SEE IT 👀: The U.S. Coast Guard Cutters plow through large chunks of ice in the Hudson River alongside New York City, where officials are ensuring safe travel for other vessels navigating the waters on Thursday.
HUDSON RIVER, NY – Bone-chilling winter temperatures are causing concern for vessels in the water, and the U.S. Coast Guard has jumped in to help with icebreaking operations.
Coast Guard officials are working to support safe navigation for boats due to the intense winter weather we’re seeing in the eastern U.S. A powerful polar vortex persists over the next few weeks.
FEBRUARY OUTLOOK: WEAKENING POLAR VORTEX TO EXTEND EXTREME COLD SPELL EVEN LONGER FOR MILLIONS IN EASTERN US
Experts at the FOX Forecast Center expect a major disruption to the polar vortex for the eastern U.S. in February.
“This disruption will take the form of a Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event (SSWE), which occurs when temperatures high in the atmosphere rise rapidly, weakening or even breaking apart the winds that normally confine cold air near the North Pole,” a statement from the FOX Forecast Center said.
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When this happens, the polar vortex can split or shift, allowing frigid arctic air to spill southward into the eastern United States.
A person crosses the street in Copley Square during a snowstorm in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 25, 2026.
(Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images)
A woman walks during a snowstorm on January 25, 2026, in New York City.
(Andres Kudacki/Getty Images)
FILE – A pedestrian walks along Lexington’s Tates Creek Road Jan. 24, 2026, as winter storm starts to bring heavy snowfall and sleet across Lexington and Central Kentucky.
((Brian Simms/Lexington Herald-Leader/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
FILE – The ice-covered Ohio River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026.
(Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 29: People watch as ice floats cover part of the Hudson River along the Manhattan shoreline as New York City experiences frigid temperatures following a winter storm over the weekend on January 29, 2026, in New York City. New York received up to a foot of snow in a winter storm that swept through large parts of the country, resulting in numerous deaths, power outages, and accidents.
(Spencer Platt)
Snow falling in Lebanon, Virginia on Friday, Jan. 30.
(Billy Bowling/X)
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a polar vortex is a low-pressure area parked over polar regions. During the winter, the polar vortex at the North Pole expands, sending cold air southward.
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Major locations such as New York City have experienced an arctic blast of winter temperatures, causing significant issues in the Hudson River, which has been freezing over. Large chunks of ice can be seen floating in the river.
SEE IT: COAST GUARD CUTTER FREES NYPD VESSEL FROM ICEBOUND HUDSON RIVER
This has caused significant issues for vessels at sea, as the U.S. Coast Guard was tasked with using two 140-foot icebreakers near Hyde Park, New York, to support safe navigation for other boats during winter weather.
U.S. Coast Guard cutters are busy trying to keep New York’s iced-over waterways moving, including freeing an NYPD Harbor Unit vessel that was beset by ice floes Tuesday. U.S. Coast Guard Captain Johnathan Andrechik, Captain of the Port for New York and New Jersey, joined FOX Weather Command.
U.S. Coast Guard cutters are busy trying to keep New York’s iced-over waterways moving.
This comes as parts of the Northeast are bracing to experience more below-average temperatures starting this weekend and next week.
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This polar vortex will hit major cities in the Northeast with dangerously low wind chills, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
A woman walks through a snow-covered park in front of the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on February 17, 2024, in Hoboken, New Jersey.
(Gary Hershorn / Getty Images)
NEXT ROUNDS OF SNOW TARGET THE WINTER-WEARY EAST, LATE-WEEK STORM COULD CAUSE TRAVEL TROUBLE
If this forecast holds, the combination of cold late January air and this pattern could produce one of the coldest winters in years for much of the eastern region.
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