Biting cold to test New Year’s revelers; some events iced
Dress in layers, lay off the booze and bring hand warmers. Those are some of the tips offered for the huge crowd of revelers expected in Times Square on Sunday for what could be one of the coldest New Year’s Eve ball drops on record.
Brutal weather has iced plans for scores of events in the Northeast from New Year’s Eve through New Year’s Day, but not in New York City, where people will start gathering in Times Square up to nine hours before the famous ball drop.
“Hundreds of thousands have withstood very cold weather over the years for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we expect this year to be no different,” said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, which stages the event.
The coldest New Year’s Eve in Times Square came in 1917, when it was 1 degree at midnight. This year, the forecast is for 11 degrees with a wind chill around zero, which would tie for second with 1962.
Health officials are advising people to cover all exposed skin, and wear a hat, scarf and gloves. Drinking alcohol is discouraged because it causes the body to lose heat faster.
Extra New York Fire Department personnel are going to be on hand to provide medical support, and a National Weather Service meteorologist will be on site with the city’s emergency management officials to monitor weather conditions.
In other areas gripped by the cold, some events are being canceled or reconsidered. The annual Lobster Dip at Old Orchard Beach in Maine has been rescheduled for the first time in 30 years. Organizers of the Penguin Plunge in Narragansett, R.I., say it’s still on for New Year’s Day but advised participants to “use their good judgment” and avoid taking the plunge if they have a medical condition or have been sick.
With temperatures expected to reach only 9 degrees in Springfield, Ill., on Sunday, the organizers of its annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display have decided to cancel this year’s show.
The village of Orchard Park near Buffalo, N.Y., has canceled its New Year’s Eve event because subzero temperatures have been forecast. “With frigid weather, the chance of a water line break is higher, and I’d rather have my public works crew fixing it than hoisting a ball up to drop,” said Mayor Jo Ann Litwin Clinton.
Forecasters on Saturday also issued winter weather advisories across much of the Deep South ahead of plunging temperatures that are expected to last for the next several days.
The advisories covered eastern Louisiana and most of Mississippi and Alabama. The National Weather Service warned that freezing rain and a wintry mix of precipitation was possible through the weekend. In Georgia, advocates for the homeless feared the unusually long stretch of frigid weather for Atlanta could kill some homeless people in the city. Temperatures are expected to plunge into the teens Monday and Tuesday night.