
Many inhabitants of New York City are feeling drained, hurrying to find warm places, and shivering due to the extremely cold weather this week. This includes the rats.
This week’s Arctic blast has saved the United States’ most populous city from the terrible wind chills of the Upper Midwest and the shock of record-breaking snow in the deep South.
However, temperatures reached their highest point on Monday, when they were approximately 26 degrees Fahrenheit (-3 degrees Celsius), and on Tuesday and Wednesday, when they were around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-7 degrees Celsius). These temperatures are significantly lower than typical.
Yes, this kind of weather does have a chilling impact on the infamous rodents of the Big Apple. However, Kathleen Corradi, the city’s “rat czar,” claims that it increases the city’s efforts to eliminate them.
“It is causing rats to feel stressed.” She explains, “It’s putting them in their burrows.” “So we kind of get to double down now while the rats are ‘feeling the heat’ from this cold snap.”
The wild rat species of New York City, known as Rattus norvegicus, or the Norway rat or brown rat, does not hibernate during the winter months.
However, it does become less active when the temperature is extremely cold for long periods of time. Corradi stated that the rodent’s food supply is also likely to dwindle because people are going out less often, which means that there are fewer food wrappers and other goodies for rats on the streets.
According to Corradi, all of this causes rats to get agitated and prevents them from mating, which is “really their superpower.”
Norway rats can breed multiple times a year, whenever conditions are right, but they are more likely to do so from spring to fall.

Jason Munshi-South, an ecology professor at Drexel University who has studied the rats in New York City, stated that those that are already hiding in subway tunnels, sewers, crawlspaces, or other small areas are able to withstand the cold quite well.
Rats that do not have a secure hiding spot may go to strange locations, such the engine block of a car. Or an alluring basement? If the owners of the buildings have not taken the necessary steps to prevent them from being there, then maybe.
However, Munshi-South stated that some of the animals will probably die from freezing, particularly if they are already unwell, emaciated, or otherwise in poor health.
He stated in an email, “If we continue to have cold, freezing periods, the rat population will remain low, as it has been during these harsh winters.”
According to Corradi, all of this enables the city’s rat-fighters to make progress before the warmer months arrive.
Although there is no official count of the number of rats in New York City, it is widely accepted that they have been numerous for a long time. Different city administrations have attempted a variety of methods to get rid of them or at least lessen their presence.
Eric Adams, the current mayor and a Democrat who has fought against rodents at his own home in Brooklyn, created the job of director of rodent mitigation, which is officially known as Corradi’s position, around two years ago.
The Adams administration has also made it a priority to require “containerization” of trash, which means that instead of leaving refuse-filled plastic bags on the curb, people should put their household and business rubbish into covered bins.