Listeners, How Did You Spend Your Blizzard?

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "Listeners, How Did You Spend Your Blizzard?"

Podcast: All Of It
Host: Alison Stewart, WNYC
Date: February 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively and community-driven episode, Alison Stewart and the All Of It team invite listeners to share their personal experiences during New York’s significant 2026 blizzard. The show weaves together audience stories—ranging from baking feats to tree mishaps—and staff anecdotes about braving the city during a snowstorm, all while exploring the culture and community spirit that binds New Yorkers together in extreme weather.

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Key Discussion Points & Listener Stories

Introduction: Setting the Scene

• Blizzard Stats: 20 inches in Central Park, nearly 28 inches in Bergen County, and almost 30 inches in Suffolk County.
• Impact: Closures included libraries, museums, Broadway, and some schools (00:09).

"We want to know how did you spend the snowstorm of 2026? Did you bake, catch up on reading, binge some Netflix, or did you have to work from home while your kids still had all the energy?"
— Alison Stewart (00:14)

• Team All Of It: Despite the storm, Alison and engineer Juliana Fonda trekked to the station. Producer Luke Green captured a photo of a "snow snake" winding around a tree, shared on Instagram (00:54).

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Studio Reflections and Producer Stories

Working from Home & Baking

• Kate Hines (Sr. Producer):
  • Enjoyed a low-key day working from home, with a cat for company.
  • Pre-baked a brownie cake and prepped apple cinnamon muffins—team favorites (02:08).
  • Volunteered at a food pantry after trekking through Central Park, describing the snow as "the consistency of what I can only imagine was an Olympic bobsledding run" (02:33).

"There were many near wipeouts walking through Central Park, but it was still beautiful and a lot of fun."
— Kate Hines (02:34)

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Listener Calls & Messages

Gail in Randolph, NJ: Winter Walk in the Woods

• Family shoveled, then hiked for a mile, appreciating the snow-blanketed beauty and wildlife sounds (03:19).

"Hearing all the animals, seeing the animals and looking at the beauty, it was absolutely gorgeous."
— Gail (03:26)

Alex Kahn (Instagram): Book & Nap Day

"Reading and napping was how he spent the snow day."
— Alison Stewart, relaying Alex's message (03:40)

Casey from the Bronx: The School Conundrum

• Described confusion between the Riverdale (Bronx) and Manhattan campuses: one closed, one open—highlighting the patchwork of snow day decisions (04:20).
• Ongoing knitting projects, including a cowl finished during the Olympics and a hat promised for Casey's mother (05:02).

"I've been knitting to the point where I think I have like a repetitive injury in my thumb, but I promised my mother I would make her a hat."
— Casey (05:10)

Texts & Quick Stories

• Central Park Joy: Reports of children and families reveling in perfect snowman-making conditions (05:24).

"It was a delight to walk through Central Park and see the kids sledding. It is rare to see such concentrated joy."
— Kate Hines (05:45)

• Still Shoveling: A listener text lamenting the ongoing snow removal (05:54).

• Bourbon Pecan Pies & 'Lifer Pie': A listener baked six mini pies for birdwatching trips—'lifer pie' is a birder tradition celebrating new species sightings (05:59–06:23).

• Sad Snowstorm (Fallen Tree):

  • Another caller recounted losing a beloved redbud tree to the storm, with branches ominously crashing near their apartment (06:48–07:18).

• Movie Marathon: One listener soothed their snowed-in blues with a tearjerker movie lineup: "Loving Basketball," "Waking Ned Divine," and "Titanic" (07:32).

• Work-from-Home Challenges: Several texters described being "buried" by remote work rather than snow (07:50).

Working Through the Storm: Staff Anecdotes

• Alison and Kate reflect on the difficulties and distractions of remote work vs. the comfort (and nostalgia) of trudging into the studio, with boots and determination (08:25).

"Honestly, I can't work from home because it reminds me too much of COVID. I'd rather trudge through the snow, which I did yesterday morning, to get here."
— Alison Stewart (08:25)

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More Listener Calls

Shashant in Berkeley: Family Snow Day

• Kids’ school day delayed; whole family helps shovel, with kids enjoying rare snow fun (09:12).

