Here’s how cold the cold has actually been
It gets to a point where the actual temperature doesn’t truly matter anymore. Whether it’s 5 degrees or -5 degrees, the cold seems to bring the same type of painful sting to your face. Your car still takes just as long to start up, and your coffee still loses its heat just as quickly. But this February’s cold has been more impressive than anything we have seen recently. While, by and large, we have been able to dodge the prolific snowfall that has buried New England, our area has not been able to escape the cold which has entrenched the Northern 1/3 of the United States.
Quantitatively, the cold looks even more impressive. While New York City’s Central Park didn’t get below zero (it fell to 2 degrees last week), the intensity and duration of the cold has brought the monthly data to near record numbers. The Hudson River has frozen over in many spots. As the locals will tell you — that’s how you know it’s really cold. Monthly temperature averages are currently hovering between 10 and 15 degrees below normal throughout New York City and New Jersey.