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NYC Sees Coldest Valentine's Day On Record, Fountain Frozen At Bryant Park

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The Tri-state area is under a deep freeze for a second day in a row, but we will see a warm-up this week.

The wind chill felt as low at 19 degrees below zero in New York this morning as city officials warned people to stay inside.

"I'm not holding up," Messody Ezagui from Palm Beach, Florida, told CBS2's Hazel Sanchez. "It's freezing but we had to get out."

When the temperature dipped below zero in Central Park Sunday morning, it was the coldest the city has been since 1994, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Nelson Vaz.

"This is actually quite a rare occurrence," Vaz told WCBS 880's Ginny Kosola.

According to Vaz, today's temperatures also boasted an even more impressive cold-weather record for Valentine's Day in Central Park, breaking the record low of two degrees in 1916. 

It's so cold in New York, the fountain at Bryant Park froze.

CBS2's Elise Finch said New York could see one to three inches of snow tomorrow evening before it turns over to rain. The high is expected to be 35 on President's Day, and 54 on Tuesday.

Outreach workers are hitting the streets in an effort to bring in the homeless from the cold. They have been able to bring nearly 800 homeless people into shelters or health and hospital facilities.

"The cold weather alert we have in place will continue this afternoon until 8 a.m. tomorrow," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "Our code blue plan is in effect tonight and our homeless outreach teams will be stepping up outreach as they have throughout the last few days.

De Blasio even joined outreach teams to help the homeless get out of the cold.

"You deserve better than sleeping in a subway station," the mayor told one homeless individual.

The bitter cold caused a mess in Midtown as frozen pipes above the Brooks Brothers store on Sixth Avenue sent a waterfall flowing down the windows and onto the sidewalks.

Broken pipes also affected Stuyvesant High School, as ice formed on the school's steps and sidewalk.

Boston reached minus-9, breaking the record set in 1934 by 6 degrees. It reached minus-16 in Worcester, Massachusetts, breaking the 1979 record of 11 below zero. Providence, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut, also tallied record lows.

In Montpelier, Vermont, the overnight temperature hit minus-19, tying a record set in 2003.

"Breaking the record of two in 1916 by going down to minus one," Vaz said. "That's a 100-year record there."

Bitter Blast:  Advisories & Warnings | Cold Weather Safety Guide | Listen: 1010 WINS | WCBS 880

New Jersey felt the cold rush too -- the National Weather Service was reporting a record low of zero degrees in Newark as of 7:30 a.m. According to the NWS, it hasn't been that cold in Newark since 1979.

If your skin is exposed to extreme cold for 15 minutes, it could lead to heath issues, like frostbite and hypothermia, CBS2's Ilana Gold reported.

"If for any reason you have to go out for as little time possible, bundle up lots of layers do not have skin exposed," de Blasio said.

But the extreme cold can cause problems indoors, too. Burst pipes can mean emergency calls to plumbers and damage to your home. Make sure to let warm water drip in the faucets to keep them from freezing, and open cabinet doors so heat can get into insulated pipes. 

Speaking in Harlem on Sunday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state has opened a cold weather hotline for New Yorkers to call in with weather related issues, WCBS 880's Ginny Kosola reported.

Cuomo said most of the calls the hotline has received so far have been from apartments without heat.

"If you have a problem...with the heat in your home, we have warming stations, we will get you help," Cuomo said.

The hotline can be reached at 1-866-881-2809.

The NYC Department of Transportation has also issued a 'snow alert' across the city for Monday, starting at 9 a.m., for potential flurries later in the day.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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