Extreme wind chills threaten life as temperatures plunge below zero and warming centers overflow
As an arctic cold front gripped New York City in early February 2026, temperatures and wind chills reached dangerous extremes that medical professionals warn can cause frostbite on exposed human skin in as little as five minutes. The National Weather Service issued an extreme cold warning for Saturday morning through Sunday at 1 p.m., with forecasters warning that wind chills could reach as low as negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a public health emergency and activated what he called “all hands on deck” response, reopening public schools as warming centers, deploying school nurses to street outreach, and piloting new programs to bring vulnerable individuals off the streets.
The Science of Extreme Exposure
Frostbite occurs when skin and tissue freeze due to prolonged exposure to extreme cold. The condition begins with numbness and pale or waxy-appearing skin and can progress to tissue death and amputation if untreated. Hypothermia, a more generalized lowering of core body temperature, causes confusion, drowsiness, and ultimately death. Wind chill, the combination of temperature and wind speed, accelerates both conditions. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey explained that even though actual air temperatures would reach only the single digits, “the feels-like temperatures, the wind chills, will be around negative 10 to negative 15 degrees.”
Saturday Night’s Brutal Forecast
The forecast called for Saturday night lows around 5 or 6 degrees in Central Park, but more importantly, sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour with gusts up to 50 miles per hour would push wind chills to negative 20 or lower. “Wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 5 minutes,” according to NYC Emergency Management warnings. Daytime temperatures on Saturday and Sunday would hover in the low teens to low 20s, with wind chill values remaining dangerously low throughout both days. For homeless individuals and others without adequate shelter, the conditions posed an immediate threat to survival.
Mamdani’s Emergency Response
Mayor Mamdani announced a sweeping set of emergency measures to address the crisis. The city reopened 10 public schools as warming centers, significantly expanding the number of available sites where people could seek heat and shelter. The Department of Homeless Services deployed school nurses and other healthcare workers to conduct street outreach, bringing medical resources directly to vulnerable populations. The city also piloted a new program pairing formerly homeless New Yorkers with professional outreach workers in an effort to encourage people to accept shelter.
Mandatory Shelter Protocols
Under extreme cold protocols, the city has authority to involuntarily transport individuals to shelter if they pose a danger to themselves or others. In dangerous cold, the very conditions themselves are deemed sufficient to meet that standard. City officials reported involuntarily transporting 27 people to shelter and making over 1,250 placements into shelters and safe havens since January 19, approximately double the previous night’s rate.
The Human Crisis Behind the Numbers
Behind the statistics lay individual stories. The New York Public Radio outlet Gothamist reported finding about 20 people huddled beneath blankets at one mobile warming center bus outside the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on Saturday evening. On other nights, the reporting found that warming center buses sat empty despite being deployed to areas where homeless people were known to gather, suggesting outreach and awareness remained challenging even with emergency services in place. A 94-year-old Brooklyn woman was reported missing amid the freezing temperatures, last seen Saturday night inside a subway station in Bushwick.
Warning Signs and Symptoms
City officials distributed information about recognizing frostbite and hypothermia. Frostbite appears as numbness or pale or waxy-appearing skin, often beginning on fingers, toes, ears, and the nose. Hypothermia presents as shivering, confusion, drowsiness, and slurred speech. Officials urged New Yorkers to call 911 if they observed these symptoms and to check on neighbors, particularly elderly people living alone and individuals experiencing homelessness.
Heat and Hot Water at Risk
The extreme cold also strained building heating systems. City records showed nearly 80,000 complaints to the 311 system in January related to lack of heat and hot water in rental units. After eliminating duplicates, roughly 37,000 unique complaints remained, the highest monthly total ever recorded, surpassing the previous January 2025 record by approximately 3,000 complaints.
Landlord Obligations and Enforcement
New York City law requires landlords to provide adequate heat from October 1 through May 31. During heating season, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., the inside temperature must be at least 68 degrees. From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the inside temperature must be at least 62 degrees regardless of outside temperature. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) worked to respond to complaints, closing over 12,000 heat-related complaints in the two weeks prior to the extreme cold event.
Tenant Protections and Remedies
Tenants experiencing heat outages are instructed to report problems to landlords first, then to call 311 if not resolved. The city can issue violations, levy fines, and even reduce rent for units without adequate heat. However, these remedies, while important, require time to implement and do not immediately restore warmth to cold apartments.
Wind and Snow Preparation
In addition to cold temperatures, strong winds create additional hazards. Wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour can cause blowing snow, reduce visibility, and create dangerous driving conditions. The city suspended alternate side parking rules through the weekend to facilitate snow removal, but parking meters remained in effect.
Looking Ahead
The extreme cold warning was set to expire at 1 p.m. Sunday, but cold conditions were expected to linger through the week with temperatures remaining well below normal. National Weather Service provides updated forecasts. CDC cold safety offers health guidance. NYC Department of Health provides cold weather information. NYC Homeless Services coordinates emergency shelter response.
