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Paradise lost: Summer weather in NYC rescinded after rapid temperature drop
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Mar 30, 2025
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Ramsey Khalifeh
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Mar 30, 2025
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New Yorkers got a taste of summer on Saturday, but it was quickly stripped away.
Temperatures reached the low 80s during the afternoon, sending droves of people to the city’s parks to take in the unseasonably warm weather.
But things took a sinister turn at 5 p.m.: Within a single hour, the temperature dropped a whopping 26 degrees, from a balmy 79 to a chilly 53, according to the National Weather Service.
NWS meteorologist Matthew Wunsch said the rapid shift was caused by a “backdoor cold front.” New York was sandwiched between 80 degree air and 30 degree air that suddenly shifted. Wunsch said the cold front that caused the change actually hit the city Friday night, only to return late Saturday afternoon.
“It did drop fairly significantly over an hour and it definitely was noticeable,” Wunsch said.
Wunsch added New Yorkers who monitored the weather forecast should not have been surprised by the quick temperature change.
“We totally expected this … just keep tabs with the forecast and you won’t be caught off guard” he said.
News12 meteorologist Allan Nosoff wrote in a social media post that the temperature drop was the largest shift in a single hour ever recorded in Central Park. The NWS could not verify his claim.
The NWS said sudden or gradual changes in temperature are typical of the spring season, when fronts and jet streams shift.
Weather forecasts warn New Yorkers not to be fooled again into expecting summer weather. Rain showers are expected over the next week, according to the NWS.
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new york city
parks
weather
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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