Frigid 13 Days Around New York Harbor

Low Temperature Recorded Around Sandy Hook Bay, NJ on Sunday, January 7, 2018

By Joe Reynolds
NY Harbor Nature Blog

The cold snap around New York Harbor continues, at least for one more day. Many people woke up to bone-chilling temperatures in the low single digits or below zero.
 
According to US National Weather Service in Upton, NY, record low temperatures were set at several locations around the New York metropolitan region:
 
Kennedy Airport, NY: 4 degrees F, which breaks the previous record of 6 set in 2014.
 
Islip Airport, NY: 2 degrees F, which breaks the previous record of 6 set in 1968.
 
Bridgeport, CT: -1 degrees F, which breaks the previous record of 7 set in 1988.
 
This is on top of record low temperatures set at the start of the New Year:
 
STATION: NEW RECORD/OLD RECORD (YEAR OF OLD RECORD):
 
LGA: 8/11 (1963)
JFK: 7/9 (1968)
EWR: 6/11 (1997)
BDR: 2/5 (1963)
ISP: 6/8 (1968)

Ice on the move out of the Shrewsbury River and into Sandy Hook Bay, NJ

​It was the second-ever coldest ball drop on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. The temperature was only 10° F. The only New Year’s Eve colder on record in Times Square came in 1907, when it was just 1°.
 
Below freezing temperatures began on Tuesday, December 26, 2017 when the recorded high in Central Park was 28 degrees F. Since then, temperatures have not been above freezing, and some days the temperature struggled to get above 20 degrees F.  Wind chill values often came with with warnings of possible frostbite and hypothermia for people and pets going outdoors. 

But it looks like the bottom has finally been reached. The forecast going forward next week was far more encouraging. Monday is expected to be the first day with above freezing temperatures in 2018. Later in the week, temperatures are expected to climb into the 40s — a relatively balmy feeling for sure after nearly two weeks of arctic weather.

It looks like the Farmer's Almanac called this winter season correctly, at least so far!