New England

Arctic Air, Bringing Dangerous Wind Chills, Settles in Following Snowstorm

As clean-up continues from a storm that, at official government observing sites, only met blizzard criteria at one location – Block Island, Rhode Island – arctic air has spilled into New England.

Temperatures in most communities fell since dawn and it’ll be a slow climb from this point forward, with the wind chill continuing to drop through the day as westerly winds gust up to 50 mph, perhaps resulting in a renewed power outage, particularly in the hills.

By this evening, the wind will drop below damaging levels, but will remain active enough to take temperatures around zero and produce a wind chill value of 15 to 30 below.

Keep in mind that wind chill of 15 below zero can result in frostbite on exposed skin in only 30 minutes, and 30 below zero can result in frostbite in a mere 15 minutes of exposure.

The incredible part of this intense burst of cold – and what makes it more intense (though not as long-lasting) than our last blast of arctic air – is the dangerous wind chill will continue through most of the day on Saturday, meaning the frostbite threat will continue even as the sun shines, then mixes with building clouds.

The wind will be much lighter Sunday, meaning even our forecast high of just under 20 degrees will feel much warmer than Saturday and wind chill will be well below dangerous threshold.

Though a chance of snow and rain showers returns to the forecast Monday into early Tuesday, next week does appear to be a milder week that should even feature a bit of melting, especially in Southern New England, ahead of what may be a heavier precipitation event – of rain, snow or both – at the end of next week in the exclusive Early Warning Weather 10-day.

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