NYC Breaks Own 1973 Record for Doing Nothing

New York City has once again outdone itself.

In a city driven to continuously raise — or, more accurately, in this case (and maybe other cases) lower — the proverbial bar, even nothing can be special, especially when it’s the first-ever nothing of its kind. That’s where we find ourselves.

For the first time ever (well, since the record-keeping began in 1869), Central Park has not seen measurable snow prior to Jan. 30 of a winter season. The previous latest-ever first measurable snowfall date in the iconic space was Jan. 29, which happened during the winter of 1972-73, according to National Weather Service records.

In a winter that has seen parts of the country walloped by historic snowstorms, including other areas of the Empire State, NYC has been notably bereft of the white stuff. Bereft might be too light a term, considering we haven’t seen any measurable snow at all thus far — and it’s about to be February. What else can we break?

Well, there’s no sign of any decent snow chance for New York City in the immediate forecast, so our next records to watch include:

Longest snowless streak ever: As of Monday, we’re six days away from eclipsing the No. 1 spot. If we make it to 333 days with no measurable NYC snow that’s the longest streak ever — and it may extend beyond that, too

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Storm Team 4

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Warmest January ever: As of Sunday, we’ve got the second-warmest January on record. We’re just three tens of a degree from tying it, so we’ll see what happens over the next two days

(See more random least snowy NYC winter facts here.)

Storm Team 4

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Snow stays out of the 10-day forecast, but the cold moves in overnight, chilling us down into the 30s through Wednesday. Friday’s highs peak for the entire day just after midnight, then tumble … and tumble, and tumble more. Expect at least single-digit lows in the city on Saturday with dangerous sub-zero wind chills across the entire region.

The temperature rebound, mercifully, is brief, with the mercury expected to climb back above 40 Sunday and stay that way through at least the early part of next week.

Stay with Storm Team 4 for all the latest updates.

News 4

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First Central Park Snow Averages

Yes, we’ve technically seen snowflakes in Central Park this season, but trace amounts of snow mixed in with rain don’t count for weather data recording purposes.

Last winter, Central Park recorded its first measurable snowfall on Dec. 23, although it was only 0.2 inches (so, you see, “trace” amounts are really nothing at all). The average first measurable snowfall in the city is Dec. 7, so we’re already a month behind the average.

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Yes, we’ve technically seen snowflakes this season, but trace amounts of snow mixed in with rain don’t count for weather data recording purposes. (That’s not us, that’s the National Weather Service.)

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