New York has been in the grip of a sub-freezing cold spell that works against the city’s Get Sheds Down initiative. That’s because cold weather contributes to a facade-damaging phenomenon known as “frost jacking.”

Every time it rains or snows, water seeps into crevices, pores, and micro-cracks in building facades and parapets. Unlike other liquids, water expands when it freezes, widening cracks and allowing more water to enter.

But continuous cold spells aren’t solely responsible for this phenomenon. Frost jacking is driven by ongoing cycles of freezing and thawing, causing masonry cracks to grow with each cycle, increasing potential for hazardous conditions to develop.

SUPERSTRUCTURES compiles an ongoing Frost Jacking Day Tracker to quantify the number of frost jacking days that affect NYC’s buildings.

Most of us grin and bear it through the winter and wouldn’t want temperatures to remain below freezing forever. But hypothetically, if that happened, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about frost jacking damage…