cared. Our English teacher, I will spare him the public shaming and not give his name, but only the English teacher was like, "Did your eyes blackout? Did your pens black out?" Let's see what happens at Brown today with remote learning left to the discretion of each instructor.

Mass transit at last report is kind of varied. A couple of the New Jersey-- I should have this in front of me, and I don't. Let's get this. Somebody looked this up for me that there are two particular NJ Transit train lines that are still out. Some others have changes. Long Island Railroad, which was totally shut down yesterday, is back but with a limited schedule. I don't see, talking about mass transit, anything about school buses in the city. Victoria Mompoint, in that clip we played, the 8th grader, said she was worried about school buses. There's a shortage of drivers as it is, so I don't know how much more of an issue that will be than usual today.

On the most serious side, Mayor Mamdani said yesterday that, as of when he spoke yesterday, no one had died outdoors during this storm. Oh, it's the North Jersey coastline and the Raritan Valley line. Those are the two that are still suspended. Thank you, Producer Mary. The mayor said yesterday that as of when he spoke, no one had died outdoors during this storm, as our WNYC and Gothamist newsroom is reporting.

The mayor said outreach teams brought more than 160 New Yorkers sleeping in the streets into temporary beds or warming spaces over the last two nights, but that homeless service workers did not remove anyone against their will for mental health or safety reasons. The NYPD said officers involuntarily removed one person who was a danger to themselves, that according to Gothamist.

On the fun side, we have an article up on Gothamist called This Looks like Narnia: New Yorkers Hit Streets to Enjoy Powdery Snow. Brittany Kriegstein reported on that one and joins us now, along with our housing reporter David Brand on the street homeless beat and also asking how much snow can New York City rooftops actually handle. Hi, Brittany. Hi, David.

Brittany Kriegstein: Hi, Brian.

David Brand: Hey, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we'll do a few short blizzard-related call-ins before we move on to other news today. The first one right now, along with Brittany and David, is this. If you're anywhere on Long Island or in New Jersey, the places that got the most snow in the region, you're invited to call up and describe what it's like this morning and how it's affecting your life or maybe your roof. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, call or text.

Anyone from anywhere, call and tell us how you had fun in the snow yesterday, the beat that Brittany probably happily drew for yesterday's reporting. 212-433-WNYC. Again, if you're anywhere on Long Island or in New Jersey, the places that got the most snow in the region, you're invited to call up and describe what it's like right now, what it's like this morning, and how it's affecting your life, your house, anything else, maybe literally your roof, as we'll get to David's reporting on buildings. 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692.

If you'd rather text, you can do that. Anyone from anywhere, you're invited to call and tell us how you had fun in the snow. Do we have any teachers or other school staff, by the way, from any of the districts that are closed today in Jersey or on the island? Is that a good call according to you, for a second day in a row? How will you make up for the lost time? Maybe you're up in Rhode Island with the 3 feet of snow. You can call, too, and just describe what that's like. Maybe you're that professor at Brown, calling your students to their phones and laptops for a remote learning day today as they look around at 33 inches in Providence. What will you try to accomplish on those screens? 212-43-WNYC.

Brittany, for the uninitiated in The Chronicles of Narnia, what's the reference in your headline?

Brittany Kriegstein: That was actually in reference to some reporting from my colleague Samantha Max, who was in Central Park and other Manhattan parks, which obviously, if you were out and about yesterday, it really did look like a winter wonderland. Everything, every surface was covered in snow, including ourselves. I was just pushing snow off of my backpack, my hood, my eyes. It was a day for goggles, to put it lightly.

Brian Lehrer: Part of your Narnia angle was that even as officials were warning people yesterday to stay home, lots of folks did go out in the blizzard conditions just to play. Want to give us an example or two that you saw?

Brittany Kriegstein: Absolutely. Brian, one of the things I loved about the people I spoke to yesterday, it was about 8:00 AM. These were adults. They had put on their snow clothes and grabbed whatever they had, whether that was a real snowboard or an oven sheet pan, to take to the slopes in Fort Greene Park. They were sledding, they were taking advantage of those conditions, that powder as it was coming down.

