Thursday’s Headlines: Unseasonably Warm Weather Edition

Streetsblog is not a weather news site, but we can’t help but speak up when it gets nice outside — particularly when it gets scarily warm outside in mid-April.

That’s right, summer roared in early this year, with a shocking high of 87 degrees expected on Thursday. The global warming imperative of our work is obviously stark on days like this — as is, perhaps ironically, the need for more bike infrastructure to meet unseasonably high demand.

As Streetsblog’s Kevin Duggan reported earlier this week, unseasonably warm weather in January and February of this year correlated with more people riding bikes in the city. Bike deaths increased too, and while it’s too soon to draw conclusions about why, we are sure about one thing: More people biking makes biking safer.

So if you’re frustrated today by the New Yorkers who seem to come out of the woodwork to bike to work on the first nice day of the year, remember — their presence helps you, too.

In other news:

• AOC dove into the state budget fracas at rally with fellow progressives that made little mention of transit, according to Streetsblog’s Dave Colon. (Daily News)

• The MTA’s message to suburban dads hoping to join their sons at a Met game this year: Take the train. (AMNY)
• Dramatic much? The Brooklyn Paper declared an “e-bike pandemic” after yet another lithium-ion battery fire in Cypress Hills.
• Potential changes to the city’s bus network picked up another wrinkle on the B13. (QNS)
• A wrong-way drunk driver who allegedly caused a crash on the Belt Parkway had two previous DWI arrests. (NY Post)
• How many subway stations can you name based on the clues? (The City)
• The MTA continues its anti-toll evader P.R. blitz with another crackdown. (SI Advance, Fox 5 NY)
• … and finally, Leaf Man might have met his match: