Extreme, Record Cold in New England

While the Pacific Northwest returns to a typical winter pattern, an extraordinary cold snap is occurring in New England, due to a strong arctic front as the polar vortex swings south into New England and Eastern Canada. This is creating some of the coldest wind chills ever recorded. Let’s take a look at this extraordinary forecast.

Below is the European model’s forecasts for the coldest wind chills in New England, roughly around 4-5 AM Saturday.

Incredibly dangerous wind chills are expected, ranging from -40º to -60º in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire to -15º to -35º in most of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Even areas as far south as Philadelphia and Washington DC will drop into the -5 to 5 degree range.

Frostbite can occur in under 10 minutes for wind chills -15º and lower, with nearly immediate frostbite possible in areas near the Canadian border, where wind chills will approach -60º.

What about actual temperatures? Actual temperatures will be frigid, as seen in the European model forecast for overnight lows.

Actual temperatures will drop reach -20º to -30º in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and 0º to -15º for most of Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

This incredible cold pattern has prompted widespread Wind Chill Warnings, and even some Blizzard Warnings due to blowing snow. Below is the National Weather Service map showing alerts.

The blueish/gray shading over much of New England represents Wind Chill Warnings, with bright red showing Blizzard Warnings over Northern Maine.

What is causing such an incredible cold snap? That can be seen on the European model’s upper-air forecast for late Friday night, seen below.

Notice the polar vortex (purple/pink) over New England and Eastern Canada. This pushed a strong arctic front across New England on Friday, bringing a combination of rapidly decreasing temperatures and frigid offshore winds gusting 30-50 mph. Behind the arctic front, temperatures dropped to dangerous levels as offshore winds pulled in air from the Canadian tundra.

One interesting tidbit: Mount Washington in New Hampshire (6,280 ft), long known to have some of the most extreme weather in the world, has recorded a temperature of -45º, with winds gusting over 110 mph. This has produced one of the coldest wind chills recorded in United States history, seen below.

That is NOT a typo in the center of the screen…the wind chill at Mount Washington is -107º, the coldest they’ve ever recorded. Notice that all areas around Mount Washington also have wind chills of -30º to -50º, showing the incredible cold spreading across the entire region.

A quick YouTube or Google search for Mount Washington Observatory yields some interesting weather information! If you have relatives or friends in New England, be sure to check in on them and make sure they’re okay during this extreme cold.