New York Today N.Y. Today: Cold Weather Tips From Outdoor Workers By AZI PAYBARAH

It’s Friday. The Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis, “the biggest star on a chronically failing team,” as one of my colleagues on the Sports desk put it.

Weather: Still awfully cold — wind chills around zero this morning, a high of 22 this afternoon.

But you can defrost this weekend. By Saturday, we’ll see a high of 36, and on Sunday, a high of 45. By Tuesday, a tropical 60! Take heart.

Alternate-side parking: in effect today, suspended Monday and Tuesday.

As you sat in your cozy office, someone was bringing you lunch.

Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

Long johns? Check.

Extra socks? Check.

Women’s nylons? Check.

As the city endured a frigid day that drove most people indoors as quickly as possible, a small army suited up and went to work, outside.

They are food vendors, bike delivery people, construction and sanitation workers, just to name a few.

So how do they do their jobs when it’s this cold? We put on our mittens yesterday and talked to a few of them in Midtown.

Servers at the Halal Guys food cart in Midtown get hand and foot warmers from their bosses.

Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

Ali Ahmed

Manager of Halal Guys food cart

“We put up shields to prevent the wind from coming to us.” Also, vitamin C. “We have to take it every morning to protect us from the cold.” Mr. Ahmed also said his bosses supplied hand and foot warmers.



Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

Jay J., 30

Heavy equipment operator

“Duluth socks. They’re thick and warm. They make it out of fire hose material.”

You have a full beard and mustache under that face mask. Does that help?

“It absolutely does. I remember my face being cold and I used to have a goatee.”



Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

Isaac Harrison, 49

Sanitation truck driver

“Long johns, sweatshirt, two hoodies and a rain jacket. It’s almost like a windbreaker.”

Socks? “Two very thick pairs, and women’s nylons. Women’s nylon stockings help.”

Robert Hillebrand

Bike messenger

“It’s the first time I’m working in single digits. I overdressed.” Mr. Hillebrand, wearing a thick jacket, wool hat and gloves, said, in unprintable language, that his genitals were perspiring.



Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

James Whitefox, 35

Bike messenger

“Outlier trousers. Chrome socks. Leggings. And move fast.” Mr. Whitefox also said he keeps a mental list of friendly coffee spots where you can sit, or grab a cup in 30 seconds or less.

Mr. Whitefox seemed to enjoy the cold.

“It brings out a lot of good in people. People give free coffee, they hold open doors.”

He used to work in San Francisco. The weather there, he said, was “boring.”

Hibernal beauty of a water main break

It seemed as if a river had opened up yesterday on the Upper West Side: For nearly an hour, geysers spewed brown water from a broken water main at 99th Street and Broadway.

The water formed deep pools on the corners and flowed downhill toward 98th Street. The bitter cold soon turned the stream into an icy slush.

The authorities closed two blocks of Broadway. Parked cars were moved so they would not be flooded. About 300 apartments and 20 businesses were still without water last night.

Inside the warm confines of Cohen’s Fashion Optical at 99th and Broadway, employees watched the flow with curiosity.

“It’s relaxing, actually,” said an employee, Fady Enriquez.

— Liz Robbins

Sentencing in police corruption case

New York City has some of the strictest gun-permit rules in the country. That creates a lucrative black market for anyone who can find a way around them.

On Thursday, a federal judge sentenced a former police lieutenant, Paul Dean, to 18 months and fined him $7,500 for his role in a bribery scheme that enabled people who did not qualify or were not properly vetted to get gun permits.

Best of The Times

Mayor de Blasio and Ben Carson, the HUD secretary.

James Estrin/The New York Times

Feds take more control over city public housing: An agreement helped Mayor de Blasio avoid a complete management takeover.

Judge approves Manhattan cab fee: Your taxi or Uber will cost $2.50 or $2.75 more below 96th Street.

Moving away from using student test scores to rate teachers: New York State joins a growing rebellion.

James Baldwin, a group exhibition: The New Yorker critic Hilton Als curates work about the famed author, now at David Zwirner, in Manhattan.

