New Yorkers are braving the cold to take in the patchwork of ice that reaches nearly halfway to New Jersey along the Hudson River.
”I love watching the floes going down the river — it’s really my favorite part,” said Karen Brodsky, a Manhattan resident taking a lunchtime stroll along the Hudson River. “It's cool. I'm having a great time out here. It's beautiful.”
The big blocks of ice, known as floes, have become so prevalent that the NYC Ferry has suspended its service. With temperatures expected to be at or below freezing through at least next Tuesday, some may wonder if the Hudson and other New York City waterways could freeze over completely.
That’s unlikely, said Shannon Roback, science director of nonprofit group Riverkeeper. Partial freezes and ice floes are not unusual during cold snaps. The high salinity, strong tidal currents and industrial activity of the Hudson and East rivers and Jamaica Bay tend to keep the water flowing, however.
In fact, much of the ice clogging the rivers around the city right now came from elsewhere, Roback said. The city would have to experience prolonged arctic conditions with sustained conditions below freezing for the Hudson River or other New York City waterways to fully ice over.
"It’s extremely rare for the Hudson River to freeze completely in New York City,” Roback said. “Much of the ice seen there actually drifts down from the river’s upper reaches, where the water is primarily fresh.”
While the Hudson has frozen in the past, the deeper shipping channels and warmer climate also make a full freeze unlikely these days.
The tidal action also means the rivers are constantly moving. The movement mixes warmer, deeper water with the surface, which inhibits ice formation. The strong water current also prevents solid sheets from forming. Instead, slushy, thin ice will form.
“ It was unexpected. I thought I would be seeing water and instead I'm seeing the ice covering over at least part of the harbor here,” said Brooklyn resident Carl Holvick, who was taking in the view of the icy Hudson River from lower Manhattan during his lunch break. “It seems almost treacherous, and then you look out in the distance and you see the ice moving with the current and the speed at which it's moving, and it's just pretty awe inspiring and impressive.”
According to environmental group Scenic Hudson, the frozen Hudson River gave George Washington and his troops an edge over the British during the Revolutionary War. They transported canons and sleighs filled with tons of artillery across the river. In the 1830s when ice formed on the river, it was used for mail delivery between Albany and Poughkeepsie. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Hudson became an attraction for sleigh rides.
The last time the Hudson River completely froze was more than 200 years ago, when an ice bridge formed between Manhattan and Hoboken, according to Riverkeeper. The river has had partial freezes, including in 1947 after a blizzard. In 1918, after 43 days of freezing temperature, a three-mile patch of ice formed.
The East River has not completely frozen since the 1800s, when New Yorkers could walk on top of the ice between boroughs. In 1888, the New York Times reported that the ice was six inches thick and “solid from shore to shore.”
Jamaica Bay, on the other hand, experienced a near-complete freeze about a dozen years ago. In February 2014, a cold snap caused parts of the bay to freeze with ice that was 4 to 6 inches thick, solid enough for ice boating.
While it seems unlikely that the rivers will freeze completely over, people appear happy to brave the cold to check out the floating mosaics of ice.
“It's a unique element that doesn't happen all the time, and it's something about the stillness that it creates and the reflections and the sun, magical times,” said Manhattan resident Linus Adolfsson, who was walking his dog along the Hudson River.