"All my kids ... they all had fun times, especially my son, who helped me in shoveling all these snow, cleaning the car."
— Shashant (09:36)

Organization Feats

• Listener in Rockland County: "While my son and husband shoveled, I spent the day cleaning out and reorganizing all my spices. Felt very accomplished."

— (09:48)

Extreme Weather Photos

• Luke Green’s Rhode Island parents buried under nearly 33 inches—he regrets not bringing snow boots back to the city (10:09).

"Guess who's sorry now?"
— Alison (10:28)

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Notable NYC Moments

• The Gym That Never Closes:

  • Despite the blizzard, a West Village gym closed at 9pm only to reopen at 5:30am ("Only in New York") (10:39).

• Slippery Mishaps:

  • Listener recounts slipping and laughing with strangers while walking in the streets.

"Well, I slipped twice and messed up my wrist but laughed both times along with the others who were laughing at me."
— Listener text (10:57)

• Team Tales:
  • Simon discovered Brooklyn’s multitude of cross-country skiers.
  • Zach Goddard Cohen endured a day without heat, layered in sweaters and blankets while working remotely (11:09).

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On NYC’s Collective Spirit:

"It is rare to see such concentrated joy. They were having so much fun."
— Kate Hines (05:45), on kids sledding in Central Park

• On Weather Preparedness:

"Thank you, L.L. Bean boots."
— Alison Stewart (08:34)

• On Working from Home:

"The lure of my bookshelf or the refrigerator is very great."
— Kate Hines (08:17)

• On Birding Traditions:

"Lifer pie is something that birders indulge in whenever they see a lifer bird or a bird they haven't seen before."
— Kate Hines (06:14)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:09 Blizzard overview, impact, show and caller prompt
• 02:04 Kate Hines on working from home and baking
• 03:13 Gail from NJ: snow walk
• 04:20 Casey from Bronx: school closures, knitting
• 05:24 Central Park joy; sledding
• 06:04 Listener: bourbon pecan pies for bird walks
• 06:48 Listener: tree down in Brooklyn
• 07:32 Movie marathon; work-from-home stories
• 08:25 Studio team: working vs. trudging in
• 09:12 Shashant in Berkeley: family shoveling
• 09:48 Listener: spice cabinet reorganization
• 10:09 Instagram photo stories, Rhode Island blizzard
• 10:39 NYC gym opens early despite storm
• 10:57 Slippery streets and communal laughter
• 11:09 Brooklyn cross-country skiers, no-heat woes
• 11:30 Allison wraps the segment

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Tone & Community Vibe

Warm, interactive, and distinctly “New York”—the episode pulses with the city’s resilient spirit, humor, and creativity, even as the snow piles up.

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For listeners who missed the show:
This episode paints a vivid, communal tapestry of a city snowed in, but never slowed down—filled with baking, laughter, mishaps, resilience, and a lot of cozy, relatable stories.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. If you went into the weekend wondering if the snowstorm would be a boom or bust, your questions were answered on Sunday. We want to know how did you spend the snowstorm of 2026? Did you do some baking, catch up on reading, been some Netflix, or did you have to work from home while your kids still had all the Give us a call or Text now at 2124-3396-9221-2433, 9692. That's also WNYC or if you're still home, what are you up to? Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433 wnyc. We want to hear your snowstorm experience. Here are some totals we have for you. 20 inches of snow fell in Central Park. Bergen County, New Jersey had places where nearly 28 inches fe Long Island. Suffolk county saw nearly 30 inches. New York City public schools are back in the classroom today after a full real snow day. But some private and parochial schools in the city remain closed, as do many in New Jersey. And it wasn't just schools that were closed. Libraries and museums closed. So many other buildings across the city, Broadway was closed. We even had to cancel our Get Lick Book Club event. But we on team all of it were out and about. And of course we had a show yesterday. So I trekked to the station along with our engineer, Juliana Fonda. Thank you, Juliana. Thanks, Matt Mirando. Check out some of our snow day photos on the all of it Instagram feed. Head to of it WNYC on Instagram to see how our producer spent the day. Luke Green took an amazing photo of snow of a snow snake wrapped around a tree. Post your snow day photos and tag us at all of it wnyc. Joining me now in studio right now is senior producer Kate Hines. Hi Kate.

