Metro

Brutal cold killing off NYC’s mice population

There is a silver lining to this brutal winter — it’s so cold that the city’s mouse population is dying off, experts said Thursday.

Big Apple homes were plagued by 343 fewer infestations this season compared with last year, according to the pest-control industry advocacy group PestWorld.

The frostbitten furballs don’t have the strength to burrow into warm apartment buildings, leaving the weak ones out in the elements, biologists said.

“They either can’t make it to a place that’s warm or they’re getting so desperate that they’re not choosing ideal places,” said Harvard biologist Hopi Hoekstra.

“Even if they make it to a dumpster, for example, they still sometimes don’t make it because it’s just too cold,” she said.

The critters better brace themselves for this weekend.

Temps on Friday could plunge as low as 12 degrees, followed by 28 on Saturday and 23 on Sunday — roughly 20 degrees lower than late February’s average of 45 degrees, meteorologists said.

Up to five inches of snow could hit the city Monday, with a possible slushy mix of sleet and freezing rain.

“New York got a little bit of a break last weekend with nice weather — but we’re back to normal,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Tom Kines.

“It’s not going to be fun.”

The chill will stick around at least “a few more weeks,” with a “nice day here and there,” he predicted.

Cold and snowy winter months generally trigger the most mouse infestations because rodents go looking for warm places to live — such as kitchen stoves or radiators, according to PestWorld.

Between October and February, New Yorkers reported 3,171 mice invasions in multifamily homes, compared with 3,514 during the same time period last year, the group noted.

Brooklyn is home to more mouse infestations than any other borough, according to PestWorld.

Termite and ant infestations happen most often in the spring.