Snow Day Cancelled: Mamdani Tells NYC Kids Monday Will Be Remote Or In-Person

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has delivered some chilling news to New York City students hoping for a classic snow day on Monday, making clear that no amount of snowfall will shut schools outright.

As the city prepares for a powerful winter storm, public school students are being told that their only options will be logging on from home or reporting to class in person. The mayor has warned the storm could dump anywhere from “3 to 16 inches of snow.”

Speaking Friday, Mamdani spelled out the city’s position bluntly. “Monday is either going to be a remote learning day or it’s going to be an in-person school day,” he announced, acknowledging that many students won’t be thrilled. “I know to the disappointment of any student that’s watching this right now, Monday is either going to be a remote learning day or it’s going to be an in-person school day.”

He underscored that the era of spontaneous snow days is over. “It’s not going to be a traditional snow day. That is a determination we’ve made.”

The mayor admitted he knows how the announcement will land with kids across the five boroughs, conceding that many will react with “disappointment.”

City officials are waiting until the last possible moment to decide whether students will attend school remotely or in person. “By 12 p.m. on Sunday, we’re going to let parents, students and teachers know which of the two it’s going to be,” Mamdani said.

He explained the delay is due to the uncertainty in the forecast. “The reason that we’re waiting until then is to see what is the extent of the snowfall we’re talking about, because you know as well as I do, the range is a pretty big range.”

Mamdani also shared a personal anecdote about one especially determined student who tried to lobby him for a snow day by unconventional means. “There’s a student that somehow found my wife’s email,” he said, adding “they apparently made some great points.”

According to the mayor, the pitch nearly worked. “She thought it was a very, very good argument.”

Meteorologists are warning that the fast-moving storm could bury the city under as much as 18 inches of snow by Monday, bringing frigid temperatures and major travel disruptions throughout the tri-state area.

Still, Mamdani said the city is prepared if snowfall totals stay on the lower end. “If it’s on the lower end, we have full confidence that we can clean our streets such that students can get into school,” he said.

He added that sanitation crews need time to assess conditions before a final call is made. “But we want to give our sanitation department these next few days to see what are we actually looking at.”

City sanitation trucks were already deployed early Friday to pretreat highways and major roadways ahead of the storm, according to the mayor. About 2,000 sanitation workers are scheduled to begin 12-hour shifts starting Saturday, aiming to keep streets passable around the clock.

Snow is expected to begin in the early hours of Sunday and continue through Monday. If the city sees at least a foot of accumulation, it would mark the heaviest snowfall since February 2021, when 16.8 inches fell in Central Park over two days.