(Trends Wide) — The life-threatening cold snap began to subside across the northeastern United States on Saturday after a new national record for wind chill was broken in New Hampshire.
The record was set in Mount Washington this Friday night, when the wind chill was -108 degrees Fahrenheit (-42 °C) thanks to a temperature of -46 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 °C) and wind gusts of 127 mph. (200km/h).
Historically, wind chill records aren’t tracked as closely as temperature records, but the mark would surpass what most meteorologists believe is the US record: minus 105 degrees Fahrenheit in Alaska (about -76° C). The previous record for Mount Washington was minus 102.7 degrees Fahrenheit (-74 °C) in 2004.
More than 15 million people were under wind chill alerts Saturday as the extreme cold began to subside. The vast majority of the remaining wind chill alerts ended around noon.
By Saturday afternoon, fewer than a million people remained under wind chill advisories. Most of the remaining wind chill watches will end at 7:00 pm ET tonight as temperatures begin to stabilize and winds ease. Temperatures will pick up considerably, reaching 5 to 10 degrees above normal this Sunday.
Several daily low temperature records were set in parts of the Northeast this morning, according to local offices of the National Weather Service.
Boston hit a morning minimum temperature of minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 °C) this Saturday morning, breaking its previous daily record of minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 °C). The weather service also tweeted that it is the first double-digit negative temperature on record since 1957.
Worcester, Massachusetts reached minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 °C) surpassing the previous daily record of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 °C). Providence, Rhode Island, recorded minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit (-22 °C) surpassing the previous daily record of minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 °C). Hartford, Connecticut hit minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit (-22°C), surpassing the previous daily record of minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit (-22°C).
Government leaders urged people to stay inside.
“Our state is facing dangerously cold temperatures and extreme wind chills today and tomorrow,” said Governor Kathy Hochul. Friday morning on Twitter. “We are coordinating with local officials to ensure they have what they need to keep New Yorkers safe. Limit time outdoors, wear layers, and be careful with alternative heat sources.”
Northern Maine feels the frost
Dangerously cold winds are descending on the region from Canada, putting entire states at risk. The worst impacts are expected in northern Maine, where about 70,000 people in Penobscot and Aroostook counties are under blizzard warnings through Saturday night, according to the National Weather Service.
“Blizzardy conditions on land with heavy snow blizzards are expected today through Saturday in open areas. Please don’t drive if you don’t have to!” the weather service in Caribou, Maine said.
Maine State Police shared photos of deteriorating conditions on Aroostook County roads Friday and warned drivers that any area of the state with open fields and snow can expect periods of poor visibility.
“One of the beauties of the county is (its) open fields and views, but on days like this they become dangerous. Drive carefully. What appear to be safe and normal driving conditions deteriorate rapidly on stretches of road with near-zero visibility,” the Maine State Police said in a Facebook post.
In addition to blizzard conditions, parts of northern Maine felt so cold they hit minus 69 degrees Fahrenheit (-56 °C) Friday night, and many other areas saw their winds feel as cold as the minus 35°F (-37°C) and minus 50°F (-45°C), according to the weather service in Caribou.
People bundle up in freezing temperatures and high winds in Manhattan as deep cold sweeps across the Northeast on Friday.
The freezing temperatures this week have not only affected the Northeast. Further south, severe cold weather also caused continued power outages in Texas and Arkansas as an ice storm swept through the region, killing at least eight people.
Some 130,000 homes and businesses in Texas were still dark early Saturday as multiple rounds of ice, sleet and freezing rain made deadly roads and downed trees, also causing power lines to snap and down. In Arkansas, more than 36,000 homes and businesses experienced power outages early Saturday morning, according to monitoring site Poweroutage us.
More than 160,000 people are still without electricity
Hundreds of thousands of customers in Texas and Arkansas are still without power after a winter storm hit the South this week.
As of 10:45 a.m. there were more than 130,000 people without power in Texas, while about 36,000 were without power in Arkansas, according to data from Poweroutage.us.
The Austin area has nearly 77,000 people without power.
Austin EMS urged residents in a tweet Friday to exercise caution when driving until traffic signals are fully operational. “The vast majority of crashes we respond to are the result of signals not working, especially after dark!”
help homeless
Amid the dangerously cold weather going on in the Northeast, New York City issued “code blue” Friday night, the city’s Department of Homeless Services said. a Twitter.
The designation generally indicates that temperatures have reached an extremely low threshold that requires them to make the resources available to the public. Under that code, people can use the city’s homeless shelter system in an emergency, and it directs New Yorkers to report people on the street as a safety measure.
“No one who is homeless will be denied seeking shelter in New York City during a Code Blue,” a department spokesperson said.
People bundle up as they protect themselves from chilly winds as the area registers record low temperatures on February 3, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
New York City is forecast to see temperatures in the single digits, with the coldest point Saturday morning at 8 Fahrenheit (-13 °C) and winds could feel as cold as 7 degrees below zero (-21 ° C).
“Homeless Outreach Teams will talk to any New Yorker on the street and offer them a warm shelter,” the city said Friday in a tweet.
In Erie County, home to Buffalo, officials also issued a “code blue” and opened three county overnight shelters and daytime warming centers.
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Warming centers have also opened in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont, officials said.
In New Hampshire, where the coldest winds could feel as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius), Cannon Mountain Ski Resort in Franconia and Wildcat Mountain in Gorham closed due to the bitter cold, according to their Facebook pages.
Similarly, several ski areas turned away customers and closed their operations in Vermont on Friday.
Trends Wide meteorologists Mike Saenz and Haley Brink and Trends Wide’s Joe Sutton, Gloria Pazmino and Mallika Kallingal contributed to this report.
