Forecasters said a powerful arctic blast swept into the US Northeast on Friday, pushing temperatures across the region to dangerously low levels, including New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, where the wind chill It dropped to 105 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-79 Celsius).
Wind chill warnings were posted for most of New York state and all six New England states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine — an area home to about 16 million people.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said the deep freeze will be relatively short-lived, but the combination of cold and strong winds gripping the Northeast will create life-threatening conditions on Saturday.
Schools in Boston, New England’s two largest cities, and Worcester, Massachusetts, were closed Friday amid fears of hypothermia and frostbite risks for children walking to school or waiting for buses.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a state of emergency on Sunday and opened warming centers to help the city’s more than 650,000 residents in what the NWS warned was a “once-in-a-generation” cold front. doing.
Bitter cold has forced the closure of a floating museum that offers daily re-enactments of the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when a group of colonists disguised as Native Americans sailed into Boston Harbor to protest taxes imposed by the king. Throw away crates of tea.
“It’s too cold for that, we’re closed,” said a museum receptionist on Friday.
Early Friday, arctic surge flowing into the United States from eastern Canada was centered over the U.S. Plains, weather service forecaster Bob Orwick said. Kabitogama, Minnesota, near the Ontario border, was the coldest place in the U.S. at 1 a.m. EST, with a temperature of minus 39 F (-39.5 C).
NWS meteorologist Brian Hurley said sub-freezing, blustery conditions spread eastward throughout the day, sending wind chill factors — a measure of the combined effect of wind and cold on the body — across much of Maine. dipping into the -40s, NWS meteorologist Brian Hurley said.
At Mount Washington State Park, atop the Northeast’s highest peak, temperatures dropped to minus 45 F (-46 C) Friday evening, with wind chills as low as zero F ( -76 C) down to 105, Hurley
By comparison, air temperatures at the northernmost Arctic weather station in Eureka, Canada, were hovering at -41 F (-41 C) Friday morning.
Boston was at 8 degrees F (-13 C) on Friday evening, while in Worcester, Massachusetts, 40 miles (64 km) west, the mercury reached 3 F (-16 C), with temperatures Further declines are expected, Hurley said.
Record cold was expected in both cities on Saturday. Forecasts called for a low of -6 F in Boston, higher than the 1886 record of -2 for the date. Worcester hit a low of -11 on Saturday, which would break the previous record of -4 for that date set in 1934.
“before the real winter”
Despite the bitter cold, Non Ma, a native of Belgium, was selling homemade Belgian waffles from his Zinneken’s food truck near Boston University on Friday, heating up three or four waffle irons at once. was
“They generate heat, but of course it’s cold, it’s going to be cold, but here we are,” Ma said.
In Biddeford, Maine, about 95 miles (150 km) north of Boston, Katie Pinard, owner of a coffee and bookstore, said business was brisk because customers came in from the cold, some from her store. Chose to work, elements: books coffee beer instead of travel.
“Yes, the Manners are pretty tough, but talk to me tomorrow and we’ll see if we’re busy,” he said, looking ahead to Saturday morning, when temperatures are expected to drop to -18 F (-28 C was being done.). “I think people are out and doing what they need to do before the real cold.”
While the Northeast was hunting, Texas and parts of the South were beginning to warm up in the wake of a deadly winter blizzard that brought days of freezing rain, sleet, and snow, causing There were massive power outages and dangerously icy roads.
But the weather was warming up, with temperatures in Austin, Texas, expected to reach 52 F (11 C) on Friday and 71 F (22 C) by Monday, according to forecasts.
Meanwhile, a Pacific storm was expected to bring another round of heavy snow to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains Saturday night. Central and northern California and low-lying areas of the Pacific Northwest were forecast for moderate rain through the weekend.