Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to a snowy Monday, February twenty third, this episode
Speaker 2: of Amy and DJ. Yeah, we are snowed in, stuck indoors,
Speaker 2: and it looks treacherous outside.
Speaker 1: I heard one person say.
Speaker 2: It looks like a fairy tale getting out and around
Speaker 2: and certainly anywhere outside of this area is a nightmare.
Speaker 2: And Babe, when's the last time you've been outside?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I haven't been out yet today, just
Speaker 3: on the balconies and whatnot. But I want to go out. Look,
Speaker 3: this is Yes, you can look at it that way,
Speaker 3: and if you have to be out, it is awful.
Speaker 3: But man, it's a They haven't seen something like this
Speaker 3: in ten years in the city. It is gorgeous. It
Speaker 3: causes some problems if you have to be out, but man,
Speaker 3: let's take a minute and recognize it is absolutely gorgeous
Speaker 3: and probably something in life. Really, my entire life, I've
Speaker 3: rarely seen an event like this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, have you been getting I've been getting texts from
Speaker 2: all my family in the South, even my daughter in Brooklyn.
Speaker 2: We're comparing notes as to who's got it worse. I
Speaker 2: know you were on the phone with the Bean this
Speaker 2: morning but have you been hearing from people? People are
Speaker 2: fascinated by this much snow. We've ethan seen tourists on
Speaker 2: local TV excited from nice south of France to be
Speaker 2: here and experience this.
Speaker 3: Not one family, friends don't care. I ain't heard from
Speaker 3: a single person checking out, not seriously, not one person
Speaker 3: has reached out and say, hey, how are you guys
Speaker 3: doing now? I'm not upset, don't get me wrong. Then
Speaker 3: they have some tornadic activity hewn in the south, I
Speaker 3: oftentimes don't reach out. So this is just our family done.
Speaker 2: Now. Well, look, this is something that people are either
Speaker 2: worried about their family or kind of jealous that you're
Speaker 2: experiencing this and we are not.
Speaker 1: It is really truly, as.
Speaker 2: The meteorologists are putting it, a once in a decade
Speaker 2: kind of a storm. Look, initially they were telling us
Speaker 2: who might get a couple of inches. Then they went
Speaker 2: to twelve or eighteen inches here in New York City.
Speaker 2: But already have you seen some of these totals, They're
Speaker 2: pretty impressive. Southam In, out of the Hamptons already has
Speaker 2: twenty four inches of snow. One of the areas on
Speaker 2: Long Islands at twenty seven and a half inches and counting.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're not even close to being done with
Speaker 2: this yet.
Speaker 3: All they sold this. This is going to wrap up in
Speaker 3: the next several hours, but it's going to linger for
Speaker 3: a long time at least. The problem is it's going
Speaker 3: to cause because of airlines getting back up and going.
Speaker 3: The airports or I mean the ones here in New
Speaker 3: York A essentially shut down right now. And I think
Speaker 3: what the weather is not necessarily going to the temper
Speaker 3: is not going to rise to a point where this
Speaker 3: is all going to go away, no anytime soon.
Speaker 2: It certainly is an in fact right now, let's see,
Speaker 2: it is thirty two degrees exactly, but it feels like eleven,
Speaker 2: and that is exactly the point of a blizzard.
Speaker 1: You've got crazy, crazy winds out there. I did.
Speaker 2: I've had to walk the dog twice now since this
Speaker 2: storm began. And last night it was kind of fun.
Speaker 2: This morning it was painful. We're talking thirty five, forty,
Speaker 2: even sixty mile.
Speaker 1: Per hour wind gusts.
Speaker 2: I saw Montalk, which is such a favorite place for
Speaker 2: so many people to go summer there had a win
Speaker 2: gus of more than eighty miles per hour. So yes,
Speaker 2: it's painful to be outside. It's dangerous to be outside,
Speaker 2: and that's why schools are closed. It's very rare to
Speaker 2: have schools closed in New York, and especially when they
Speaker 2: don't even have to have a learning day. They just
Speaker 2: get to have a free day on a day like
Speaker 2: this because they just it's just that bad.
Speaker 3: Yeah, kids have been out of school for a week
Speaker 3: and a half plus at this point because winter break
Speaker 3: was for the folks up here in the Northeast. So
Speaker 3: today was supposed to be their first day back from
Speaker 3: last week being off and they got an extra day.
