Weather

Baby it’s cold out there, but about average for January

Bedell Winery assistant vineyard manager Donna Rudolph with her dog Willow and vineyard manager's dog Jefferson among the vines in Wednesday's 20 degree weather- with the wind chill it felt like 3 degrees. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)
Bedell Winery assistant vineyard manager Donna Rudolph with her dog Willow and vineyard manager’s dog Jefferson among the vines in Wednesday’s 20 degree weather- with the wind chill it felt like 3 degrees. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

Peter Badmajew was prepared for the freezing temperatures he faced Thursday as he embarked on his his daily, five-mile jog.

Bundled up tight in hat, vest, gloves and jacket, the 86-year-0ld Jamesport resident wasn’t about to let a 17-degree day stop him from getting his “medicine,” as he says.

“It is obviously well known that the best medicine is regular physical activity,” Mr. Badmajew said of his motivation to exercise, despite the blistering cold.

“I am a physician, so you know, I feel much better when I run, my brain works much better and I feel stronger,” he said.

According to the National Weather Service, Thursday’s 7 mph winds made it feel closer to 7 degrees. a cause for many to stay indoors.

“People are less likely to venture out of their houses if they don’t need to,” said Carolyn Iannone of Laurel, owner of Love Lane Kitchen in Mattituck. “I can’t really blame them.”

Ms. Iannone said the store is much quieter in the winter, but she isn’t put off by it, explaining that the business “comes around again” in the other seasons.

With this in mind, she focuses on offering items that keep her customers warm, selling lots of hot chocolate and at least three different types of hot soup each day.

“It’s to be expected, it’s the North Fork in the wintertime, it happens every year,” she said.

The below-freezing temps were good enough to freeze Riverhead Town’s natural ice-skating rink at Stotsky Park.

According to the National Weather Service these types of temperatures actually do happen every year.

In Islip, the closest location the NWS keeps records of, the high temperature on record for Jan. 8 is 22 degrees and the lowest-ever was 8 degrees, with the average temperatures being around 15 degrees.

The cold weather is expected to stick around this weekend, with a 60 percent chance of snow Friday and temperatures reaching a high of 38 degrees. Saturday the temperature drops slightly, with a high of 24 degrees, but will increase to 35 degrees by Sunday.