New York City's Rat Population Feeling the Heat from Cold Snap

New York City's notorious rodents are feeling the heat from the recent cold snap. The city's "rat czar," Kathleen Corradi, says that the cold weather is stressing out the rats and making them less active. This is good news for the city's rat-fighters, as it allows them to make headway ahead of the warmer months.

The cold weather is also suppressing the rats' breeding, which is their superpower. Norway rats can reproduce many times a year, but they tend to be most prolific from spring through fall. The cold weather is making it difficult for the rats to find food, as people are out less and therefore discarding fewer food wrappers and other rat snacks on the streets.

Some of the rats will likely freeze to death, especially if they are already sick, malnourished, or otherwise weakened. This will help to keep the rat population at a lower level.

There is no official count of New York City's rats, but no one disputes that they have long been legion. Successive city administrations have tried various approaches to eliminating or at least reducing them. Current Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has battled the critters at his own Brooklyn home, created Corradi's position — officially, the director of rodent mitigation — about two years ago. Adams' administration also has focused on requiring trash "containerization," otherwise known as putting household and business garbage into enclosed bins instead of piling refuse-filled plastic bags on the curb.