So long, snow. Hello, deep freeze.
Mayor de Blasio, after digging himself out Friday from the year’s first snowstorm, braced for a bitterly frigid Saturday with the rest of his 8 million new constituents.
The National Weather Service predicted temperatures dropping to a bone-chilling 5 degrees, with a subzero wind chill.
Photo by Kevin P. Cpughlin/New York Daily News
“The snow may have stopped, but we are not out of the woods,” warned de Blasio. “If you must go outside, dress warmly and be extremely careful.”
On Friday, the temperature hit a frosty 10 degrees — chilly, but considerably warmer than the record of minus-4 degrees set on Jan. 3, 1879.
“It’s the coldest it has been all year,” de Blasio told a news conference shortly after shoveling the sidewalk outside his Brooklyn home. “I don’t want anybody to underestimate how cold it is.”
CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS
It takes more than a few inches of the wet stuff to dampen New Yorkers’ spirit. A man makes a snow angel in the middle of Times Square on Friday.
RELATED: DANTE DE BLASIO ON SHOVEL DUTY AFTER SNOWSTORM
The mayor was helped in his shoveling duties by son Dante — one of the 1.1 million city school students enjoying a snow day.
“I’ve been doing it for many years,” said a bundled-up de Blasio, wielding a shovel early Friday before his son emerged. “It’s time to keep up the tradition.”
Joe Marino/New York Daily News
The mayor’s son, Dante de Blasio, helped his dad with shoveling duties in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Dad acknowledged the 16-year-old encouraged the school cancellation: “If Dante was not lobbying me, there’d be something wrong with him.”
The wind-whipped storm dumped 6 inches on Central Park, although the totals were higher outside Manhattan. Bedford Park in the Bronx was blanketed with almost 12 inches, South Ozone Park in Queens was hit with just over 10 inches, and Bergen Beach in Brooklyn was digging out from about 9 inches.
“It’s crazy out there,” said Rodney Bissessar, 41, of the roads in Queens. “It’s extremely slippery. I think they’re doing the best they can with the plows.”
Marcus Santos// New York Daily News
Snow covers the streets on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Friday. After nearly 600 regional flight cancellations, John F. Kennedy International Airport reopened about 10 a.m. Friday following snow-related visibility issues on the runways.
Bissessar, on his way to work in Harlem, said the conditions were treacherous Friday morning.
RELATED: MTA EXPRESS SUBWAY SERVICE RETURNS AFTER SNOWSTORM AS TRANSIT DELAYS FADE
“I’ve seen a few accidents, and I’ve seen people sliding all over the place,” he said. “I’m just trying to stay away from them and go nice and slow.”
Joe Marino/New York Daily News
Mayor de Blasio picks up a copy of the Daily News before shoveling outside of his Park Slope, Brooklyn, home.
The weekend forecast offered a brief respite, with temperatures climbing into the mid-40s on Sunday.
By Monday night, the shivering city was expecting more single-digit readings. A low of 5 degrees on Monday, a low of 9 on Tuesday.
De Blasio — in a blue “Office of the Mayor” windbreaker — announced that 100% of the city’s main roads were plowed by Friday morning.
Bruce Cotler for New York Daily News
Stranded passengers could only wait at JFK on Friday as hundreds of flights were canceled.
“I’m proud of the people who work for this city,” he said. “We’re not out of this yet. As a great man said, ‘It ain’t over till it’s over.’ But I like what I see in terms of the vigor and intensity of the city response.”
The notoriously late-rising mayor said he was receiving updates on the weather and the cleanup on a 4 a.m. conference call.
RELATED: ‘HERCULES’ SNOWSTORM BLAMED FOR AT LEAST 9 DEATHS ACROSS EASTERN U.S.
John Minchillo/AP
A young girl makes a snow angel in Times Square. The snowstorm dropped 6 inches of snow in Central Park.
And he offered a good grade for the handling of his first weather crisis.
“I give everyone an A for extraordinary effort and extraordinary effectiveness.”
Garbage collection was suspended until all the snow is cleared from city streets.
John Minchillo/AP
Pedestrians brave wind and snow as they cross Fifth Ave. on Friday. City school students enjoyed a snow day after the storm.
The mayor also announced suspension of alternate side of the street parking for Saturday — although parking meters remained in effect.
“Centuries from now, a new civilization will look back, and they’ll find our parking meters are in effect,” the mayor joked.
There were three snow-related fatalities in New York State, including one victim killed in a Long Island car wreck, and at least 13 deaths reported nationwide.
Frank Franklin II/AP
New Yorkers clear the way for a return to normalcy after the city saw as much as a foot of snow in places like Bedford Park, Bronx. A man operates a snowblower in Manhattan on Friday.
RELATED: SNOWSTORM CLOSES NYC SCHOOLS, CANCELS FLIGHTS, CUOMO ORDERS HIGHWAYS CLOSED
A Philadelphia worker was crushed when a 100-foot-high pile of road salt collapsed and trapped him.
Two barges broke free from the Tappan Zee Bridge construction site in high winds, and one traveled 10 miles downstream before it was recovered, officials said.
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News
Passengers board a crowded subway train at a Union Square station on Friday. Mass-transit problems were largely fading as of Friday morning, though Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road operated on scaled-back schedules.
The snowstorm swept along the East Coast, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow in Boxford, Mass., and 18 inches in Boston. Schools as far south as Washington were closed.
In Astoria Park, Isabela Vanik and her father took advantage of their sudden leisure time to do a little sledding.
“This is so much fun,” said the 11-year-old fifth-grader. “I love snow days. I don’t mind the cold. I put on a lot of layers.”
So, as it turns out, does the mayor — wearing a white T-shirt, a blue button-down shirt and his jacket.
RELATED: A LIST OF WHAT’S CLOSED ON FRIDAY AFTER THE SNOW STORM
He whipped open the jacket in a mock striptease when reporters quizzed him about bundling up.
“Do you want me to go farther?” he joked.
The weather caused major problems at the three local airports, with nearly 1,000 flights canceled, said Port Authority spokesman Ron Marisco.
JFK Airport reopened about 10 a.m. after wind-blown snow created zero visibility on the runways.
And delays of more than three hours continued into the afternoon at Newark Airport.
The city’s mass transit was up and running with only scattered delays.
The Long Island Rail Road was operating on a weekend schedule, while Metro-North was running on a Saturday schedule.
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