Arctic Cold Front Bringing Extreme Cold Friday - Saturday

An arctic cold front will bring extreme cold starting on Friday, February 3rd. Temperatures will drop throughout the day on Friday, with a wind chill close to 0 degrees by Friday afternoon. The coldest temperatures will be on Friday night to Saturday morning, with lows in the single digits. Strong winds gusts around 40 mph will bring the wind chill to -5 to -10 degrees. On Saturday, temperatures will be in the mid 20s. Sunday will have highs in the mid 40s.

Tips to stay safe in the cold:

• If you have to go outdoors, wear dry, warm clothing and cover exposed skin. Keep fingertips, earlobes, and noses covered. Wear a hat, hood, scarf, and gloves. Stay alert for signs of hypothermia, like intense shivering or dizziness, and anyone who experiences these symptoms should seek medical attention or call 911.
• Immediately tell your building superintendent, property manager or owner if you do not have heat. Call 311 if the problem is not fixed quickly and go to a warm place, such as a friend's or family member's home. If you stay at home, wear additional layers of clothing to keep warm.
• Check on family, friends and neighbors who may need help in cold weather especially older adults or people with disabilities — to make sure they are safe inside and have heat.
• If you see someone outside in the cold without housing, call 311. The Department of Social Services is conducting outreach and offering overnight shelter.
• Cold weather means the greatest risk for deadly fires.
• Do not use your oven to heat your home.
• Always keep an eye on space heaters. Never leave children alone in the room where a space heater is running. Turn it off when you are unable to closely monitor it.
• Space heaters need space. Keep space heaters at least 3 ft. from bedding, curtains, and other materials, and always plug your heater directly into the wall.
• Never place an electric blanket on a baby, small child, or anyone who cannot turn off/remove the blanket on their own.
• An operable smoke alarm cuts your chances of dying nearly in half.
• In case of fire, call 911 immediately. Close the door of the apartment behind as you leave.
• Notify NYC is NYC's official emergency notification system. Sign up for free in your language by visiting NYC.gov/NotifyNYC, download the app, or follow @NotifyNYC on Twitter. 
  

What is the City doing?

• The Department of Social Services will increase outreach to New Yorkers without housing. Staff will conduct outreach every 2 hours from 1600 HRS on Friday (2/3) to 0800 HRS Saturday (2/4).
• The Department of Housing Preservation and Development will have extra staff available to handle any No Heat/No Hot Water service requests.
• NYC Department of Transportation will be fully staffed over the weekend to handle any issues with roads and bridges.
• The Department of Buildings will have extra emergency response teams and an on-call engineer from Friday (2/3) into Saturday (2/4).
• The Parks Department will help with DSS's outreach in parks, checking on any New Yorkers without housing.
• NYCHA has increased staff (plumbers/electricians) ready for the weekend in case of any issues with heat or hot water outages. They will post flyers with winter weather tips for residents and have additional staff ready to increase support if necessary.
• The Department of Environmental Protection has staff on hand in case of water main breaks.
• The DOE has reached out to bus companies about the cold start on Friday morning. School facility staff have been alerted about potentional impacts to school boilers. Overnight staff are available in case of any issues.
• The Department of Sanitation has plans in place to protect facilities and equipment.
  

For real-time weather information, visit the National Weather Service at weather.gov/nyc. 

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