A body was found under a pile of snow in Central Park on Thursday, sparking an investigation, according to police.
The unidentified human remains were found just before 11 a.m. near the 63rd Street Transverse and Center Drive, police said. EMS responded to the scene, and the person was pronounced dead.
Police did not share whether the body was that of a man or a woman. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the recent blizzard played a role in the death. Central Park was hit with nearly 20 inches of snow in the storm.
In late January, more than two dozen people were found dead outdoors, days after a snowstorm and as record cold seized the tri-state area. Most of those individuals died of hypothermia, the medical examiner found.
Recent temperature lows have hit the mid-20s or 30s, which is far warmer than the below-zero temperatures that Arctic blast registered during last month’s painful stretch of cold in New York City.
An investigation is ongoing. The medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death in this case.