Feb 23 Blizzard Update – Click to see ongoing updates

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23 February 2026 – CAPE COD, MA – An historic storm continues to swirl over Cape Cod today, after wiping out power for most electric customers across Barnstable County, dumping more than a foot of thick heavy sticky snow, and pummeling the region with hurricane force winds.

24 February 2026  and beyond – CAPE COD MA – See list below for ongoing updates. To get more like this delivered to your inbox –  click here to sign up for news updates.

UPDATES:

LATEST – STORM EVENT NOW OVER

2/27/ 3 pm –  MACC closed and storm response cycle considered complete.

2/27/ 1 pm – All regional shelters scheduled to close at 1 pm today.

2/26/ 6 pm – Just 29,000 customer remain without power across the region; the remainder of power has been restored.

2/26/ 1 pm – The number of customers without power has dropped to 52,000, approximately one third of the original outage; restoration activities continue.

2/26/ 11 am – Shelters remain open but are beginning to clear as power returns and homes regain heat. At start of day, number of people in shelters:
Barnstable Intermediate School: 119
Cape Cod Tech High School: 60
Dennis COA: 30
DY High School: 139
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Center: 5
Provincetown Community Center: 25

2/26/ 10:30am – Normalcy begins to return, as power restoration continues. Eversouce reports 52,000 customers still without power, but overnight multiple large circuits came back online restoring a large number of outages. National Grid reports Nantucket has 1100 remaining outages and power is also being steadily restored there.

2/25/ 5:00 pm – Eversource data on when power should be 99% restored, town by town in ABC order:

Barnstable: Friday Feb 27, 11:59 pm
Bourne: Friday Feb 27, 4 pm
Brewster: Friday Feb 27, 11:59 pm
Chatham: Friday Feb 27, 4 pm
Dennis: Friday Feb 27, 11:59 pm
Eastham: Thursday Feb 26, 6 pm
Falmouth: Friday Feb 27, 6 pm
Harwich: Friday Feb 27, 11:59 pm
Mashpee: Thursday Feb 26, 11:59 pm
Orleans: Friday Feb 27, 4 pm
Provincetown: Friday Feb 27, 4 pm
Sandwich: Thursday Feb 26, 6 pm
Truro: Thursday Feb 26, 11:59 pm
Wellfleet: Friday Feb 27, 11:59 pm
Yarmouth: Friday Feb 27, 11:59 pm

2/25/ 2:30 pm– Gasoline is in limited supply due to both power outages and delays in fuel delivery. The following represent some stations reported to have generators and actively pumping gas, in ABC order by town:

– Barnstable: BJs, Iyannough Rd Hyannis, Mobile Rte 132 Hyannis, Shell, Cotuit Rd;
-Bourne:Stop & Shop, Cranberry Hwy, Mobile, Head of the Bay Rd;
-Dennis: Shell, Rt 134;
-Eastham: Cumberland Farms, Rt 6;
-Harwich: Mobile, Pleasant Lake Ave., Harwich Gas Diesel & Propane, Main Street, Cumberland Farms Main St Harwich Port, ValueMart, Rt 28 Harwich Port;
-Mashpee: Shope & Shop, Falmouth Rd.;
-Orleans: Sunoco, Orleans Rd., Mobile, Rt 6A, CITGO, Rt 6A;
-Sandwich: Speedway, Cotuit Rd, Speedway, Rt 130, Shell, Sandwich Rd, Gulf, Rt 6A East Sandwich;
-Yarmouth: Shell, Main St

2/25 1 pm – The county reports the following daytime warming stations. Please note that these represent short term locations to warm up and charge battery devices, not overnight sheltering sites. ABC order by town:
– Barnstable: West Barnstable Community Building, Meetinghouse Way;
– Bourne: Bourne Police Department, Armory Rd.;
– Brewster: Brewster Town Hall, Rte 6A;
– Chatham: Chatham Community Center, Main St.;
– Falmouth: The Lawrence School, Lakeview Ave;
– Harwich: Public Safety Facility, Sisson Rd, Monomoy Regional High School, Oak Street;
– Orleans: Orleans Town Hall, School Rd.;
– Sandwich: Sandwich Center for Active Living, Quaker Meetinghouse Rd.;
– Truro: Truro Community Center, Standish Way;
– Wellfleet: Wellfleet Fire Station, Lawrence Rd.;
– Yarmouth: Family Table Collaborative, Rte 28 (former Riverway Lobster House).

