New York braces for coldest Thanksgiving in more than a century

FROZEN Pedestrians struggle through snow-streaked streets and gusty winds in Manhattan, New York, as temperatures dip to -3 degrees Celsius. Weather forecasters have predicted temperatures of well below -6 C on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. —AFP

NEW YORK—Diana Ross might be singing “Stop! In The Name of Gloves” by the time she’s done performing at New York City’s super chilly Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which forecasters say could be the coldest ever.

John Legend, Martina McBride and the Muppets from “Sesame Street” are also slated to perform in the frigid cold.

Windy conditions are also expected and officials will be monitoring wind to see if giant character balloons, such as SpongeBob and Charlie Brown, can fly safely.

Injuries

Police say they’re ready to order the 16 helium-filled balloons to a lower altitude or removed entirely if sustained winds exceed 37 kph and gusts exceed 54.7 kph.

There have been mishaps and injuries in the past when gusts blew them off-course.

The National Weather Service is projecting temperatures of -3.9 to -6.7 degrees Celsius and sustained winds of up to 32.2 kph with gusts to 48.3 kph, just inside the safe zone for the balloons to fly.

Thursday has the potential to be New York City’s coldest Thanksgiving since 1901, when the temperature hit -3.33 C.

The coldest on record was in 1871, when the warmest the city got was -5.5 C.

The Macy’s parade didn’t start until 1924.

SNOW AND ICE Pedestrians walk through snow and ice in Manhattan on Thursday in New York. The National Weather Service is predicting snowfall of 5 to 10 centimeters in the city. —AFP

Protective clothing

New York City has issued an extreme cold weather alert and is urging anyone going outside to wear hats, scarves, gloves and layered clothing, and to keep their fingertips, earlobes and noses covered to prevent frostbite.

Police Commissioner James O’Neill said thousands of officers would be stationed along the parade route.

They include counterterrorism teams with long guns, plainclothes officers mixed in with the crowd and a new squad of K-9 teams that can sniff out explosives from a few hundred feet away.

The parade runs 46 blocks from the west side of Central Park to Macy’s flagship store in midtown Manhattan.

Marchers, bands, floats

The parade features about 8,000 marchers, including high school bands from across the country, and two-dozen floats culminating with the arrival of Santa Claus.

Ross, 74, will perform a song from her new Christmas album and will be joined on her float by some of her family members, including daughter Tracee Ellis Ross, a star of ABC’s “Black-ish,” and actor son Evan Ross.

Others in the lineup include Bad Bunny, Kane Brown and Ella Mai, Pentatonix, Rita Ora, Sugarland, Anika Noni Rose, Barenaked Ladies, Leona Lewis, Fifth Harmony’s Ally Brooke, Bazzi, Ashley Tisdale and Carly Pearce. — AP