Kamal Ghorui
New York City recorded temperatures colder than parts of Antarctica on Sunday after life-threatening winds swept across much of the Northeast and New England over the weekend.Temperatures hit 3 degrees in the city on Sunday, with bitter wind chills dragging the real feel temperatures to 14 degrees below zero. Parts of the northeast reported wind chills that hit 40-below, New York Post reported.Rare Extreme Cold Warnings were issued for more than 43 million people, including major metro areas such as New York and Philadelphia, through Sunday evening by the National Weather Service.“The last time [New York City] had a warning issued similar to what we have this morning was in 2004,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan said Friday.Antartica, by contrast, was a balmy 21 degrees at McMurdo Station, 18 degrees warmer than New York City.New Yorkers can thank a blast of Arctic air that is heading south from the frozen tundra north of Hudson Bay, Canada, for the latest round of winter misery.“In many parts of the Northeast away from the coast, this prolonged stretch of cold is the most extreme in at least the last decade and, in some areas, the last two decades,” AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecasting Operations Dan DePodwin said.“Many locations will end up with a streak of days below freezing that falls into the top 10 longest such streaks on record,” he added.This weekend was set to be the coldest day in what has already been a record cold snap, the worst in over two decades.“The deep freeze is returning to the northeastern United States this weekend,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said.“The combination of Arctic air and gusty winds could make it feel colder than any other point so far this winter for many in the region,” he added.So far this year, at least 17 people died outside in New York City, with 13 confirmed to have perished from hypothermia.Despite the rising death toll, Mayor Mamdani refused to force homeless people off the streets and into shelters.Warming shelters were opened in other major cities including Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Boston, where Mayor Michelle Wu issued a cold weather emergency for the city lasting through Monday.
