Temperatures dipped so low in Manhattan the city froze itself a spot in history.
Today marks the coldest Jan. 7 in 118 years as Central Park fell to just 5 degrees, according to NBC 4 News, breaking a record set in 1896 when the temps hit 6 degrees.
The cold weather barreled into the city Tuesday, and officials warns residents that things were going to get pretty chilly.
“It’s going to get very cold, very quickly,” Mayor de Blasio warned. “We will get down to the single digits. With wind chill, we will be below zero in many parts of the city.”
This cold snap caused by a “polar vortex” carrying bone-chilling Arctic air was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 50 mph, hitting the city just as millions of New Yorkers are making the Tuesday morning commute to work.
“We are talking bitter, dangerous cold,” said meteorologist David Stark of the National Weather Service. “After that, temperatures will rise slowly, and I mean slowly. It will only get into the teens by Tuesday afternoon.”
Reports suggest that the cold is being blamed for at least 15 deaths so far.
So far, there are no plans to close schools, but the city is already preparing for the worst and Sanitation Department workers are on 12-hour shifts.
The Department of Homeless Services has issued a code blue alert, ramping up efforts to get people off the streets and into shelters.
The MTA and the Port Authority are also preparing for the extreme cold. And the utilities are bringing in extra bodies to deal with potential power outages.
Alternate-side parking will be suspended Tuesday and senior centers “will be open only for lunch,” the mayor said.
JetBlue halted flights in and out of New York City, Newark and Boston because of cold weather conditions plaguing the rest of the country.
It is set to resume flights around 10 a.m. Tuesday, officials said.
Airlines canceled more than 3,700 flights within the U.S. by late Monday, bringing the three-day total to more than 8,700 flights scrapped, according to the tracking service FlightAware.com.
“Tuesday will be the coldest day of the week,” Stark said. “Wednesday we are going to see temperatures in the low 20s and start to see more moderation on Thursday, when it gets into the 30s. It should be close to 40 by Friday.”
Jaouad Qallouj, who runs the Famous Halal Food Cart on 43rd St. and 10th Ave., said he is “going to stay close to the stove.”
“The last time I was in weather that cold, I was 14,” said Qallouj, 26. “I’m going to bring an extra heater, too. I have to be here, but I think it’s going to be slow tomorrow. Not many people are going to be out in the streets.”
Brooklyn mom Sarah Kritzler said she had a simple cold survival plan as she pushed one child in a stroller and clutched the hand of another while hurrying to her home in Williamsburg.
“Just have to stay inside and bundle up,” she said. “I might put an extra little sweater on the little one if it’s cold. I have no plans to leave tonight, so I’ll just stay inside.”
The freezing temperatures come on the heels of a wacky weather cycle in New York City that started with last Thursday’s snowstorm. That was followed by a brief warmup which, in turn, was followed by torrential rains, then more cold. Monday’s high in the city reached a balmy 54.
And when dawn breaks Tuesday, it is likely to be colder in Gotham than in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the forecast calls for a high of just 10 degrees.
Boo-hoo for the Big Apple, right? Not from anybody who lives in the middle of the country.
They were already being tortured Monday by a freight train of frigid, dense Arctic air that has caused at least four deaths, forced thousands of businesses and schools to close, canceled more than 8,000 flights and turned a swath of America stretching from Montana to Alabama — and even parts of northern Florida — into an icebox.
In Chicago, a record for cold was set Monday morning when the temperature dipped down to 16 below zero at O’Hare Airport. Half of the flights out of town were canceled because of frozen fuel lines.
And that was after Chicago was socked with nearly a foot of snow — the most since a February 2011 storm that shut down the city’s famed Lake Shore Drive.
Hardy Chicagoans reacted to the infernal cold by canceling school, bundling up and carrying on.
“No big whoop,” said Anna Zolkowski Sobor, who lives on the northwest side. “French toast casserole in the oven. Starting on the laundry next. Looking forward to folding all the warm towels.”
Chris Toczycki said he had a longer-than-usual schlep to his job in the Loop.
“Other than a three-hour commute to work and my pants sticking to my long johns, it’s a beautiful day,” he said. “Noticed that the meter maids were still writing tickets. This must be Chicago.”
Cabbie Elnur Toktombetov was cashing in on the cold.
“People are really not comfortable with this weather,” said Toktombetov, as he sat in his toasty Toyota sipping hot tea and noshing on doughnuts. “They’re really happy to catch the cab. And I notice they really tip well.”
Deeper into the Midwest, there was even more extreme cold and also snow that forced officials to ground thousands of plane flights.
Even the HIGH temperatures were brutal. In Fargo, N.D., it was 15 below zero. It was minus-19 in Madison, Wis., 16 below zero in Minneapolis, and 10 below in Indianapolis.
Comertown, Mont., recorded a wind chill of 63 below.
“I know the roads look clear, the sun’s out and it all looks nice,” Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said Monday. “But it’s still minus-40 in wind chill — deadly temperatures. So we want to be very, very careful.”
Back in New York, a letter carrier who declined to give her name said her strategy for dealing with the cold is a matter of mind over mercury.
“I try not to think about the cold,” she said. “I just try to concentrate on my work. When I’m working, I don’t feel the cold. I’m here whether or not it’s cold, I’m here for all types of weather. I’ve seen it all.”
With Jennifer Fermino, Edgar Sandoval and News Wire Services
