New York Today: Baby Boom

Christian Hansen for The New York Times It is high season at the city’s maternity wards.

If the air seems to be filled with the cries of newborns lately, it’s not your imagination.

This is the time of year when the most births occur in New York.

The week ending Sept. 26 saw an average of 404 babies born per day over the last decade, according to the city health department.

That’s the highest figure for any week in the year.

It’s 14 percent more than the 355 births on an average day in the slowest week, the week of Nov. 28. (Who wants to be stuck in the hospital over Thanksgiving?)

All the dates with the lowest rates are around major holidays, led by Christmas Day, with an average of just 286 births. You and your doctor may thank the miracle of the scheduled c-section for that.

We’re not sure why the birth rate is so high this time of year.

Maybe it has something to do with the calendar event that falls 40 weeks before today: Dec. 21, usually the shortest day â€" and the longest night â€" of the year.

What’s your theory?

Here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the weekend:

WEATHER

Clouding over with a high of 70, but clearing overnight and pretty sunny on Saturday and Sunday, with highs in the low 70s. You are free to move about the city.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit: Subways are O.K. But Metro-North’s New Haven line is still providing very limited service â€" see details. Click for latest M.T.A. status.

- Roads: No major problems. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended today for the Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah. Meters remain in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- On the campaign trail, Bill de Blasio appears on the Brian Lehrer show and on “Pura Politica” on NY1 Noticias at 6 p.m. Joseph J. Lhota discusses his jobs plan at a restaurant in Jackson Heights.

- Mayor Bloomberg’s weekly appearance on the John Gambling radio show on WOR-710 AM. 8:05 a.m.

- Cycle for Survival, which raises money for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, takes over a plaza in Times Square with more than 100 stationary bike riders and loud music. 9 a.m.

- Intriguing-sounding thing you won’t be going to: the deputy agriculture secretary speaks downtown at a United Soybean Board workshop, “Country and City Connect for Sustainability: Bringing the Benefits of Bio-based to the New York Region.”

- Put on your tin foil hats, conspiracy nerds. Tickets go on sale at noon to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson at the Paley Center on Oct. 12, where they will speak of the 20th anniversary of “The X-Files.”

- Be serenaded at lunch by cast members of “Annie,” “Pippin,” “Newsies” and other shows at the “Broadway on the Hudson” concert at Waterfront Plaza downtown. 12:30 p.m. [Free]

- Roberta’s, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Calexico and others purvey their wares as Madison Square Eats, adjacent to Madison Square Park, opens for a four-week run. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

- Free outdoor concerts at night in autumn? Yes. St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble plays brass music at Granite Prospect in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Bring a sweater. 7 p.m. [Free, also on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Snug Harbor in Staten Island.]

- Over 400 artists, 100 studios, 50 galleries and three days of art and performance as the venerable Dumbo Arts Festival returns for its 17th year. [Free]

- “For and About,” a show of art made in response to Hurricane Sandy by Brooklyn artists opens at the Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery, also in Dumbo. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

IN THE NEWS

- Who says industry is dead in New York? Companies are still polluting the Gowanus Canal. [New York Times]

- New York City’s air, though, is the cleanest it’s been in 50 years, the mayor says. [New York Times]

- A horse pulling a carriage bolted and toppled the carriage on Eighth Avenue near Columbus Circle. No one was injured. [Daily News]

- Yanks lose to Rays at Mariano Rivera’s last home game, 4-0. Mets lose to Brewers, 4-2.

THE WEEKEND

Saturday

- A discussion of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches at the Staten Island Museum. 11:30 a.m.

- Elvis Costello, Alicia Keys, Kings of Leon and Stevie Wonder perform at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park. All free tickets are accounted for, but some VIP tickets still remain. Or watch the live stream. 4 p.m.

- Take a night hike around Van Cortlandt Park with the Urban Park Rangers. 7 p.m. [Free]

Sunday

- The mountainous former landfill on Staten Island now known as Freshkills Park hosts a free afternoon of kayaking, biking and climbing walls. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. [Free]

- Jousting anyone? The annual Medieval Festival transforms Fort Tyron Park into a medieval town from 11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. [Free]

- The Atlantic Antic street fair returns to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Noon to 6 p.m. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide. Also check out The Skint, where we read about some of this weekend’s events.

Joseph Burgess and Judy Tong contributed reporting.

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