News: Record Low Temperatures On Long Island
(Long Island, N.Y.)More snow is coming from Canadian southeastern winds and is supposed to reach Long Island late Tuesday night. It’s unclear how much snowfall will hit the island, or how much of it will be mixed with rain. The storm is supposed to continue into Wednesday morning.
As of Monday, Jan. 24th, a wind chill advisory has been issued in parts of western New York where temperatures are felt at minus forty degrees Fahrenheit. The National Weather Service in Upton reported a temperature of one degree this morning. The high was just fifteen, with a wind chill of minus two degrees. The five degree temperature at MacArthur has tied the record low for this date, making today the coldest day of the season.
It was the coldest day in NYC since Jan. 16th, 2009. Temperatures were between zero and six degrees, causing officials to usher a Code Blue. This was done in an effort to get more of the homeless into shelters. Some areas of New England have temperatures that are ten to thirty degrees below normal; some temperatures are as bad as thirty below zero. People all over the tri-state area are being told to prepare for the frigid temperatures.
The night is predicted to be the coldest in several years. While the normal high for this time of year is 38 degrees, tonight’s temperature isn’t expected to exceed twenty-one. Homeless shelters are filling throughout the island, and there has been an increase in emergency fuel applicants due to a combination of the abnormal cold and additional effects of the recession.
The cold has affected transit with the suspension of some services on Amtrak. Metro-North has experienced twenty-five minute delays; New Jersey Transit had delays up to thirty minutes on some lines. Flights were reported to be on or close to schedule, and the MTA has been proactive in ensuring that ice doesn’t hinder the running of transit.
The LIRR has experienced broken rails due to issues raised by the cold weather that have added difficulties on the Babylon line. Babylon, Huntington, Port Washington, and Ronkonkoma lines have gotten top priority due to their popularity. The LIRR plans on devising a separate schedule for snowstorms in order to issue more accurate times during poor weather conditions.
It was just thirteen degrees during last night’s AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh. Upstate New York’s Special Olympics games have been rescheduled to March 5th due to the frigidity. While temperatures have been below freezing on Long Island, they have been as bad as minus twenty along Lake Ontario and minus fifteen across the New York/Pennsylvania border. Two to three inches of snow is possible for northern parts of the state.
In some areas, the cold has already turned deadly. A house burned down in Connecticut after a heat gun was used to unfreeze pipes. Many accidents have occurred as a result of the improperly used heaters. People have left their homes with heating devices still in use and unattended.
Some schools have been delayed/closed in response to the cold. The wind chill in parts of New England made temperatures feel like fifty below. A forty-nine year old man was killed ninety miles northwest of Philadelphia. He had been found sleeping in a car during a night of subzero temperatures. It is unclear why he was found this way. Another death occurred when a woman froze to death in North Haven, Connecticut after slipping on a neighbor’s driveway and falling unconscious in the snow.
The safest thing to do during these bone-chilling temperatures is to stay inside. Like always, it’s suggested that Long Islanders dress in layers if they have to venture outdoors. It’s times like these that Long Islanders sympathize with those who are forced to go about their jobs in the cold.