[A]

Hey Allison. How you doing?

[B]

I'm doing okay. So how was working from home yesterday?

[A]

It was low key. Okay. I do enjoy working from home. Every now and then you get to feel like you're actually productive but you got your cat on your lap. I had gone into the snow knowing that there was gonna be snow. So I pre baked, pre baked Sunday night I did like this brownie cake that I got the recipe from Leora Kravitz, another engineer who is this amazing baker. And I got the ingredients together for the apple cinnamon muffins which team all of it is enjoying right now as you. But yeah, I worked from home Monday and It was fine. The real fun began Monday at 4:00 in the afternoon. I volunteer on Monday evenings at a sort of food pantry on the east side. And I figured there's no point in taking. I live on the Upper west side. There's no point in taking the bus. So I will walk through Central park. And the pathways had sort of been shoveled, but the people walking had kind of pounded the snow to the consistency of what I can only imagine was an Olympic bobsledding. So there were many near wipeouts walking through Central Park. But it was still beautiful and a lot of fun.

[B]

Let's talk to Gail in Randolph, New Jersey. Hi, Gail, thanks for calling, all of it. Hello?

[C]

Hello? Now, I just had to say we got out of the house relatively about noon, shoveled for a little while, and then we put on our boots and our hats and our gloves and we just walked for about a mile through the woods, you know, and hearing all the animals, seeing the animals and looking at the beauty, it was absolutely gorgeous.

[B]

Oh, thanks for calling in. Alex Kahn on Instagram says reading and napping was how he spent the snow day. Can you see me, Kate?

[A]

Now I can.

[B]

Oh, there you go. Hi.

[A]

I'm just moving around the studio to

[B]

keep you, our listeners, we want that. We listeners, we want to hear from you in our final minutes of our show. What did you do yesterday during the snowstorm? Our Phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. We want to know where the kids home? Were you working? Were you baking? What were you doing? Our phone number, 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. Let's talk to Casey from the Bronx. Hey, Casey.

[C]

Hey. How are you guys doing? Okay, so our story is kind of interesting because the field school up in Riverdale has two lower campuses. One is in Riverdale, which is in the Bronx, and one is in Manhattan. And the kids all merged 12th grade, but the lower schools are separate. And my kid goes to the Bronx location, which draws a lot of kids from Westchester, and they're all closed. But the Manhattan school is full on running today. But the Riverdale one is another snow day for us. So there's always this like, oh, we see our kids at the Bronx location and the Manhattan kids. So the parents are like, we want school to be open and we are close again.

[B]

Oh, it's so odd. Thank you for calling in. Did you take up on your knitting? We know you've been knitting like crazy.

[A]

I've been knitting to the point where I think I have like a repetitive injury in my thumb, but I promised my mother I would make her a hat. So I'm busy working on a hat. And I just finished a cowl that I knit primarily during the Olympics. It's very cozy and warm, this text

[B]

says as much as I was looking forward to spring, when the weather began warming up, it was joyous to be in Central Park Monday unl our last icy snowstorm. The snow was soft and malleable, perfect for making snowman or a snowball. And with schools closed, families, children of all ages were enjoying this gift of a day.

[A]

It was a delight to walk through Central park and see the kids sledding. It is rare to see such concentrated joy. They were having so much fun.

[B]

This one says I'm still shoveling.

[A]

That's less fun.

[D]

This said I made six 5 inch bourbon pecan pies.

[B]

Wow.

[D]

I make little pies to take on my bird walks with friends so they can have a lifer pie.

[A]

Oh my God. You're speaking my love language. For listeners that aren't aware, lifer pie is something that birders indulge in whenever they see a lifer bird or a bird they haven't seen before. This is a very, very good birding friend to have.

[D]

We want to know how did you spend the snowstorm of 2026? Our phone number is 212-433-WNYC 21243. Did you bake? Did you catch up on reading? Did you bin some Netflix? Tell us your snowstorm experience. 212-433-WNYC 212-433-9692 I I had a little bit of a sad snowstorm.

