January 26, 2026 NEW YORK, NY The honeymoon phase for New York City’s new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, just collided with a wall of ice and fire.

Marking his 25th day in City Hall, the weekend of January 24-25 transformed from a routine "First 100 Days" check-in into a high-stakes gauntlet of executive leadership. As nearly a foot of snow blanketed the five boroughs, the city didn't just see a storm—it saw a Mayor testing the limits of his "activist-in-chief" identity.

The "Snow Fighting Force" vs. Mother Nature

New York is currently staring down eight to 12 inches of accumulation. Mamdani spent the weekend on a media blitz, notably appearing alongside legendary meteorologist Jim Cantore in a snowy Central Park.

While the Mayor touted "the largest snow-fighting force in the nation"—boasting 2,000 plows and 700 salt spreaders—the real story is the city's radical transparency. Mamdani admitted that five deaths were recorded on Saturday alone; while storm-related causes are unconfirmed, the figure served as a grim backdrop to his safety pleas.

What you need to know for the week ahead:

• Remote Learning: Traditional snow days are dead. Students will shift to remote learning on Monday. (Mamdani joked that disappointed kids are welcome to pelt him with snowballs if they see him).

• Code Blue: Outreach teams are canvassing for the unhoused.

• Warming Centers: Ten centers (two per borough) are now operational as temperatures remain dangerously low.

Tragedy in the Bronx: A Gas Tank Inferno

The weather wasn't the only emergency on the Mayor’s desk. On Saturday, a high-rise apartment in the Bronx became a scene of devastation. A gas tank explosion ignited a fire that claimed one life and left 15 others fighting for their lives in the hospital.

Mamdani shifted from logistics to grief counselor, visiting the reception center for displaced families to offer support. The incident has already sparked renewed conversations about building safety and infrastructure during the winter months.

The Political Firestorm: "Abolish ICE"

While managing local disasters, Mamdani didn't shy away from the national stage. Following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis—the second such killing this month—Mamdani doubled down on his most controversial stance yet.

Contradicting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s account of the event, Mamdani took to social media and the airwaves to repeat his call to abolish ICE, labeling the agency a source of "terror" in American cities. This bold move sparked an immediate protest in lower Manhattan, where demonstrators braved sub-zero temperatures to echo the Mayor’s sentiment.

The Verdict: Day 25

For a mayor whose socialist platform was built on radical change, this weekend was a proof-of-concept. He managed the "bread and butter" of NYC politics—plowing the streets—while simultaneously pivoting to the front lines of a national civil rights debate.

Is this a mayor who can do it all, or is the city spread too thin? With five inches already on the ground and more on the way, the answer will be written in the slush of Monday morning's commute.