New York officially sprang from its icy prison this week as warm air from the south brought relief from weeks of relentless freezing temperatures.
The sun melted stubborn snowbanks and drew new green shoots from the city’s parks and flowerbeds. New Yorkers shed their winter layers — with some shedding their clothes entirely.
Photographer Anna Rawls captured sunlit scenes across the city, from Washington Square Park to the Williamsburg waterfront.
“It’s like this little glimpse of hope,” she said. “I think we all know that the cold is coming again, and so it was like everyone was trying to savor it.”
On Monday afternoon, nearly every bench in Washington Square Park was occupied. Roving jazz bands serenaded onlookers and skateboarders carved the empty fountain.
“Man, I'll tell you, I'm so full of gratitude for this weather being the way it is,” said Johnny O’Leary, AKA “Johnny Chess,” a longtime fixture at the park’s concrete chess tables. He said the outdoor chess season lasts from March to October but rarely begins this early.
“I didn't expect to be out here outdoors, engaging in something that nourishes my soul on a daily basis,” O’Leary said.
Nearby, Aissatou Diallo said she took an extended lunch break from her SoHo office to walk through the crowded park.
"I also never get seasonal depression, but it hit me this year,” she said. Sitting out in the sun, “I feel it lifting.”
Rawls said she saw people painting, playing guitar and logging into Zoom meetings everywhere she went.
“I feel like everyone was just doing their at-home activity outside and they had like no shame at all,” she said.
Temperatures at Central Park hit 80 degrees on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, making it the city’s earliest 80-degree day on record.
But meteorologists say this week’s balmy weather is a "false spring." Temperatures are expected to drop back down to the 40s and 30s over the next week.
Rawls said the image that will stick with her most is a photo she took of a woman splayed across concrete steps, with her eyes closed and her face to the sky, like a form of ancient sun worship.
“I think that's just a metaphor for how we're all feeling, wanting to be a sponge for this new season that's coming up,” she said. “Ready to enter into something new.”
