Northeast warm up: Boston, New York, Philadelphia get relief from life-threatening cold
Temperatures are finally creeping back to seasonal averages across the Northeast, with some places forecast to crack the 40s on Wednesday. This comes after days of wind chills 10 to 15 degrees below zero over the weekend for major metro areas like Boston, New York City and Philadelphia. On top of the historic cold, this has been the snowiest winter in recent years for many places across the region.
NEW YORK – Temperatures are finally creeping back to seasonal averages across the Northeast, after days of wind chills 10 to 15 degrees below zero over the weekend for major metro areas like Boston, New York City and Philadelphia.
On top of the historic cold, this has been the snowiest winter in recent years for many places across the region. The prolonged cold has prevented large snow piles from recent storms, as well as January’s historic winter storm, from melting, and they remain a major hazard for residents and drivers.
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Scituate, MA – February 1: A person shovels plowed snow out of their driveway on February 1, 2026.
((Photo by Finn Gomez/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)) -
A person crosses the street in Copley Square during a snowstorm in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 25, 2026.
(Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images) -
FILE – Boston, MA – January 17: A commuter is bundled for the cold outside South Station.
((Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)) -
FILE – PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 27: A general view of the exterior of Citizens Bank Park with snow during stadium shoot at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
((Photo by Denis Kennedy/MLB Photos via Getty Images)) -
FILE – The ice-covered Ohio River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026.
(Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images) -
U.S. Coast Guard cutters are busy trying to keep New York’s iced-over waterways moving, including freeing an NYPD Harbor Unit vessel that was beset by ice floes Tuesday.
(U.S. Coast Guard Northeast/Facebook) -
People walk in the snow in Central Park in New York City on December 27, 2025. New York City received around 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow overnight. Airlines canceled 1,500 US flights during the peak holiday travel period Friday, with severe winter storm warnings and heavy snow forecast across parts of the Midwest and northeast. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images)
Some parts of the Interstate 95 corridor, including New York City, are forecast to crack the 40s on Wednesday.
High temperatures will remain in the 30s and low 40s through the weekend.
(FOX Weather)
The coldest air of the season thus far blasted the Northeast and New England through early Monday, capping a weekend of life-threatening cold across the region, with many places seeing dangerous wind chill temperatures that approached -30 degrees in some places.
The National Weather Service (NWS) had issued rare Extreme Cold Warnings for more than 43 million people through Sunday evening across the interior Northeast and the coast.
(FOX Weather)
The wind chill was the main driver of the freezing conditions as powerful winds out of the northwest ushered in air associated with the polar vortex.
Wind chill temperatures dropped to -16 in New York City on Saturday night. Port Jervis on New York’s Long Island felt like -32 degrees.
Even without factoring wind chill, Watertown, New York recorded the second-coldest February temperature in the state’s history on Sunday, dropping to -36 degrees.
(FOX Weather)
Municipalities across the region opened emergency warming shelters.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said last Wednesday that at least 13 people have died since January due, in part, to hypothermia.
As temperatures warm, the city is warning people to watch out for falling and melting ice, among other hazards.
WHAT IS AN ALBERTA CLIPPER, MANITOBA MAULER, SASKATCHEWAN SCREAMER?
Despite the gradual warm up, many harbors across the Northeast remain covered in ice floes.
Some ferry lines are suspended in Boston, while all New York City ferry service was shut down on Tuesday.
SNOW BLASTS NORTHEAST, GREAT LAKES AS EXTREME COLD GRIPS MILLIONS THIS WEEKEND
Beyond the weekend, temperatures across the winter-weary Northeast will likely stay above average, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.
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