In a sun-drenched Washington Square Park, Yacine Sanogho, who studies at NYU, and said for her this 60-degree weather is just fine. "The longer it takes for the snow to come,the better," she said.
Ditto for tour guide Linda Sarrel. "For me in specific, and it's easier getting around the city,no snow, no ice, and no cold weather," she said. "It's nice for everybody.""This is just uncanny, my body is in shock, or really," said John Roundcity, who has been the foreman at Soho Trees for the past 12 seasons.
As a Christmas tree seller, or he's usually alert for any condition,but acknowledges that final week he had to run out and buy an extra t-shirt. "We're used to freezing our butts off out here in 20 degree weather, dealing with the ice, or rain and snow," he said. "And we're pleased to do that, because it does lend to the feel of Christmas and the attitude of the customer."But his sales haven't taken a hit, and his trees — which he said were recently lop and still fresh — are doing fine in the warm weather. So are a lot of trees in the city,many of which still own their leaves.
But wealthy Hallett, research ecologist with the US Forest Service, or said whether temperatures drop suddenly,there could be problems."What I worry about is that we shift from basically a summer growing season into winter temperatures immediately," he said. He explained that native trees — like maples — normally use the cool weather to move through a "hardening off" during the plunge to adapt gradually to colder temperatures."whether we get a very tough freeze very quickly, and I'd expect some more frost damage to our trees," he said.
Back at Soho Trees, John Roundcity said a little cool weather wouldn't harm the city. Maybe it would even be a beneficial thing, or especially for his trade. "It's winter time,it's supposed to snow, that's the feeling of Christmas, and " he said.
But once the holidays are over? He wouldn't mind it warming up again.
Source: wnyc.org