February 22-23 blizzard, February 23-24 aftermath February 25, 2026

Posted by Mike C. in Personal, Photography, Video, Weather.
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For the second month in a row, an inconsequential weather event with a little bit of snow was followed by a more significant storm. And thanks to one influential computer forecast model that wooed all other models to its side, this storm was even worse than what we got January 25. A historic blizzard took shape off the coast of New Jersey and Long Island. Between dusk on February 22 and early afternoon on February 23, it left around 2 feet of snow that was blown around by strong gusty winds. Gusts generally peaked around 50 mph, but some areas exceeded 60. As for snow accumulation, 22 inches fell here in Wantagh. That’s not from me putting tape measure in the snow, but rather from an amateur radio report to the National Weather Service at 12:51 PM on the 23rd. A full list of totals throughout the tri-state area can be viewed here. (In case that isn’t a permanent link, I saved it as a TXT file.) This was a wet, dense snow with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

I began preparing for the blizzard on February 21 by shoveling any leftover snow in the driveway onto the front lawn. I then put our recycling pail and secondary garbage pail in the garage on either side of the snow blower. On the morning of the 22nd, I moved spare pails on the left side of the house to the right side, bracing them against the backyard gate. I stacked the backyard deck chairs and put them on their side along with the chaise lounge. Finally, I brought the primary garbage pail onto the front porch, turned the porch chair upside down, and brought its cushion inside.

Sunday, February 22

Preparatory photos taken around 7:25 AM:

Jumping ahead in the chronology, I experimented with interval recording by the guest room window on my secondary camcorder, seen here at 1:50 PM:

I would change the perspective and tripod orientation around 7PM and stick with that until I stopped recording Monday afternoon. You’ll see this in a YouTube video at the end of the post. It’s 1 frame every 10 seconds. The rest of that video is at normal speed on my primary camcorder (and one instance on my camera).

Before we get to the video, I have more photographic timelines. Here is Sunday’s short timeline:

My parents brought my sister’s car to leave in the driveway so that it wouldn’t be parked in the road where she lives. Local, county, and state officials urged residents to keep their vehicles off the road to make plowing easier for trucks as they make their rounds.

I put in earplugs at 8PM and went to sleep. I gave up sleep about six hours later and went back to documentary mode. I risked the life of my equipment by periodically putting it in the elements. I also periodically used a hand towel to wipe snow off the guest room window, limiting obstructions for the secondary camcorder.

Back to the photos.

Monday, February 23

As the snow slowly tapered off, my dad brought out the snow blower and went to work clearing the driveway. He then used a brush to clear his car and shoveled parts of the driveway and porch. The photos below were taken between 10:34 and 11:25 AM.

After Dad left for work, I took over the shoveling and brushed snow off my mom’s and sister’s cars.

I took this photo at 11:53 AM before getting dressed for shoveling:

Remember, the snow was wet and dense. Since there was so much of it, that made shoveling laborious. After 1 hour and 25 minutes, I gave up. In hindsight, I clearly made a difference.

Back in my room (at 1:40 PM), I took two more photos with my camera and one more video on my primary camcorder. Then, I stopped the interval recording on the secondary camcorder.

I wasn’t finished with photos. At 2:01 PM, after I’d showered, a snow plow truck came up the street and undid whatever my dad cleared at the curb.

Aside from a snack and dinner, the rest of my day centered around making a video compilation of the interval recording (minus some unflattering frames) and the normal recordings taken before, during, and after the blizzard. I still have aftermath photos to show, though. Those and all other photos were edited on…

Tuesday, February 24

I couldn’t give up entirely on shoveling. So, I went back out at 7:25 AM to shovel the sidewalk, clear what the snow plow left, and expand the clearing on the left side of the driveway. 1 hour and 11 minutes was all I could take. These photos taken 8:37 to 8:40 AM show my work from Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.

8:45 AM, back in my room:

Aftermath photos of the backyard at 1:42 PM:

I gave driveway shoveling one more try at 2:10 PM. 35 minutes was the limit this time, per these 2:46 PM photos (where you can’t tell my hand was shaking):

The last photo of the post was back in my room at 2:51 PM:

If I do any other shoveling, don’t expect an update with after photos. Two more inconsequential periods of snow are expected today (Wednesday, February 25) and tomorrow (Thursday, February 26). God forbid we end up getting another blizzard next week.

Until the next post, which I hope is a recap of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass & Other Delights at Tilles Center, here is the interval/normal recording video compilation of the February 22-23 blizzard.