Historic blizzard hits Riverhead Town
The Blizzard of 2026 will go down in the record books, burying Riverhead in nearly two feet of snow, knocking out power to hundreds of North Fork homes and bringing near-hurricane-force winds that turned farm roads into impassable corridors of drifting snow.
Winter Storm Hernando, which began Sunday, Feb. 22, and raged through Monday, dropped 22.5 inches of snow on Riverhead and as much as 26.5 inches in Orient, according to the National Weather Service. Jamesport saw 16.6 inches. Up-island, Islip recorded an all-time high of 31 inches.
Winds in Baiting Hollow peaked at 68 mph, while Southold recorded gusts of 69 mph — just short of hurricane force.
“The last time I remember a storm with this much snow was winter 2016 into ’17,” said Laurel resident Ryan DiGregorio. “Thankfully, I had a snowblower, but it was still a bear.”
Mr. DiGregorio, who lives on Delmar Drive, said he was without power for about 24 hours, starting around 1 p.m. on Sunday. An outage near Doctor’s Path and Sound Avenue in Riverhead affected 67 customers.
PSEG Long Island reported Tuesday morning that downed trees, branches and wires had left more than 1,000 customers without power across Long Island. All power has since been restored.
Road crews were aided by a countywide travel ban, which ended Tuesday, and helped battle the historic snowfall.
“In 32 years, I’ve never seen a worse storm,” Riverhead Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski said after the storm finally began to peter out Monday. “It’s just such a snail’s pace because of the conditions — the amount of snow and the wind just made the difficulty times 10.”
By Tuesday, the Riverhead highway crews were putting the final touches on clearing efforts but were still battling drifts piling up across open farm areas, particularly along Sound Avenue. Regular plows were no match for the towering snow banks. Payloaders, snow blowers and other heavy equipment were brought in to push back the snow.
The storm was the worst to hit the area since the Blizzard of 2022, when the National Weather Service reported 22.9 inches in Calverton and 15.5 inches in Riverhead.
In addition to endangering the roadways, Winter Storm Hernando also disrupted schools and services throughout the North Fork.
Riverhead and Shoreham-Wading River canceled classes Monday and Tuesday. Another snow squall that slammed the region on Wednesday morning caused a delayed start.
Area shops shuttered for much of the early week.
Long Island Rail Road service on the Greenport branch was suspended through Tuesday, with partial service resuming Wednesday.
The U.S. Postal Service canceled all deliveries and retail operations Monday and reported continued disruptions Tuesday, with carriers contending with snowed-in mailboxes and icy conditions across the region.
