The wrong temperature being displayed at the Apple Bank.
Scroll to the bottom to see a statement from Apple Bank.
Last week, someone reached out about an issue with the thermometer prominently displayed outside the Apple Bank at 2100 Broadway, at West 73rd Street.
“It’s incorrectly reporting the temperature,” said our tipster, explaining that the temperature being displayed is consistently lower than the actual temperature. “This clock faces south and shines directly into my living room window. When I first moved in, I found it terribly distracting. Now, I depend on it.” They wondered if Apple Bank was ever going to fix it.
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ILTUWS headed over to Apple Bank to check it out on Wednesday, September 25 at 5:21 p.m. Their thermometer showed the outside temperature as 60 degrees Fahrenheit, while our phone indicated it was 66 degrees. Meanwhile, the M104 bus stop on Broadway, between 73rd and 74th streets, displayed 65 degrees.
A discrepancy of five to six degrees in this case could mean the difference between wearing a long-sleeved shirt or upgrading to a cardigan or light jacket.
ILTUWS visited Apple Bank nine more times over six days. On Thursday, September 26, at 3:45 p.m. Apple Bank displayed 65 degrees, while our phone indicated it was 73. The M104 bus stop showed 72 degrees at 3:47 p.m. This larger discrepancy, between seven and eight degrees, was even more noticeable.
The closest the temperatures ever came was on Friday night, September 27, at 7:21 p.m., but as our tipster pointed out, Apple Bank’s temperature was always lower than our phones and the M104 bus. Apple showed 67 degrees, while our phone and the M104 both read 69. We even checked in the early morning, at 3:31 a.m. on Tuesday, October 1, and Apple Bank displayed 55 degrees, while our phone showed 61 and the M104 read 60.
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Things got strange at 10:48 p.m. on Tuesday, October 1. Apple Bank showed 17 degrees, and the temperature kept creeping up, degree by degree, until it reached 25 degrees. If the temperature had switched to Celsius, then 17 would be 62.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and 25 Celsius would be 77 degrees Fahrenheit. However, our phone read 62, and the M104 displayed 61 degrees Fahrenheit.
Some call West 72nd Street the gateway to the Upper West Side, as it has the major subway stop right there (the 1, 2, and 3 lines), making the street a highly trafficked area in the southern part of the neighborhood, with plenty of businesses nearby. Apple Bank likely holds a lot of local money. Shouldn’t they be attentive to the temperature for us?
We’ve reached out to Apple Bank to report our findings and will update you once we know more.
As of writing, it looks like they turned the screen off.
UPDATE (October 8): a representative from Apple Bank sent us the following statement:
“Thank you for reaching out. We are aware of the issues with the temperature readings at our 73rd street Apple Bank branch. At this time, given the age of the electronic sign, it is difficult sourcing parts, so we do not have a specific timeline for the resolution. In the interim, we have disabled the system to prevent the display of inaccurate information to the public.”
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This is my kind of local reporting. Nice work all around.
This might be your best story ever. I’m glad you converted for Celsius because I was waiting for that.
Did you take elevation into account? The higher you go the colder it generally is. That might be the answer.
No it’s not
I’ve lived on 70th and Amsterdam for 40 years, and I and everyone in this neighborhood really count on that clock and thermometer. It’s actually been broken for at least a couple of months now and I did notice that either yesterday or the day before, the whole thing had been turned off. I hope they intend to fix it, but if they won’t do that, perhaps they could just leave the clock.
Oh, the humanity!
What’s next? The one across from Lincoln Center?
Columbus Circle??
I don’t think we can survive these all these losses.
One is too much!
Please repair before the others go cuckoo. And the people! The people!