As New York is Buried Under 19 Inches of Snow Solar and Wind Power Drop to Near Zero

It's the third major snow event of a brutally cold winter and renewables are next to useless

They’re calling it the Blizzard of 2026 in the United States. They have already had a brutally cold winter, with at least two major snow events already. Now they are digging out once again in New York and across most of the Northeast.

Central Park saw 19 inches of snow on Sunday and Monday, the ninth highest total in recorded history. Rhode Island was even worse hit, with Providence getting twice as much as New York. It was all the result of a ferocious Nor’easter.

Because of the cold, demand for electricity in New York State ran at 10% above normal. As is always the case in winter, solar power was virtually non-existent and, despite high winds, so was wind power. Wind turbines switch off when winds get too strong and downed power lines may have hampered getting power from remote wind farms.

Thankfully, New York had gas to turn to instead, ramping generation up and down to meet fluctuating demand.