By VINCENT ROMEO
February 1934 was the coldest month ever recorded in New York City and New York State.
On Feb. 9, 1934, NYC recorded it’s lowest temperature: -15 F. Upstate N.Y. on that same day: Stillwater Reservoir (in Northern Herkimer County) recorded NYS’s lowest temperature: -52 F.
New York City’s average temperature for the month was 19 F., (normal temperature 33 F.). Stillwater Reservoir’s monthly average was -1.9 F. (normal temperature 13 F.).
A monthly average temperature that is below zero (F) in New York State happens very rarely. The northeastern part of North Dakota and the northwestern part of Minnesota are the only areas in the U.S. (lower 48) where a monthly average during the coldest month (January) is around -1 F. to -2 F.
By comparison: The coldest part of the inhabited world is in N.E. Siberia, where the towns of Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon average around -55 F. during the month of January.
Fairbanks, Alaska, averages -9 F. for January and Vostok (the Russian research station) on the Antarctic Plateau averages -90 F. during the month of July.