NEW YORK — New Yorkers, celebrity entertainers, tourists from around the world packed a frigid Times Square Sunday to mark the start of 2018 with a glittering crystal ball drop, a burst of more than a ton of confetti, and midnight fireworks.

With temperatures in the midteens and wind chill factors of minus 5, it was one of the coldest New York celebrations on record.

Security was at an all-time high after a year that saw several fatal attacks on large crowds, including one in Times Square itself last spring.

Spectacular fireworks lit up the skies in Hong Kong, Australia, and elsewhere in Asia at midnight Sunday, as the wave of 2018 revelry began.

Germans marked the event amid heavy security because of widespread sexual abuse of women in Cologne two years ago and a terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin last year.

The cold wave affecting two-thirds of the United States canceled holiday events in many communities, but the annual New Year’s Day Mummers Parade was held in Philadelphia.

The severe temperatures spread across the Deep South, as well as the East and Midwest. They were expected to last for several days in a region more accustomed to brief bursts of frigid air.

In Times Square, Remle Scott, 22, and her boyfriend Brad Whittaker, 22, of San Diego, arrived shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, saying they were trying to keep a positive attitude as temperatures hovered in the teens. Each was wearing several layers of clothing.

‘‘Our toes are frozen, so we’re just dealing with it by dancing.’’ Scott said.

In a prime viewing spot near 42nd Street, Alexander Ebrahim grinned as he looked around at the flashing lights of Times Square.

‘‘I always saw it on TV, so I thought why not come out and see it in person,’’ said the 19-year-old from Orange County, California. ‘‘It’s an experience you can never forget.’’

Brother and sister Dave and Amy Jensen came from Chicago — and were optimistic both about coping in the cold and the year ahead. ‘‘I think it will be a year of optimism for a lot of people,’’ Dave Jensen said.

Mariah Carey was booked again on ‘‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,’’ hosted by Ryan Seacrest, after a bungled performance last year in which she stumbled through her short set, failing to sing for most of it despite a prerecorded track of her songs in the background.

Carey posted an ad featuring herself for the show on Dec. 22 that said: ‘‘Take 2.’’

The finale of Sunday’s show was the traditional drop of a Waterford Crystal ball down a pole atop One Times Square.

This year, the ball was 12 feet in diameter, weighed 11,875 pounds, and was covered with 2,688 triangles that changed colors like a kaleidoscope, illuminated by 32,256 LED lights.

When the first ball drop happened in 1907, it was made of iron and wood and adorned with 100 25-watt light bulbs. The first New Year’s Eve celebration in the area was in 1904, when the new Times Tower was completed and the city’s first subway line started running.

After two terrorist attacks and a rampaging SUV driver who plowed into a crowd on the very spot where the party takes place, police were taking no chances.

Security was tighter than ever before. Garages in the area were emptied of cars and sealed off. Detectives were stationed at area hotels working with security officials to prevent sniper attacks.

Thousands of uniformed officers lined the streets. Concrete blocks and sanitation trucks will blocked vehicles from entering the secure area where spectators will gather.

The event rivaled some of the coldest New Year’s celebrations on record in New York, but it wasn’t as cold as the frostiest ball drop on record: 1 degree in 1907.