Global Cooling: Tri-State Mired In Coldest Winter In Decades

Keep your heavy coats, hats, scarves, and gloves handy! You’re going to need them over and over again as these frigid, bone-chilling temperatures are here to stay in the tri-state. Experts are predicting one of the coldest winters in decades.

Bursting water mains are sure sign of bitter cold, and already there have been several in the area. Temperatures so far this winter have been unseasonably low for Green Bay, let alone New York.

“Single digit wind chills – that’s below normal for really anybody in the contiguous U.S.,” said CBS 2 Meteorologist John Elliott. “So yeah, it’s, ‘welcome to Canada, mate!'”

And it’s not just here. Vermont has seen record snowfall. Near St. Louis, ice chunks choke the Mississippi River. And in New Orleans, shelters have opened to warm the thousands of homeless.

Elliott said the deep freeze shows now sign of letting up anytime soon.

“The jet stream normally keeps the really cold air well to our north. It’s relaxed and it’s bringing us cold air all the way down into Florida. Well we’re in the bull’s eye of that so we’re stuck in this cold rut,” he said.

According to Elliott and others in the weather community, what that means is this is just the tip of the (no pun intended) iceberg.

For those folks who make their livings outside, it could be late February before they begin to thaw out. But those we spoke to say they’re ready.

“I’m committed to it, I love it, I’m in the park and people really want to go in the park,” said rickshaw driver Garth Burton.

For these intrepid souls, meteorologists have an acronym that’s easy to remember: C.O.L.D.

“C – cover up; O – avoid overexertion; L – for layers; and D – it’s crucial to stay dry,” said Elliott.

As for the forecast here in the tri-state, temperatures are expected to “warm” up into the mid-30s for today and Thursday, but a major cooldown is expected come Friday when highs likely won’t escape the low- to mid-20s.

The normal temperatures for this time of year are in the mid- to upper-30s. So far this 2010 winter season, the average temperature in New York has been 31.3 degrees.

{CBS-NY/WCBS 880/Matzav.com Newscenter}