They told me that they were getting those runs in before logging on for work. These were not just kids. It was a nice thing to see people out walking their dogs, people throwing snowballs, making snowmen. It was pretty good packing snow from everything I saw and everybody I spoke to. Just New Yorkers, they won't stay inside for too long. They were out in force, especially early in the morning.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, I did some reporting on the packing myself. I mentioned it on yesterday's show. Fabulous snowball snow, A++ snowball snow. You mentioned it wasn't just kids, it was adults out, and it wasn't just humans. Your article said, "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 round in circles around their owners, who took the opportunity to let their pooches frolic off-leash."

Not being a dog owner, I would have thought dogs would not like the snow, Brittany, because unless they had doggy boots, which I've seen some wearing, their feet would get too cold. I guess that's not how they're built.

Brittany Kriegstein: Right. I think it depends on the dog. I think there were probably some that weren't thrilled, and maybe those didn't go outside. The ones I saw, I mean, dozens of dogs of all shapes and sizes, even small ones. I spoke to one woman who actually told me her dog was a rescue from Puerto Rico. Maybe he's never experienced the snow, but he was absolutely loving life. I think there's something about the snow, the way it feels, and how much fun it is maybe for them to run through it that they just absolutely were having the time of their lives. I think the owners were, too. Just the joy of seeing your pet frolic around is really awesome.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. I heard from one homeowner in the Bronx yesterday, private house in the Bronx, who said he shoveled just a little patch of their backyard early in the day, just enough for their dog to do his business, and the pooch saw the sheet of white all around the little patch and looked up at his owner like, "Where'd the rest of the grass go?" Eric in Red Bank, you're on WNYC. Hi, Eric.

Eric: Hey, Brian. I'm enjoying the snow, and I'm looking forward to it exiting as quickly as it got here. I'm amazed at how quickly it turned from-- we had full-on muddy-looking grass on Sunday morning, and 24 hours later, covered it in this really thick white blanket of snow. I went out yesterday, and I was amazed at how quickly it started to melt once the snow actually stopped coming down, which was about three or four o'clock in the afternoon in Red Bank.

The streets were blacktop. A lot of the sidewalks for the folks who did get out there and actually shovel was all the way down to the concrete, which made it a whole lot easier to get around. The part I'm not looking forward to and looking forward to is the fact that I think it'll melt a whole lot more quickly this time around, which means lots of soup, lots of puddles to jump over, lots of mess. Hopefully, that will usher it out sooner than we had to deal with the last snowstorm.

Brian Lehrer: Eric, thanks for checking in. I think Marnique in Jersey City is also on the puddles beat. Right, Marnique? Hi, you're on WNYC.

Marnique: Hi, Brian. Good morning. Yes, I am, as you can hear on the street. What I'm encountering literally right now is like a snowbank on the way to the crosswalk. What kind of happened last time is that business owners or homeowners are supposed to juggle all the way to the crosswalk, and they often don't. It becomes a very hazardous situation.That's something I'd like to flag for Mayor Solomon. Generally also, they've already started pooping in the snow, the dogs. Not great, but the streets look good. I think, overall, hopefully, the second time, we'll be able to learn from the snowstorm of the past.

Brian Lehrer: Marnique, thank you very much. Oh, let's go to Needy in Milburn, whose kids are in school today. I mentioned almost all of North Jersey closed, but I guess not in this case. Needy, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Needy: Hi, Brian. Yes, my kids are. We live in Milburn, but my kids are in a different school in a neighborhood district. The school there announced that they were going to be on a two-hour delayed opening. My children who are both in the upper school were fairly disappointed because all their friends in the neighborhood were getting a day off. They actually wrote to the headmaster, and the headmaster was very sweet to reply immediately, saying that, "Most likely, we will not be closed. However, if you chose not to come, we will give you an excused absence." Anyhow, me, the mom has driven them to school. Now they are at school, and I'm talking with you.

