Lower Manhattan as seen from a ferry on a frozen Hudson River
February 9, 1934: A temperature of -15 degrees below zero is recorded in New York City. That figure is still a record low for the City.
There were 40 straight days of subfreezing (32 degrees or below) temperatures in New York in the Winter of 1933-34. It was -6 on December 30, -7 on February 8, and -15 on February 9.
New Yorkers have had to brave winds blasting cold air in from the wide Hudson and East Rivers, and from New York Harbor and Long Island Sound. For comparison's sake, Chicago, with Lake Michigan providing the same effect, had major cold spells in 1982, 1985, and 2019, bottoming out at -27 on January 20, 1985.
The next day, that same cold front hit Washington, D.C., and it was just 7 degrees above zero. Since the 20th was a Sunday, the Inauguration festivities for President Ronald Reagan's 2nd term were going to be held on Monday the 21st. But Reagan, an Illinois native, knew about cold, so he had the ceremony moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, and the parade canceled, out of concern for the marchers.
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February 9, 1934 was a Friday. This was also the day the film The Rise of Catherine the Great premiered. I have a separate entry for that event. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Fittingly, the NHL was the only major sports league in operation at the time, but no games were scheduled.
College basketball wasn't yet big enough to cover. And it was too cold, outside of Florida and California, for tennis, golf or horse racing. This was the time of year that made Paul Gallico answer, when asked why he gave up sportswriting, say, "February."
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