[A]

Yes, tell me your snowstorm story.

[D]

Well, personally, I had a tree go down. I had a tree go down. I live in a little area which has got a little backyard in this beautiful red bud tree which blooms in May.

[A]

Blooms.

[B]

Beautiful.

[D]

And my neighbo of a sudden we all heard a crack and a good part of it just went over and it almost hit the back of my apartment. It looked like alien. It was like coming at me.

[A]

I was like branches coming at me.

[D]

But I went out yesterday. It took me a little while to get around the tree and it seems to be only one branch fell off. So hopefully my little tree guy in bed sty will come out and save the tree.

[A]

Oh my gosh. So many trees went down during this storm.

[B]

So many trees went down. Poor birds. This says what else? Says I spent the snowstorm with a tearjerker movie marathon. Loving basketball followed by Waking Ned Divine, followed by Titanic. Very cathartic.

[A]

I hope you drank a lot of fluids to replenish your legs.

[B]

I know it meant fluids. I also wanted to. They said I wanted to spend the day buried in snow, but my work from home job buried me in work instead. That was interesting to hear. How many people had to work, could work from home. I'm not sure how that went.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I, I. Because I work in an. You know, as you know, we really can't work from home.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I find working from home to be incredibly difficult. I don't know if I were more acclimated to it, I would be more on it. But, like, the lure of my bookshelf or the refrigerator is very great.

[B]

Honestly, I can't work from home because it reminds me too much of COVID Yeah. I would rather like trudge through the snow, which I did yesterday morning, get here.

[A]

Thank you. L.L. bean boots.

[B]

It was okay for the first two thirds of the way here. The last third was pure blizzard. And I was like, did I really do this?

[A]

Was it the type of like, were your eyes stinging?

[B]

Oh, I came with an umbrella. I had a hat. I was ready. It was like me and two other guys walking down 7th Avenues. We like, we said, forget the sidewalk. We're going in the middle of the streets. Do we have any other calls or just text? Just lots of texts. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Do we have a call? Oh, yeah. Shashant in Berkeley. Hi, Shashant. Thanks for call calling in.

[E]

Yeah, thank you for taking my call. It was so nice. I think, first of all, we all love your program. I think, to be honest, so all my kids, also Vedica and Vedant, they all love it. And during this, this snow, basically it was a work from home for me, but at the same time for the kids. It was off. Initially it was two hours delay, but it was enough. So they all had fun times, especially my son, who helped me in shoveling all these snow, cleaning the car. But we all had a great time during this time. This snow's only.

[B]

We love that. I'm so glad your family had a good time. This text says, I live in Rockland county, and while my son and husband shoveled, I spent the day cleaning out and reorganizing all my spices.

[A]

Excellent.

[B]

Felt very accomplished.

[A]

Excellent job.

[B]

I understand our team had some interesting experiences.

[A]

Yes, they did. First of all, I want to just make sure people do go to the Instagram. Our Instagram. Llofitnyc because those pictures of snow snakes are incredible. But the person who took that picture, Luke Green, his parents live in Rhode island and remain buried in nearly 33 inches of snow, a state record. He writes that he visited them last weekend and thought, why would I bother bringing my snow boots back to the city? It's not going to snow again. Guess who's sorry now?

[B]

This text says, hi, I live in the West Village. My gym closed on Sunday at its regular time, 9pm only to open Monday during a blizzard at 5:30am only in New York. I guess it's considered an essential service.

[A]

You're not gonna get swole by sitting in front of your tv.

[B]

This is. Well, I slipped twice and messed up my wrist but laughed both times along with the others who were laughing at me. Oh, we hope your wrist is okay. I'm sorry to hear that. Any other stories from anybody else on our team?

[A]

Simon did not know there were so many cross country skiers living in Brooklyn. And poor Zach Goddard Cohen's apartment lost heat overnight. So their day working from home yesterday involved lots of sweaters and blankets.

[B]

Well, we hope that all of you who enjoyed the snow day enjoyed it. We hope Zach gets heat soon. Kate, thanks for joining me in studio.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I will meet you back here next time

[A]

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