Frigid temperatures on Long Island bring host of physical, financial threats

Unusually frigid temperatures, long-lasting and coupled with snow, threaten to disrupt the often invisible societal scaffolding that supports life on Long Island.

After a brief warm-up on Wednesday and Thursday, "we get cold again" through at least Tuesday, with some temperatures in the teens and 20s that will feel subzero, potentially closer to 10 below at night in some spots on the East End, said Joe Pollina, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Upton.

From the end of January through mid-February, Pollina said, there’s a 33% to 40% chance of below-normal temperatures, typically with lows in the 20s, highs in the 30s.

Lives in danger

For those on Long Island who have no place to live, the subfreezing conditions can quickly turn life-threatening, particularly for people who live outdoors.

Jessica Labia-Bookstaver, director of support programs at the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, said there are more than 4,500 homeless people on Long Island, with most in shelters and about 400 known to be unsheltered.

In the last year or so, about a dozen homeless people on the Island have died — and that is likely an undercount, Labia-Bookstaver said.

To help the homeless population, the organization has programs doing outreach, assessment and tries to distribute coats, blankets and sleeping bags.

When it gets cold, the organization steps up its outreach.

"Homelessness is a really, really important issue," she said, "and it’s something that really is hidden on Long Island."

She lamented: "There is a lot of need."

Crop watch

The cold conditions can pose a profound risk for most of the roughly 600 farms on the Island, whether on fields or in greenhouses, said Bill Zalakar, executive director of the Long Island Farm Bureau.

Flowers from greenhouses won’t be sold or distributed because consumers won’t plant in the cold if the flowers will wither and die. Fields can’t be accessed. Planting and cultivating and harvesting of crops must be delayed. So sales will drop.

Early crops like spinach, lettuce and asparagus can’t be planted.

"It cuts the farmer’s income," Zalakar said, with the process delayed by weeks.

Even crops that are planted later in the year can be affected.

Green beans, for example, can take four to eight weeks to produce, and farmers bank on getting a crop in early, harvesting it, and executing what’s called crop rotation.

When it’s too cold and the winter is longer than usual, there isn’t enough time to get two or more crops — and with lettuce, as many as six — in a field over the course of the year. With a cold season, a farmer may get as few as four, he said.

Ken Stein, president of Sayville Ferry Service, said he remembers growing up in the 1970s in the hamlet, how "there was a lot more ice" and "the bay froze all the time."

But back then, there were fewer winterized homes on Fire Island, and nowadays, years can pass without the bay freezing over, Stein said.

Frozen bays

This year, there’s the potential that those who rely on ferries to and from the mainland won’t easily be able to travel for, say, shopping or medical appointments.

When inclement weather puts the bay at risk for freezing, there can be fewer passengers, less service and possible shuttered service if the bay freezes over entirely — and, consequently, less revenue.

"We cannot go through ice," he said, "nor are the boats designed to break ice."

Stein — whose company operates ferries Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the winter, one roundtrip in the morning, one in the afternoon — said that ferry management monitors conditions a day before by checking water temperature in the bay, as well as wind conditions — which can actually keep water moving and prevent it from icing — and the sun, which can ease freezing or avert it entirely.

Year-round Fire Island residency can be fickle.

"Living on Fire Island is beautiful, and you’re blessed if you can. But people have to realize it has both positives and negatives, right?" Stein said. "The positive is, you’re on an island that’s removed from the mainland. It’s beautiful. It’s paradise. It’s quiet and surreal. But the negative is, times like this, like if there is no way to get back and forth by ferry, now you have to rely on contractors or people who have year-round driving permits that might be able to get you on and off the island."

NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie contributed to this story.