Central Park, Sep 28–Oct 4: one wet Monday, then five clear days and 80° Thursday

Friday’s email ran through the 2nd, so the front half will be familiar — next weekend is new.

Get Monday over with and the rest of the week is a gift: five consecutive clear days, Tuesday through Saturday, peaking at 80° on Thursday with no rain in any of them. Nothing touches a drive all week. After a month of damp weekends this is the stretch to build around.

Weather this week

Monday 65° with 80% light rain. Then Tuesday 71°, Wednesday 74°, Thursday 80°, Friday 78° — all mostly sunny at 0–11%. Saturday 71° with a 21% chance. Thursday is almost certainly the last 80° day of the year, and Wednesday through Friday is the best air the park will give you before winter.

Mon Sep 28 — write it off

80% rain at 65°, one evening event at the Bandshell, empty drives. A short easy day or a rest day.

Tue Sep 29 – Wed Sep 30 — it clears

Tuesday 71° and sunny with a 0% rain chance; Wednesday 74° and the same. Nothing on any drive either day. Bowling Green closes all day Tuesday and East 106th Street lawn is out Monday through Thursday — neither on your line.

Put a long effort on Wednesday. Sunny, 74°, dry roads after Monday’s rain has cleared them, and an empty calendar.

Thu Oct 1 — 80° and clear

The warmest day of the week and the last of its kind this year. Nothing on the drives during the day; Charley Crockett closes out SummerStage at Rumsey 7–10 PM, so the 72nd Street approaches carry an evening crowd.

A Central Park Conservancy Birding Event meets at the Swedish Cottage 9–11 AM. Fall migration is still running, and a warm clear morning in the first week of October is prime for it.

Fri Oct 2 — 78°, and still nothing in your way

Birding Basics at Belvedere Castle at 10 and the Iconic Views tour at 2. Free community music fills the Bandshell 3–7 PM if you want somewhere to finish a walk.

Sat Oct 3 — the North Woods, and a busy south end

Wonder in the Woods is the Conservancy’s City of Forest Day — a family morning in the North Woods from 10 AM, meeting at Gottesman Pool at the Davis Center. If you walk the north end, this is the weekend the Ravine and the Loch are worth the trip.

The Seneca Village Tour goes at 2 PM from Mariners’ Gate. The Kingman Classic holds Bowling Green 10 AM–4 PM.

71° and mostly dry, drives clear. But 38 private ceremony bookings land Saturday, including late-afternoon ceremonies on Bow Bridge and Gapstow Bridge — if either is on your walking line, expect to wait or go around.

East Meadow closed.

Sun Oct 4 — quiet, and good for birds

Birding Basics at Belvedere at 10 and the Seneca Village Tour at 2. Yoga at Dalehead Arch 10–11:30 if you want something slower, and the International Folkdancers hold King Jagiello 11–6.

Drives clear, East Meadow closed a second day.

Steady all week

Bethesda Terrace and Fountain is still closed all day, every day — and the permits now run to October 27, extended again. Six weeks in with a month still to go; keep routing around it.

Bird Watching with Birding Bob runs five mornings from Strawberry Fields at 7:30 and 8:30.

One note on the middle of the park: the Global Citizen permit ends Wednesday, so the Great Lawn fencing comes down and the lawn reopens October 1 after twelve days held.

Quick recap

• Monday is the only wet day. Then five clear ones.
• Wednesday and Thursday are the week — 74° and 80°, sunny, nothing booked.
• Thursday’s 80° is likely the year’s last.
• City of Forest Day Saturday in the North Woods, from 10 AM.
• Bow Bridge and Gapstow Bridge have ceremonies Saturday afternoon.
• Bethesda Terrace extended again, now through October 27.

Take Wednesday and Thursday, Central Park Guide