The temperature in New York City reached a record high 72 degrees, prompting many people to adjust their winter plans.

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The usual crowds turned out at the ice-skating rink at Rockefeller Center Saturday, but many found that they needed little more than a T-shirt as they glided around the somewhat slushy ice, The New York Times reported. The traditional dip in the ocean for the Coney Island Polar Bear club was hardly the chilly challenge it usually is, the Times said.

Many people instantly and inaccurately blamed global warning for the high temperature. John Murray, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service, told the Times that the northeast region has "a mild air mass that we're in right now, kind of tropical in nature."

The Times reported there was a "slight chance of snow showers" on Tuesday, and that the low temperature was expected to fall to 29 degrees by Tuesday night.