The weather outside was frightful – but that didn’t stop shoppers from swarming Midtown stores yesterday, travelers from packing the salted subways, or skaters from circling Wollman Rink.

Even that vast, windy expanse of bridge between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn saw some foot traffic.

“We’re tourists,” Lisa Barry said by way of explanation, as she and her husband, Tom Barry, walked across to Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge in early afternoon. “I’ve never been in weather this cold.”

The couple, in town from Manangatang, Australia, said it was 104 degrees back home on their side of the globe.

Yesterday’s weather wasn’t record-breaking. The record-high temperature for December 20 was set in 1999 and equaled in 2002, when it hit 60 degrees. The city’s low was set in 1942, when it got as cold as minus-4 – and that doesn’t count the wind chill factor.

Yesterday’s low of 10 degrees, as of early evening, and the day’s high of 21, which came just after midnight, made the day much colder than usual: The average low temperature for the day is 30 and the average high is 42.

“It’s so cold, all we have to do is stand there and the bells ring themselves,” a Salvation Army cadet, Scott Peabody, said as he rang a bell at a kettle at the World Trade Center site.

A California tourist walking by, Bryan Webb, said he had never experienced cold like yesterday’s. “I feel like I’m in the Arctic,” he said.

A tourist in Midtown, Mary Dennison, dreamed aloud of how “lovely and warm” it was back home in South Africa, as she picked out a pair of black gloves from a street vendor’s table at the corner of 59th Street and Lexington Avenue.

“We didn’t know what it was going to be like,” she said. “It would be nice to be in Cape Town in the sun.”

Ms. Dennison wasn’t the only one scrambling for more layers. Other customers at the stand were ravenous for vendor Alton Reed’s scarves, hats, gloves, and head warmers.

Mr. Reed asked a woman wearing a full-length fur coat and looking freezing – with a little icicle clinging to her nostril – if she wanted a bag for the furry headband she had just selected.

“I’m going to wear it,” the woman, Elizabeth Bryan-Meadow, told him. “Are you kidding?”

Demand for higher-end winter wear was also heavy.

Timothy Oberweger’s wife, Willow, complained of the cold yesterday, though he said she grew up north of the city and is accustomed to the cold. When they were shopping for groceries, she pointed out someone wearing a fur-filled hat with earflaps, and hours later Mr. Oberweger was in Bloomingdale’s, poised to buy a burgundy hunter’s cap, equipped with earflaps and filled with fur. He was also hoping to buy her a pair of shearling gloves.

“I am interested because of the weather today. It’s obviously affecting where I’m shopping and what I’m shopping for,” he said.

Although plenty of people spent the day in pursuit of hot chocolate, fleece, and heat, not everyone’s day was driven by the gusting winds and bitter cold.

Three teenagers, Alexa Mehraban, Samantha Sheppard, and Rebecca Herschorn, wolfed down two huge bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream together at the new cafe inside the redesigned FAO Schwarz.

“We heard it was really good and we wanted to try it,” Rebecca said, taking a huge bite.

“I feel fine,” Alexa said. “I’m not cold.”

Alexa’s dog, Fluffy, on the other paw, looked as though he’d have preferred to stay home. As the girls consumed their mid-afternoon treat, the Maltese huddled in a carrying case, wearing a canine coat and wrapped in a blanket. Alexa said he always dresses up for the elements.

Not only were ice-cream eaters undeterred by the sudden chill, smokers were out in force.

An 18-year nicotine veteran, Wayne Gray, stood outside his office building at 750 Lexington Ave., puffing away – coatless.

“I’ve got to put my coat on, button it up, it’s just too much of a production, and I love this weather,” he said. “It could be like this every day of the year.”

The one activity that was curbed yesterday was outdoor running. But a jogger or two could be spotted at the Central Park Reservoir in the morning, and at 3:25 p.m. a runner in a yellow parka and black spandex ran through the Long Meadow of Prospect Park, pushing a baby stroller.

Despite yesterday’s cold snap, New Yorkers and tourists alike can look forward to warmer weather for the rest of the week. Today will be in the upper 30s, a forecaster for the National Weather Service, Bill Goodman, said. He expects the temperature to rise into the fifties tomorrow. He said he expects Christmas Day to be slightly below average, though – but “nothing like” the beginning of the week.