By Youjung Jun and Wil Cruz
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Get ready to shed that bulky winter coat — for the rest of the week, anyway.
New York is in for a warm wave this week, as the forecasts are expected to climb into the low 70s through Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
"The weather's nice, sunshine is beautiful, birds are chirping. It's great," said Gina, 38, an Upper West Side resident who was basking in the warmth at Central Park. "It's going to be beautiful all week. It's fantastic. It's great to have spring in the air!"
The forecast for Monday will be 68 degrees, 20 degrees above normal temperatures, Morrin said. The record high for March 12 is 71 degrees, set in 1890, he said.
On Tuesday, the forecast temperature will be 71 degrees. That warm weather is still far below the record — 85 degrees in 1990, Morrin said.
For the rest of the week, the temperatures are forecast to be 67, 63 and 61 for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively.
The temperature on March 12, 2011, was 56 degrees, according to the service.
Even before this warm stretch, March has come in like a lamb: temperatures have been 4.5 degrees above normal, Morrin said.
"That's quite remarkable," he said.
Susan Case, a tourist who was on her way to MoMA Monday, said she took advantage of the warm weather to shed a few heavy layers.
"I left my winter coat at my house. We'll be walking out and about and we don't have to take cabs. It's great!"
Kaitlyn Figueroa, a student from the Bronx, said even though the winter was milder than last year, "it's great to have this weather."
She said she planned to catch a few sports games by the end of the week.
"I was going to play soccer because the weather's gonna be nice for the whole week, and it'll be a good way to spend some extra time!" Figueroa said.
