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As commuters shuffled through the Lexington Avenue-53rd Street subway station on Thursday morning, Tyrone Cooper serenaded the bundled-up passengers with his usual renditions of popular tunes.

But Mr. Cooper’s performance also came with a warning: “It’s too cold to be outside right now. You can get sick and die out there.”

As a cold spell cloaked New York, with temperatures reaching only into the teens, city officials urged residents to limit their time outside. But for the homeless, options were limited.

Mr. Cooper, like countless others without shelter, sought protection in transit stations and on trains. He spent Wednesday night on the subway’s E line, a popular refuge in the winter because the train stays underground during its 50-minute trip between Queens and Lower Manhattan.

The merciless chill arrived from the Midwest, walloping the region and interrupting daily routines. New Jersey Transit disruptions on Thursday morning frustrated commuters who were stuck waiting outside for trains, and Newark Liberty International Airport was reporting delays into the afternoon because of weather and wind.

Some suburban schools delayed or canceled classes. City public schools and government offices remained open.

The outlook for Thursday night was no better: a low of 10 degrees. Temperatures are expected to climb into the 20s and 30s on Friday.

[Follow the latest updates on the polar vortex.]

On Thursday morning, Mr. Cooper, 63, seemed in good spirits despite the deep freeze. He was posted in the Lexington Avenue station with his microphone and speaker, singing “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” in hopes of collecting tips.

“This is like being in your living room,” he said. “I mean not your living room, but compared to some places, this is really a good place to be at because it’s not too cold. You don’t even need a cup of coffee.”

Mr. Cooper, who has been homeless for the past two years, said he prefers this station because the platforms are far from the entrances, minimizing drafts. The platform was noticeably warmer than other stations in the city.

On days like these, many homeless New Yorkers prefer staying underground to checking into a shelter.

“The shelter environment is so hostile,” said Leopold Wiseman, 37, who has been homeless for about 15 years, as he rested on a bench at the Queens Plaza subway station, also on the E line. “You have to spend all your energy trying to survive.”

In 2018, The New York Times found several dozen homeless people — including some just released from the hospital — on each E train during frigid nights in January.

The city’s most recent estimate of the population found 3,675 homeless people on the streets, in parks and on subways on a single winter night in 2018 — 48 percent of whom were in the subways. For years, officials have grappled with how to help.

The Bowery Residents’ Committee, a nonprofit that contracts with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city, sends outreach workers through the subways and commuter rail stations to try to bring the homeless into shelters. When temperatures drop below freezing, the city issues a “Code Blue” alert, and the workers check in more frequently.

“This weather obviously increases the risk to a vulnerable population,” Andy Byford, who oversees the subways, said in a statement. “We are working with the city and N.Y.P.D. to get vulnerable people the help and shelter they need in this extreme cold weather, while taking steps at the same time to maintain a pleasant and safe traveling environment for our riders.”

This winter, the M.T.A. helped increase the number of Bowery committee outreach workers, including at Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal. At those stations, an M.T.A. spokesman said, the authority has deployed 24 additional transit officers to assist the homeless. The M.T.A. has also provided the Bowery Residents’ Committee extra funding for more beds for the homeless.

But Walter Miller Foster Jr. said he was just counting the days until he could spend less time indoors or underground.

“I prefer to be in the parks,” said Mr. Foster, who has been homeless for about 20 years. “That’s where no one will bother you. It’s public domain. I can just hang out and chill.”

Follow Tyler Pager on Twitter at @tylerpager. Follow Annie Correal on Twitter at @anniecorreal.

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