Brian Lehrer: Needy, thank you very much. That New York City 8th grader is not the only one protesting going back to school. Here's a kid on a snow day. River, in Neptune, New Jersey, you're on WNYC. Do I have your name right? Is your name River?

River: Yes, my name is River.

Brian Lehrer: Hi. How old are you? What grade are you in?

River: I'm 10, and I'm in 5th grade.

Brian Lehrer: Tell us your story.

River: Yesterday, on Sunday, I thought it wasn't going to snow. Then I see it snowing, and I'm like, "Maybe it's just going to be wet and it's not going to actually stick." Then in the morning, we have this 2 feet of great snowball snow. Then in the afternoon, I make a bunch of snowmen, and I start to build an igloo. Then today, I woke up and I got up, worked on the igloo, and then I went to the local sledding hill.

Brian Lehrer: Nice. Is the igloo big enough to go inside like an Eskimo?

River: Yes, but it's not done yet. We're still working on it.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, well, good luck. You better get it done before the temperature hits 40. [chuckles] Enjoy.

River: I will.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much for checking in. One more in this set. Daryl on the Upper East Side, who wants to report something that he's seeing, I think. Hi, Daryl, you're on WNYC.

Daryl: Hi. Yes. As I was shoveling out my car yesterday, down comes the street on East 74th Street, down comes the middle of the street where the median is shaved nice and smooth by an occasional car, a cross-country skier with a smile on her face enjoying the route made by cars, and she was enjoying herself. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Daryl, thank you very much. Brittany, this was in your article too, right? At least one reference to cross-country skiing in New York City, right?

Brittany Kriegstein: Oh, definitely. There were plenty of people doing that, and some even saying, we questioned for years, why we keep these skis in our tiny apartments. When will we use them? Yesterday was that chance. I even found myself wanting cross-country skis because it was kind of like the Olympics getting around out there, especially in the early hours before things were clearing off. I thought, "Man, I could get around so much better on cross-country skis." Just the novelty of that, too, being able to do something like that in New York City down the street, I think, is just really exciting for folks.

Brian Lehrer: I know I was fantasizing up where I live in Upper Manhattan with Inwood Hill Park, which really does have hills for people who've never been up there, switchbacks, as if you were in the mountains. I was fantasizing a luge course, but-

Brittany Kriegstein: There we go.

Brian Lehrer: -I don't think they're going to do it. All right. David Brand, our housing reporter, from the lighthearted to why people had heavy hearts after the last snowfall and cold schnapp. Your latest number is that 27 people died in the city in ways related to the weather. Did the city take a different approach this time in any way?

David Brand: Yes, we reported 27 people had died. That was 20 who died outdoors, variety of circumstances, and then 7 who died indoors. The Medical Examiner's Office said the cause of death death was hypothermia. This time around, as you mentioned, Mamdani administration is saying, so far, no one has been reported to have died outdoors from this recent storm.

I think we'll be monitoring that number because, as we saw following the storm in January, when cold weather set in, most of the deaths occurred in the days and weeks after that with these temperatures that were still below freezing for weeks in a row. That might be the biggest difference here is that temperatures are already expected to rise, which, hopefully means fewer people are at risk of exposure and hypothermia because of that.

Mamdani is saying that what they're doing is stepping up outreach. They are working round the clock to visit people who they know are outdoors. They have opened more warming centers, more warming vans and buses around the city. Also, they're keeping overdose clinics open for 24 hours a day, so people are safer if they are using substances.

Brian Lehrer: The mayor was on WNYC on All Things Considered yesterday and said one factor in some of the deaths the first time was drug overdoses. You just mentioned that as well. He talked a little bit about taking a different approach this time. Listen.

Zohran Mamdani: We took a hard look at everything that worked and started it from the first day of this blizzard response and then took a sense of what can we enhance across the board because we're always looking to hold ourselves to a standard of excellence.

Brian Lehrer: Tell us more, David, about how they responded to that finding that he articulated there or that process of learning from the first time.

