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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has ordered all executive branch office buildings in the state to close to the public on Monday as a historic blizzard continues slamming the Northeast.
“This is an intense storm and it is expected to continue throughout Monday morning and into the afternoon before finally tapering off,” Lamont said in a statement issued on Sunday. “I am urging everyone who does not need to be on the roads to avoid all unnecessary, non-essential travel and do their best to stay home and stay safe.”
Why It Matters
Nearly two feet of snow are expected in the northeast corner of Connecticut on Monday as the state braces for the major winter storm hitting much of the Northeast region of the country.
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Blizzard conditions are causing significant disruptions across the state, including widespread power outages. Eversource, Connecticut’s largest electrical provider, said it expects hundreds of thousands of customers to lose power on Monday due to the severity of the storm.
“With these high winds, our crews really can’t go 40 or 50 feet up in the air into their buckets until those winds die down,” the president’s company Steve Sullivan said during a news conference on Sunday afternoon. “This is likely to be a multi-day restoration event.”
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What To Know
Lamont’s storm-related directive applies to all workers in executive branch state offices.
So-called level 1 state employees, which include those who were previously designated as “essential” based on their respective job duties, should report to work as scheduled or directed.
Level 2 state employees, which indicates those previously indicated as “nonessential,” should work remotely if they were already planning to do so on Monday. Those among them who were scheduled to work in person are requested, but not required, to work remotely instead.
Any decision regarding the operations of judicial and legislative branch offices are made by the leaders of those respective branches of state government, the governor said.
The Connecticut judicial branch announced on Sunday that “due to the inclement weather” all state courts and administrative offices were to be closed on Monday as well.
“All cases that were scheduled for Monday, February 23, 2026 (including those that would have been conducted via remote technology) will be rescheduled,” the branch wrote on X.
Involved parties will receive notice of a new court date except for Temporary Restraining Orders and Civil Protection Orders, the branch said, which will be heard on the next business day that court is open. Jurors scheduled to appear on Monday shouldn’t appear.
All of Connecticut state parks and forests will also remain closed Monday “as emergency services will not be able to access these properties in a safe and timely manner,” Connecticut State Parks wrote on Facebook. State parks and forests are expected to reopen on Tuesday as soon as snow is cleared at each location.
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What People Are Saying
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said during a news conference on Sunday afternoon: “This is not our first snowstorm. We’re in New England. But this is going to be a bad one and worse than the one we thought was pretty bad just at the end of December. This snow is going to be heavier and wetter, with heavy winds of 40, 50, 60 miles an hour. [...] That means that you’re going to see tree limbs coming down and you may see some outages.”
What Happens Next
States of emergency have been issued for Monday by the governors of New York and New Jersey as well, while other states—including Rhode Island and Massachusetts—are under various blizzard warnings.
The snow and storm are expected to be over for affected parts of the Northeast by Tuesday morning, according to forecasters.
Update 2/23/26, 9:43 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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