The new year arrived windy and freezing in Brooklyn, but bone-chilling weather couldn't stop tradition as thousands of people welcomed 2026 at the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge. After a few years of warm weather, New Year's Day this year was bracing. When the plunge began at 11 a.m., temperatures hovered around 25 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill in the teens and the Atlantic Ocean was a near-Arctic 39 degrees.