David Brand: Well, they're keeping overdose prevention clinics open 24 hours a day so that if people are using, they have a safer space to do that. There's a few of those in the city. He said they're being more aggressive with outreach. Just working round the clock, having more people out on the streets, more warming vans that are run by the city's health and hospitals clinic that are canvassing and allowing people to come into warm spaces, more warming centers around the city.

I don't know quite how different the response is because I know they were working really hard during the first storm and freezing temperatures as well. They're encouraging more people to call 311, routing all of those calls immediately to 911. Something we found in our reporting is that sometimes the 911 response was lacking. One person in particular who died, he had permanent housing. There were two 311 calls placed at the location where he was found in the 24 hours before he was found dead.

In one case, outreach workers did respond. They found that he was cognizant. He said he didn't want help. That was in the morning before code blue actually took effect. Later in the evening, a building superintendent at the site called again asking for help. This time, it got routed to 91 1. Police officers drove by the location, didn't see the man. No one actually quite responded to see if he needed help. That time, they couldn't find him. About eight hours later, he was found dead. That person actually had permanent housing only about a mile away from the location where he was found. I'd to think they're stepping up efforts to actually find people who are reported as in distress and getting them into safe locations.

Brian Lehrer: Did the policy of involuntary removal change? Mayor Mamdani had stressed when he was on this show in the first storm and cold schnapp and lots of other places that he did not change the standard for involuntary removal from the Mayor Adams administration. That seemed to be the focus of a lot of debate anyway, around Mamdani. Did things actually change, and did they change again this time?

David Brand: Well, during that recent cold stretch from about January 18th to February 10th, the city did do 85 involuntary removals. They probably did more after that as well. That's the data that I have with me right now. Mamdani said, since the storm, there hasn't been any involuntary removals done by the city's Department of Social Services and that there was one done by the NYPD.

He told you that the policy hasn't changed. He told me that in an interview around that same time, too. They are continuing to take people to hospitals against their will. I think they are using a different standard. Under the Adams administration, just the mere presence of someone outdoors during freezing cold temperatures could be used as justification to take them involuntarily to a hospital. I don't think the Mamdani administration is taking that same tact. I think if people seem cognizant, if people are refusing services, don't appear to be in danger, that they're not using that as justification alone to move them off the streets.

Brian Lehrer: Here's Chris, a teacher in Mount Olive, on the decision to open or close the schools. Chris, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

Chris: Hey, good morning, sir. Thank you so much for taking my call. I live in Mount Olive. I don't teach in Mount Olive. I teach in another school district in New Jersey. Their decision to close school again for a second day, folks have to understand that there's lots of food-insecure kids in New York City and in New Jersey. When you close the schools any day for any reason, there's lots of kids who don't eat for the day or have trouble securing a meal for the day.

For my district to close, the one I work for, to close a second day in a row, it must mean-- and I don't live in that town, it must mean that it's really bad. It's really dangerous to get around. That's obviously something they're feeling. That's part of the calculus of their decision is to-- I'm sorry, that's my son. That's part of their decision to close the schools, obviously. What I would say to parents is if you don't feel safe getting around, then definitely call the school and say, "Hey, it's not safe for me to get there." My guess is they'll be pretty understanding about that.

Brian Lehrer: Chris, thank you. You raised a very important point. Brittany, I don't know if this was on your beat, but how about that decision to reopen schools in person today in the city? Do you know if it was a close call, or the issue that Chris raises about kids who depend on the schools for their meals or maybe other basic services, if that was a factor?

Brittany Kriegstein: Right. It's a good question, Brian. I'm not sure exactly, all of those different calculations that the mayor and city officials made in making that decision, but definitely not everybody was happy about that choice to reopen schools today because different boroughs said that they had different impacts. You had tremendous snow in Staten Island. Some Brooklyn neighborhoods, like my neighborhood, for example, it was pretty easy to get around, and I live near a school, and there were plenty of kids showing up this morning.