A hammer attack in Brooklyn left three Asian men dead. Was it a hate crime?

Amazon’s veiled threat: Its deal to expand into New York City isn’t finalized, and the reception elsewhere was warmer.

New trend in the New York entertainment scene: Comics who sing.

A Turkish restaurant in Sunnyside offers sheep head soup: Our critic called the dish, kelle paca, “a declaration against winter.”

[Want more news from New York and around the region? Check out our full coverage.]

The mini crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.

What we’re reading

A new beach for Manhattan: Slated to open in 2022, near the High Line. [New York Post]

Another medical marijuana dispensary for Brooklyn: It will be on Court Street downtown. [The Real Deal]

Up in smoke? Legalizing marijuana may be too complicated to include in the state budget, said the New York State Assembly speaker. [Daily News]

De Blasio’s worst nightmare: That’s the argument one Republican hopes will get him elected public advocate. [Kings County Politics]

That was fast: Tickets for the Valentine’s Day tour of a wastewater treatment facility sold out in 12 minutes. [NYCWater via Twitter]

Coming up

Today

Be a part of Popular Science’s “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week” podcast at Caveat. 6 p.m. [$15]

Join Caribbean Connection for their “Carnival” pop-up exhibit and film at the Mid-Manhattan Library. 2 p.m. [Free]

The New-York Historical Society hosts a screening and discussion of the 1992 film “The Story of Qiu Ju.” 7 p.m. [Pay as you wish]

Practice your stand-up routine and storytelling at the Cobra Club in Bushwick. 8 p.m. [Free]

Saturday

An all-night marathon of thought-provocation called “A Night of Philosophy and Ideas,” at the Brooklyn Public Library, includes a taping of the ACLU’s “At Liberty” podcast. 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. [Free]

Poets read at the Brooklyn Museum in response to the “Soul of a Nation” exhibit. 8 p.m. [Free]

“Her-icane”: female comedians telling jokes for disaster relief, at Union Hall in Brooklyn. 10 p.m. [$10]

Work on collaborative sculptures marking the Chinese Year of the Pig at the Queens Botanical Garden. Noon. [Free]

Sunday

Last day to catch the holiday train show at the New York Transit Museum annex at Grand Central. [Free]

Learn about the Chinese “Year of the Boar” (or pig) at the Greenbelt Nature Center in Staten Island. Ages 6 and up. Noon. [$8]

KGB Bar’s “Sunday Night Fiction” series features crime writing. 7 p.m. [Free]

— Derek Norman

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times’s culture pages.

And finally: Freezing a fountain on purpose

How did the frozen fountain in Bryant Park become a social media sensation?

Part serendipity and part planning, said Dan Biederman, executive director of the Bryant Park Corporation.

Several years ago, he was walking up Sixth Avenue past forlorn-looking fountains shut down for winter outside office buildings.

Seeking to create buzz for the park, especially in the quiet winter months after the holidays, Mr. Biederman decided to try keeping the fountain on.

“It froze over, and the Instagram generation came along and turned it into a social media celebrity,” he said. “Now, a lot of TV news crews do their live shots with the fountain as the backdrop.”

Every freezing day, the ice-encrusted monument — known formally as the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain — shows up in Twitter and Instagram posts.

The fountain is outfitted with a heating system to help keep the pipes from freezing, and the sprayers are constantly inspected to prevent clogging. So far, there has been no damage from the winter use.

Mr. Biederman said he uses the frozen fountain to get his staff thinking more creatively.

“For us,” he said, “it’s become a symbol of thinking out of the box about the way we market the park.”

— Corey Kilgannon

It’s Friday — try to find an unplanned Instagram sensation.

Metropolitan Diary: Snackable

Dear Diary:

My friend and I went to the Food Emporium on Eighth Avenue and 49th Street to pick up ingredients for a dinner party we were hosting.

I was ravenous, so I bought a bag of chips as a personal appetizer. I opened them immediately after we checked out.

A woman near the exit saw me happily munching on the chips. With a big smile, she asked whether she could have one.

I nodded, pulled a chip out of the bag and put it directly into her waiting mouth.