Overview
- Captured around midday on January 28, Landsat 8’s Operational Land Imager produced the scene later featured as NASA Earth Observatory’s Image of the Day on February 4.
- The false-color 5-4-3 rendering highlights light-blue ice along Manhattan’s Hudson shoreline, with additional ice in the East River, Central Park’s reservoir, and nearby New Jersey waterways.
- NASA reports New York City stayed below freezing for more than a week during the outbreak, including a high of 23°F on January 28.
- Scientists say much of the ice near Manhattan likely drifted from upriver reaches where weaker tides and lower salinity allow faster freezing, while the lower brackish river seldom fully freezes.
- Ice conditions affected transportation, with NYC Ferry suspending service for several days, and the National Weather Service now issuing a winter weather advisory for the Lower Hudson Valley and parts of southern Connecticut through 6 a.m. Wednesday.