Record Cold Blasts New England

Coldest morning for some in nearly 60 years

Arctic air continues to sit over New England this weekend, peaking this Sunday morning. Record low temperatures were set in many cities in Southern New England as thermometers dropped well below zero.

In Boston the low plunged to -9, smashing the prior Valentine’s Day record of -3 set in 1934. When considering temperatures on any winter day, it’s the coldest in the city since 1957. Overnight, the wind chill reached -36 for a time as strong northwest winds blew.

Worcester also set a new record, dropping to -16. That bested the -11 degree record set back in 1979. With a strong wind there, the lowest wind chill value of the night was -44.

Providence, Rhode Island’s low of -9 set a record, beating -7 from 1979. It felt as cold as -36 when you factored in the wind early Sunday morning.

Just north of Hartford, Connecticut, in Windsor Locks, the temperature dropped to -12. That’s also a new record, crushing the record of -9 from 1979.

While temperatures also dropped into the teens and 20s below zero for much of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, records were scarce as sub-zero conditions are more standard there during the winter.

At the coastline, the frigid air mass blowing over ocean waters that are still around 40 created widespread sea smoke. And for the Outer Cape, ocean effect snow squalls reduced visibility from Provincetown to Chatham.

While temperatures will remain near 0 until Monday morning, temperatures will climb to near 30 by Monday. The warm up continues on Tuesday as high temperatures punch into the 40s and even around 50 by then.

That warm-up will be matched with precipitation, though. What falls as snow showers Monday evening will transition over to rain for most of New England by Tuesday.

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