2/25/ noon – Now that public safety concerns, such as live wires and road hazards are largely under control power restoration efforts gain traction. As of noon, 118,000 customers remain without power down from a high of more than 150,000. Eversource hopes for near-full restoration by midnight on Friday.

2/25/ 11 am – Cape Cod RTA available for shelter transportation. Call 508-385-1430 and select Option 2 to request a ride.

2/24/ 7 pm – The Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Harwich (just off exit 82/exit 10) will be opening at 8pm tonight as a regional shelter. Other regional shelters include DY Regional High School on Station Ave Yarmouth and Barnstable Intermediate School on Rte 28 Hyannis.

2/24/6 pm – Locally, the Provincetown Community Center and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Center are also open for sheltering.

2/24/ 5 pm- Multiple towns are opening up a variety of short term warming stations. Contact your local police or fire to find out what is available in your specific town.

2/24/ noon – State travel ban in Barnstable County lifted. Roads may still be difficult to travel, however.

2/24/10 pm – The Nauset Regional High School location shelter has closed due to heating issues and is no longer available; contact your local police or fire for options on the Lower and Outer Cape.

When was the blizzard official?

According to NOAA and the National weather Service airport data, Falmouth reach blizzard conditions at 5am, Hyannis at 8:30 am, and Chatham at 9:25am as the storm rolled across the larger region. Blizzard conditions mean 1/4 mile or less of visibility and wind speeds of 35 mph or higher for at least three hours, regardless of the amount of snowfall.

How much snow fell?

But the snow did fall – and continues to fall overnight on Cape Cod. Locations across the south coast and Rhode Island received even more snow than the Cape: Bristol County recorded more than 30 inches of the white flakes in places and snowfall at TF Greene Airport in Rhode Island broke Blizzard of 1978 records with a whopping 31.8 inches by 1 pm – with snow still falling.

On the Cape, snowfall varied but most places received between 12 and 17 inches by sunset, with the snow continuing to fall overnight.

How much damage happened to the power infrastructure?

The heavy nature of this storm’s snow combined with powerful winds created extreme damage to the region’s power infrastructure. At times during the day, online outage reports showed between 70 to 100 percent loss in Cape Cape towns. Cape Cod Hospital remained open but ran on generators for most of the day.  At 6:30 pm, Eversource reported 155,000 customers without power in Barnstable County.

What happens next with power?

In the morning, utility trucks will begin staging restoration efforts from the Falmouth Walmart lot, the Cape Cod Mall lot, and the Yarmouth Eversource work center and the company expects reinforcement from western MA and New Hampshire arrive on the Cape to assist with the massive repair work ahead. Given the scope of the damage, all power may not be restored until later in the week.

Is there a driving ban?

A driving ban went into effect in Barnstable County for the afternoon and overnight, limited driving to public safety and other essential workers, as road continue to be dangerous and even plows and utility trucks reported getting stuck in the snow.

Are shelters open?

Three regional shelters opened.  Nauset Regional High School in Eastham did not remain open, but Barnstable Intermediate School in Barnstable, and DY High School in Yarmouth are still operational.  In addition, some towns may be opening up local warming sites.

Those seeking shelter due to unsafe conditions or medical need can contact their local fire or police department for help with transportation and should remember to bring all needed medicine and medical equipment with them.

What do the next few days look like?

The storm should be subsiding tomorrow but clean up work continues. Tuesday night brings hard freeze temperatures in the teens, but unlike the storm in January the cold will not stay and an expected warm up on Wednesday should help bring the regional back to normal.

Stay warm, stay safe, and send us your favorite storm videos to editor@capecodnews.org !

Teresa Martin

Editor, Cape Cod News.org

capecodnewsorg@gmail.com

For more information:

Barnstable County Emergency Planning Committee (BCEPC) update pages