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2w ago

NYC Issues New Code Blue as Cold-Snap Deaths Reach 19

Most of the fatalities were confirmed as hypothermia, drawing scrutiny of the city’s timing.

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A worker shovels snow outside the New York Stock Exchange in the Financial District in New York City on January 25, 2026. A massive winter storm on January 24 dumped snow and freezing rain from New Mexico to North Carolina as it swept across the United States towards the northeast, threatening tens of millions of Americans with blackouts, transportation chaos and bone-chilling cold. After battering the country's southwest and central areas, the storm system began to hit the heavily populated mid-Atlantic and northeastern states as a frigid air mass settled in across the nation. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)

Overview

  • NYC Emergency Management activated a Code Blue Friday through 8 a.m. Saturday and deployed outreach teams across all five boroughs, saying no one seeking shelter will be turned away.
  • The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather advisory with wind chills making temperatures feel near the 20s and a dusting of snow possible into Saturday morning.
  • Officials report 19 deaths tied to the prolonged freeze on city streets, with the medical examiner confirming hypothermia in 15 cases and the mayor’s office noting three involved overdoses.
  • Separately, seven people died of accidental hypothermia inside private residences, according to the medical examiner’s office.
  • City Council members questioned the response, with Speaker Julie Menin saying the warning came too late, as the administration expands warming centers and launches a peer-outreach initiative.