Speaker 3: And look, I give them, you know, we wanted to
Speaker 3: give the Momdani administration credit, but I don't know if
Speaker 3: they just couldn't get it together quickly enough because the
Speaker 3: kids weren't in school. Usually we know something's coming and
Speaker 3: they can give the kids to heads up the day before,
Speaker 3: Hey we're going to move to online instruction. But they
Speaker 3: were out all week, so they couldn't scramble and get
Speaker 3: it together. So this is really rare in New York
Speaker 3: to get a snow day after the pandemic, like a
Speaker 3: true snow day. Usually they're online in their rooms and
Speaker 3: they hate it. They complain the whole time.
Speaker 1: Yes, I was actually listening.
Speaker 2: You had Sabine on speaker when you told her she
Speaker 2: didn't have to go to school. She was genuinely excited,
Speaker 2: because yes, that doesn't happen already. New York City schools
Speaker 2: are in school until basically the fourth of July as
Speaker 2: it is, so they don't want to extend the school
Speaker 2: You're only in extreme circumstances, and this certainly is one.
Speaker 2: So we had a travel band here in New York City,
Speaker 2: but in surrounding areas they've extended it beyond that noon
Speaker 2: travel band deadline that they had given it. Now it's
Speaker 2: four pm in most of New Jersey Westchester, and when
Speaker 2: I look outside, the only people icee outside are either
Speaker 2: people who are working clearing the streets or people walking
Speaker 2: their dogs. But on the news, the local news we've
Speaker 2: been watching, I've even seen people cross country skiing, like
Speaker 2: maybe the Olympics inspired them, But clearly that is the
Speaker 2: easiest way to get around.
Speaker 3: The city right now, So it's easy. It's in that regard.
Speaker 3: I mean folks, plenty of folks in this city got skis,
Speaker 3: they got snowboards, and they know every time they have
Speaker 3: to pack up they have to go drive a couple
Speaker 3: hours away and have to pay for a pass and
Speaker 3: you can walk outside throw your skis on. That's kind
Speaker 3: of cool. So I guess, yes, it is hell. It's
Speaker 3: going to cause people problems, pain, and oftentimes we even
Speaker 3: see I mean injuries and unfortunately deaths associated with it.
Speaker 3: Hopefully I haven't seen anything yet.
Speaker 2: No, the only headline I saw. Look, it looks as
Speaker 2: though folks are heating the warning. And truly, when you
Speaker 2: look outside, nobody wants to go out on this. Maybe
Speaker 2: for a little bit to say you did to get
Speaker 2: a few selfies or a few shots of yourself in
Speaker 2: the snow.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest, I did do that.
Speaker 2: But more than twenty trees have already fallen in the
Speaker 2: New York area. They said five of them have fallen
Speaker 2: on vehicles and buildings. But so far there aren't any
Speaker 2: reports of injuries, thank goodness. But you know it's bad
Speaker 2: in New York City when a they close the schools
Speaker 2: and b when you have the mayor asking New Yorkers
Speaker 2: not to order delivery or take out. This is exactly
Speaker 2: and precisely the kind of whether people don't want to
Speaker 2: go out in Oh, yes, they want to order in door.
Speaker 2: Dash suspended all services last night, So you know it's
Speaker 2: serious when people can't get things delivered to their door.
Speaker 3: You can't you look outside. If you look outside and
Speaker 3: think you're gonna get food delivered by a guy riding
Speaker 3: a bike, you're out of your mind. So and really
Speaker 3: some of the they've banned. You're not supposed to have
Speaker 3: e bikes, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters. They've banned all that traffic.
Speaker 3: So it's not supposed to be out there. I assume
Speaker 3: robe you didn't see a single person with any mode
Speaker 3: of transportation when you were outside. But but no, of
Speaker 3: course you're not. We stocked up here. We got stuff.
Speaker 3: Anybody needs something swing by. We got food, we prepared.
Speaker 3: We went and got sardines and bottled water. You know,
Speaker 3: we're those crazy people because we're from the South. We
Speaker 3: prepare our whole livees right, something's going down. So no,
Speaker 3: it's it is a good day to take a beat.
Speaker 3: And I don't know, I've I've had a rough morning,
Speaker 3: but for whatever reason, I've taken in and appreciated and
Speaker 3: finding a positive in the snowstorm for some reason.