There was actually an online petition circulating, though, got more than 170,000 signatures, calling on the mayor to reverse that decision and move classes online. We, of course know that, in the last storm, that online school was a struggle. It didn't go very well. There are so many factors to consider making this decision, and so many, obviously, families who do depend on schools for food. It's definitely a difficult one.

Brian Lehrer: People writing in about dogs. Interestingly, we started something with that. One person writes, "My sister has an Alaskan Malamute." Is that how you say that? "That loves to sleep outside in the snow." Sleep outside in the snow. Someone else wrote, "The dogs who were seen in the park frolicking in the snow were a biased sample of dogs who would walk in the snow to the park. You would never see my Wire-Haired Dachshund or most other Dachshunds playing in the snow. It's out, do your business and home." Diversity in the dog world that we need to respect. David, your story. How much snow can New York City rooftops handle? Is there a numerical answer to that?

David Brand: Yes, this was an interesting one to report, not something I had really thought about before. My editor and I were talking about some housing-related angles to the storm. He was saying he was thinking about that the night before. Yes, that's a great question. I found a lot of people actually have this question.

There is kind of a standard that's used by insurance industry groups to determine how much weight a rooftop can hold. It's about 20 pounds per square foot. That's the equivalent of different kinds of snow here. 1 inch of ice is about 5 pounds per square foot. 4 feet of snow is about 20. It's either 4 feet of snow, 4 inches of ice, or some mixture.

Now, we haven't had that much. Yesterday, the highest levels were about 2 feet. The Department of Building says most rooftops in New York City are built to withstand 2 feet of snow. That's not really a problem. Roofers said collapse is rare as long as there's been some preventive maintenance and you're clearing the snow and ice off your rooftops.

There is a problem that a number of roofers and also landlords were telling me about, and that's called ice damming. That's when ice forms around gutters and downspouts and drains, and it prevents the melting snow and ice from draining off the roof. All of this melted ice, this water sits there, will eventually find cracks and crevices, and that can cause leaks and also just structural degradation over time.

The advice is just to make sure your gutters are cleared to-- if your property isn't more than three stories tall, you can get special rakes, clear off the gutters. You can call contractors to shovel the snow off your roof. If you have a flat roof, this can be somewhat dangerous. Roofers said you can shovel that snow off the roof yourself to reduce the weight and reduce that melting snow to reduce the chance of leaks.

Brian Lehrer: Well, this is a day I'm glad I don't live on the top floor of my building. I'll note that you wrote it depends on how steeply the roof is pitched, the age, the material, and the condition of the roof. Contractors say there are a few clear signs of trouble that signal the need for immediate intervention, like water trickling through the ceiling. It was interesting to see your reporting on how much work these roofers have had compared to many winters. Brittany, last thing, this is over, right? We don't have to worry about any more snow or anything rest of the week, do we?

Brittany Kriegstein: Well, if you're sick of this weather, I may have some bad news for you. I just spoke to the National Weather Service. They say that more snow could be on the way, possibly an inch tonight into tomorrow. Nothing insane but could complicate things and make those sidewalks a little slippery, and then possibly a few more inches Thursday night into Friday.

That's still a changing forecast. It's not clear. I think we might not know until sometime Thursday what that's really going to look like. For everyone hoping that the snow would be out of here very quickly, it just doesn't look like that. Also, the highs are just going to be around 40 degrees tomorrow, which is just not warm enough to cause mass melting, and then they'll dip back down into the 30s. Unfortunately, looks like at least another week of winter for everyone sick of this.

Brian Lehrer: The Groundhog. Staten Island Chuck was right on February 2nd, six more weeks of winter. WNYC's Brittany Kriegstein and David Brand, thanks a lot.

Brittany Kriegstein: Thank you so much.

David Brand: Thanks, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: We'll have one more, I think, heartwarming take on this storm when we come back after a break, including maybe the best text that I've ever seen from a 15-year-old, which I'll read, and we'll talk to one more guest. Stay with us.

 

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