Four days before one of the largest winter storms in years hit New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani cleared his calendar and convened senior aides to focus solely on preparation and response. What followed was an intense, citywide operational effort designed to keep streets, sidewalks and transit moving while protecting vulnerable New Yorkers.
Proactive Coordination And Visible Leadership
Mamdani told staff that past mayors — Michael Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams — had been criticized for appearing unprepared during major snow events, and his team used those lessons as motivation. Press secretary Joe Calvello printed old headlines about prior missteps and posted them around the office as a reminder to treat the storm as an opportunity to demonstrate competence.
A front-end loader dumps snow into a snow melter Thursday in New York. (Angela Weiss / AFP - Getty Images)(Angela Weiss)
The mayor delegated interagency coordination to Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson and instituted daily weather briefings across City Hall. The administration worked closely with the Department of Sanitation to craft a snow-removal strategy while ramping up public communications through TV, radio, social creators and multiple press conferences.
Hands-On Response
As snow accumulated on Sunday, Mamdani left a briefing and, wearing a custom jacket embroidered with “The City of New York” and “Mayor,” picked up a shovel. He made stops in Brooklyn and Queens to clear sidewalks and helped dig out a motorist — actions some staff learned about only after videos circulated on social media.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives at a salt depot to speak about preparations for the winter storm in New York on Jan. 24. (Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images)(Angela Weiss)
“It was never about prioritizing sweeping reforms over doing the basics well. It has to be both,” an administration official said.
Operational Results And Praise
After roughly a foot of snow, sanitation crews were widely credited with salting and plowing efficiently enough to keep the city from grinding to a halt — a contrast to struggles reported in cities such as Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Local outlets and some critics acknowledged the strong operational showing: City & State New York ran the headline, “OK Zohran, so you aced the storm,” and former Adams aide Benny Polatseck tweeted praise. Zach Iscol, commissioner of the city’s emergency management agency, commended the team at a press conference.
Human Costs And Ongoing Challenges
The storm was followed by a prolonged, bitter cold snap — one of the longest stretches below freezing in the city’s recorded history — that has prevented natural melt and strained resources. At least 10 people, many known to the Department of Homeless Services, have died from cold exposure. Critics questioned decisions about school operations (remote learning instead of a snow day for many students) and changes to the previous administration’s practice of using NYPD to clear homeless encampments; billionaire critic Bill Ackman publicly asked about the fatalities.
People walk between piles of snow in New Yorek on Thursday. (Angela Weiss / AFP - Getty Images)(Angela Weiss)
The city remains in a Code Blue emergency designation to ease shelter access. Administration officials say outreach teams have placed more than 600 people into shelters since the prior week, and they opened 20 warming buses and 18 enhanced warming centers across the five boroughs.
Supplemental Response Measures
Mamdani announced the deployment of hundreds of additional sanitation workers and extended shifts to clear crosswalks and bus stops. The administration also launched a paid, short-term callout for emergency snow shovelers; about 500 New Yorkers per day reportedly answered the call since Tuesday. Notify NYC — the city’s emergency alert system — saw roughly 70,000 new sign-ups in a week, including a single-day record of 35,000 enrollments.
Ice floats on the Hudson River in front of the Manhattan skyline on Wednesday. (Charly Triballeau / AFP - Getty Images)(Charly Triballeau)
Bradley Tusk, a veteran of the Bloomberg administration, praised the mayor’s public energy and recommended considering Acting Sanitation Commissioner Javier Logan for the permanent role, saying the department “met the moment.”
What’s Next
Although the initial response earned praise for averting a major shutdown, the administration and advocates alike caution that challenges remain. A possible nor’easter is forecast for the coming weekend, and the extended cold continues to pose life-threatening risks to people living outdoors.
“We know there’s more work to be done,” Calvello said — a reminder that operational competence must be sustained if Mamdani is to translate early success into broader political capital.
This article was adapted from reporting originally published on NBCNews.com.
