Freezing temperatures are coming in parts of NY, NJ – NBC New York

On By Littum

Tuesday morning brought the coldest temperatures Central Park has seen since 2023. Wednesday morning is set to be even colder, likely bringing the first single-digit readings Central Park has seen in nearly two years.

In fact, most of the region will wake up to air temperatures in the single digits on Wednesday. Further east, parts of Long Island barely manage to stay in the double digits. And inland, much of North Jersey and the Hudson Valley will be below freezing.

And that’s before wind chill is factored in.

Fortunately, winds Wednesday morning, and most of the week, will be mostly light. It will be windy from time to time, but nothing like the 40km/h+ gusts we experienced earlier this month.

Anytime you combine even light winds with this level of cold, temperatures feel very dangerous, very quickly. Because of this, the National Weather Service has issued Cold Weather Advisories for much of the tri-state west of New York City. The advisory warns of temperatures as low as -15°F through at least noon Wednesday.

Such low wind chill temperatures can quickly lead to hypothermia or frostbite if you are not adequately prepared.

Dress in layers; do not leave skin exposed. It’s definitely worth fighting to make sure your kids wear their coats this week.

The mornings will be undeniably cold and the afternoons will bring some relief. Temperatures through midweek barely make it out of the teens; that means high temperatures 5 to 10 degrees colder than average for this time of year. And with air temperatures in the teens, feel-like temperatures will be stuck in the single digits for most of the day.

And this arctic air is not only cold, it is also incredibly dry. Dew points Wednesday will hover near zero. When the air is so dry, your body loses moisture to your surroundings very quickly. Keep your lip balm, moisturizer and favorite water bottle nearby. Even if you don’t feel thirsty, it’s important to stay hydrated.

But as brutal as this week’s cold will feel, it won’t last forever. At the end of the week, temperatures will slowly begin to rise. Although it will be until the weekend before we finally see them climb above freezing.

So enjoy the scenic snow while it’s still around: the melt begins this weekend.