By Sonja Sharp
Special to DNAinfo
CENTRAL PARK — Thousands of visitors jammed into Central Park Sunday, lured by the blue skies and summer-like temperatures that made it feel more like June than October.
“The last three weeks were terrible, but the last three days were like summer, very good,” said Fatih Tezel, 28, a pedicab driver from New Jersey who was waiting for fares along Fifth Avenue. “The last three days, I’ve had double or triple the people.”
Forecasters from AccuWeather predicted a balmy high of 84, which would be just shy of the record of 86 set in 1916.
The toasty turn is a far cry from the rain and cold that the city experienced last week.
Cyclists and joggers clogged the park’s favorite paths, while tourists and New Yorkers alike flocked to popular spots like Strawberry Fields and the Lake for late-season picnics.
Musician Jesse Selengut, 43, of Brooklyn, plays trumpet in the park with the band Tin Pan and said he wasn’t surprised by the sudden spike in the mercury or the boost in business.
“It’s Indian summer,” he said. “We know it’s going to happen and we look forward to it.”
While good weather might mean more money for the park’s pedicabs and performers, Manhattanites Lillian Lewis and Crystal Lewis (no relation) let the warm weather inspire their new exercise regime.
“This is our third day,” said Lillian Lewis, 53, of Harlem. “We walk from 110th to 51st and back.”
Lewis said she was prompted to start exercising again by First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign.
“I live so close to the park and I’ve never really explored it,” added Crystal Lewis, 30, who lives on the Upper East Side. “I’ve never really been a tourist in my own city, so that’s why I came.”
Though they’re committed to their weekly trek, the women said they weren’t expecting the fair weather to last.
“We’re getting that last taste of summer,” Lewis said.
