The weather is playing April Fools with New York.
This spring season so far has been deceivingly hotter than normal — and has even included a record-breaking day — much to the surprise of New Yorkers who slammed the recent unpredictable weather as “schizophrenic.”
The past three weeks have been on average 3.3 degrees higher than in years past, though major temperature swings, like Tuesday’s sub freezing temps, make that fact hard to believe.
“It’s like Mother Nature doesn’t quite know what channel to put the TV on,” Christopher Tate, a meteorologist for Fox Weather, told The Post.
“It’s certainly not unusual for New York to experience a couple of 70-degree days [in the spring], but I think it’s more so just the back and forth between 50s, cool, kind of trippy weather versus nice sunny weather in the 70s, and then you get a day of rain in between,” he continued, adding that the perception of a cold spring is “recency bias” due to the very low temperatures in the past week.
While it might not feel as warm, this past Saturday even broke a record for the “warmest morning low” temperature for April in Big Apple history.
Weather stations at LaGuardia and JFK airports each documented 57-degree temperatures, smashing the previous records set at the respective airports of 50 degrees in 2000 and 56 degrees in 1997.
The warmth didn’t last long, however — by Tuesday, the Big Apple had plunged back into 30-degree evening temperatures, leading to a freeze warning being issued for the metro area.
Last month was also unusually windy, with stronger gusts ripping through the five boroughs much more frequently thanks to the much stronger and disastrous storms ravaging the Midwest.
Those “tumultuous” swings — which are surprisingly typical of April weather — are enough to delude New Yorkers out of realizing they are enjoying one of the warmest springs on record, according to Tate.
“It’s schizophrenic!” said Katrina Damkoehler of Kensington, who was shocked to hear she had been living through a warmer-than-average season.
“It feels like we had that one really hot day and then it’s been really cold,” she continued, referencing the random 80-degree day enjoyed on March 29.
Damkoehler and friend Kim Metz, of Windsor Terrace, had braved what they called an “abnormally cold day” Wednesday as the weather hovered around 48 degrees to take in the cherry blossoms at Greenwood Cemetery.
“It’s just like the temperature swings feel unusual. I’ve been in New York for 25 years and it feels like it gets worse every year,” said Damkoelher.
Similarly, new parents Ian and Sophie Zapolsky of South Park Slope ducked into the iconic cemetery to take advantage of what they thought was a “random warm day,” and were shocked to discover there was nothing unusual about it.
“That is surprising,” Ian Zapolsky said. “It still feels cold!”
Sophie, agreed it felt colder than the data indicated, but relented that it makes sense for the turbulent springs the Big Apple has previously suffered: “My birthday’s in mid-May, and I always feel like it’s a toss-up of whether or not I can have a nice picnic outside for my birthday. So that’s how I judge it.”
Similarly, friends Sarah Peele of New Windsor and Rosie Cohe of Park Slope ducked into the iconic cemetery for a coffee break after they were shocked to see the sun emerge around noon.
The pair, feeling as though they were in the midst of a cold stretch, had plans to stay inside as they had the rest of the week but decided to brave what they said was still fairly chilly weather for some vitamin D.
“I would not say I had thought this was a warm spring,” said Peele.
“There was that day like a few weeks ago. It was extreme. And then today feels very cold.”
Not everyone was shocked to hear of the Big Apple’s so-far record-breaking spring, however.
“We haven’t got any snow!” Ricardo Orona, of Sunset Park, said simply.
Orona, formerly of Colorado Springs, is used to the temperature ups and downs that the Big Apple suffered through in the past three weeks, and instead looked toward other nature indicators for proof that it wasn’t as cold as it may have felt.
“The flowers are coming up sooner, the birds are coming in,” he pointed out.
“Every day is different and I enjoy every day.”
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