Speaker 2: No, it it is simply gorgeous it looks like something
Speaker 2: out of a movie. It looks like it's and it's
Speaker 2: just it's unending. It's been going on since it's started
Speaker 2: snowing at noon yesterday, guys, noon on Sunday, and it
Speaker 2: was beautiful and I was taking pictures, and then by
Speaker 2: the evening the winds kicked up, and now all day
Speaker 2: long it has just been brutal. And so we've had
Speaker 2: flight cancelations as you might imagine, up and down the
Speaker 2: Eastern Seaboard. You don't even have to live in New
Speaker 2: England or along the East Coast to be affected by
Speaker 2: this storm.
Speaker 1: This is crazy.
Speaker 2: Five thousand plus flights and counting have already been canceled
Speaker 2: today along the Eastern Seaboard. And you gave the percentages
Speaker 2: in the morning run, and I went to go check
Speaker 2: they're the same. Eighty nine percent of flights at JFK canceled,
Speaker 2: ninety eight percent of flights at LaGuardia canceled, ninety two percent.
Speaker 2: Of flights in Newark canceled, ninety two percent in Boston canceled,
Speaker 2: eighty two percent in Philly canceled.
Speaker 1: Bottom line, you aren't getting out of here, and.
Speaker 2: A lot of tourists are kind of leaning into the
Speaker 2: concept of, Hey, I'm stuck here, I might as well
Speaker 2: try and take in this weather that doesn't happen very often.
Speaker 2: As long as people are careful, you can find a
Speaker 2: way to safely enjoy it.
Speaker 1: We've seen some folks starting to sled.
Speaker 2: The winds are starting to die down, but we've got
Speaker 2: blizzard warnings at least according to my phone until six
Speaker 2: pm tonight.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, that's been the dynamic all night and all
Speaker 3: day really quite literally up into this moment. This is
Speaker 3: the first time I've looked out the windows since last
Speaker 3: night and the snow is not literally going sideways. And
Speaker 3: I'm just not talking about I mean, it's going out
Speaker 3: an angle. You could tell wind is blowing now. But
Speaker 3: until this moment, I have looked outside and the wind
Speaker 3: has been going horizontal to the ground. That is, you know,
Speaker 3: I posted a video about it, so I'm not just
Speaker 3: making this up. So the wind has been the part
Speaker 3: that's It's been wild to watch, but it's maybe calming
Speaker 3: down a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yes, And even for hardy New Yorkers.
Speaker 2: Look, we are used to dealing with wicked weather that
Speaker 2: pops up and sometimes unexpectedly, And look, I think a
Speaker 2: lot of us sometimes get jaded because we hear a
Speaker 2: big storm's coming and then only a couple inches fall.
Speaker 2: I was shocked yesterday at the grocery store. I went
Speaker 2: to go pick up a few extra things. The store
Speaker 2: shelves were stocked, and I didn't know if that was
Speaker 2: a credit I should give to Christiti's, the local supermarket,
Speaker 2: or if people were not believing that it was going
Speaker 2: to be that bad. And that could be a little
Speaker 2: bit of both. But unfortunately they were hit with a
Speaker 2: wild surprise when they couldn't order toor dash to their
Speaker 2: homes last night.
Speaker 3: But y, we only raid grocery stores during pandemics.
Speaker 1: You know what, that's a good point.
Speaker 3: This is a storm would be our and you know what,
Speaker 3: they've been telling us, it's going to be a day
Speaker 3: or two and we should be okay. But I mean
Speaker 3: they're holding off and waiting to decide if schools are
Speaker 3: open tomorrow. Businesses certainly want to be open. I think
Speaker 3: we're kind of preparing to go back to business as
Speaker 3: usual for the most part. Tomorrow might be a little
Speaker 3: bit of a delay. But I mean New York, we okay,
Speaker 3: hit us, when can we get back to business?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, you just teed me right up.
Speaker 2: So when we come back, we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: how long before flights get back to normal New York
Speaker 2: City and all Boston and Philadelphia, all these major cities
Speaker 2: that impact so much of the world. When are we
Speaker 2: all going to be able to dig out and dare
Speaker 2: I even say melt all of this snow. Welcome back
Speaker 2: everyone to Amy and TJ, where we are snowed in
Speaker 2: and hunkered down as so many forty million people trying
Speaker 2: to get my head around under blizzard warnings over the
Speaker 2: past twenty four hours. That is remarkable, the size of
Speaker 2: the storm, how slow this storm is moving, and how
Speaker 2: powerful it is churning powerfully it's churning. This is one
Speaker 2: for the record books. People will be talking about this
Speaker 2: storm for years to come. Uh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a while. I don't know what the
Speaker 3: totals will be. I guess our record four blizzards and
Speaker 3: snowfall or around twenty seven, twenty six, twenty five to
Speaker 3: twenty four inches and things like that. And this stuff
Speaker 3: keeps coming. We could start knocking on that door in
Speaker 3: Central Park.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we are certainly flirting with record setting numbers and
Speaker 2: we're starting we can look up at the local and
Speaker 2: just see some of the blizzard totals. They have a scroll,
Speaker 2: but we're looking at some of these places out on
Speaker 2: Long Island already at twenty eight point two inches and counting.
Speaker 2: And look, if we keep getting snow for the next
Speaker 2: five six hours, maybe not the two to three inches
Speaker 2: an hour rate that we've been seeing, you are seeing
Speaker 2: historic snowfall here. And look it's it's stopped blowing horizontally bay,
Speaker 2: but it's still diagonal and it's still coming down hard.
Speaker 2: These are big, fat, fluffy flakes that are going to
Speaker 2: create lots of inches. So this is going to be
Speaker 2: fascinating to see just how much we end up getting
Speaker 2: with snow totals. But the problem is the weather. Look,
Speaker 2: we have had a frigid winter, so many of you
Speaker 2: know this already. But tomorrow we don't get a buffreezing
Speaker 2: I believe our high between twenty eight and thirty whatever
Speaker 2: you look at, whatever weather service you're looking at, but
Speaker 2: it's going to start out at fifteen degrees. It is
Speaker 2: going to be treacherous getting out and about even tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I imagine it's going to be tough for them to
Speaker 2: make that call on schools. But if you're trying to
Speaker 2: get out of here or trying to get into or
Speaker 2: out of New York City, all ready for tomorrow, already
Speaker 2: checked out the major airports, Already like forty three percent
Speaker 2: of flights are canceled at most of the airports. That's
Speaker 2: about the average forty five forty three percent. So it's
Speaker 2: going to look like Wednesday perhaps before people are going
Speaker 2: to be able to start getting out of here and
Speaker 2: traveling through here. However, did you hear we're supposed to
Speaker 2: get another little bout of snow on Wednesday?
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it won't be anything like this, So, I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't know. We Yeah, we've been through plenty here
Speaker 3: in New York. It seemed like these weather events have
Speaker 3: become more extreme. It seems like they've become more frequent.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we talk about global warming when it comes
Speaker 3: to I guess heat and it's warmer than it needs
Speaker 3: to be. But they say these things have an impact
Speaker 3: on weather year round. I am amazed. It seems like
Speaker 3: we have had. I mean, we just came out of
Speaker 3: that deep historic freeze. We never had that many straight
Speaker 3: days in New York of below freezing temperatures. So I
Speaker 3: don't know what's going on. Maybe we're just having a
Speaker 3: rough season, rough winter, but this is it's a little
Speaker 3: scary how extreme things are getting with weather. Weather is
Speaker 3: making me nervous these.
Speaker 2: Days, agreed. Yes, I don't recall too many days. And
Speaker 2: we've lived in Manhattan, both of us for more than
Speaker 2: two decades, so we have perspective. We've lived through some
Speaker 2: major storms. I don't ever remember it being this cold
Speaker 2: for this long, where you have windshels of negative fourteen,
Speaker 2: where you are screaming to get into uber and then
Speaker 2: you couple that now with this historic snowfall, and it
Speaker 2: certainly looks like it's going to be Yes, I'm bracing
Speaker 2: for what March is even going to look like at
Speaker 2: this point.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of a fair fear to have at
Speaker 1: this point.
Speaker 2: But we just guess we wanted to get on to
Speaker 2: let TJ's family know proof of life. We're okay, we're fine,
Speaker 2: aren't curious, and we're taking videos. Maybe you can send
Speaker 2: them some and they'll feel like they're a part of it.
Speaker 3: Oh what, they haven't even asked. They don't know where
Speaker 3: we are in the world. Anyway. We just got back
Speaker 3: from all over the place, so they don't even think
Speaker 3: we're in New York. Problem.
Speaker 2: Well, we certainly hope wherever you are that you are
Speaker 2: staying warm and dry, and.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you don't have any travel.
Speaker 2: Plans to the East Coast at least over.
Speaker 1: The next couple of days.
Speaker 2: And if you do, well, I hope you can laugh
Speaker 2: and realize that this is the one thing.
Speaker 1: There are a few things in this world we cannot change,
Speaker 1: and among them is the weather. But thank you as
Speaker 1: always for listening to us. I'm made Robach alongside TJ.
Speaker 2: Holmes.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.