Rain, snow, storms, polar cold and humid heat: the northeastern United States is subject to extreme weather phenomena throughout the year.
By the editor
“Epic” and unheard of for “generations”: the meteorological services of the United States and Canada had redoubled catastrophic warnings on Friday in the face of polar temperatures risking reaching -50 degrees felt in the American northeast and eastern Canada subjected to an icy wind.
“It’s an epic arctic (cold) snap,” unheard of on a “generational” scale, especially “something northern and eastern Maine haven’t seen since 1982 and 1988,” notes the National Weather Service (NWS).
The fears were confirmed overnight from Friday to Saturday. In the region of New England (which includes several states, including Massachusetts and Maine, the thermometer fell below -40°C, with a feeling of up to -70°C. In question: a A breath of arctic air called the “arctic blast” is a “depression that forms each winter above the North and South poles at an altitude of about 30 km”, according to The Weather Channel. This phenomenon causes rapid descents of cold air towards temperate latitudes in North America or Europe.
The record was set at Mount Washington in New Hampshire, with -43°C and gusts of wind close to 200km/h. The temperature felt was approaching -80°C.
On the other side of the border, polar cold alerts had also been issued for eastern Canada. The temperature felt was already -41° in Montreal on Friday afternoon. While warnings have been lifted in most regions, some cities in northern Quebec and Labrador were still facing freezing weather this Sunday morning. In western Labrador, temperatures are still approaching the felt 50°C. Nuvanik (New Quebec) will keep feeling down to -52°C until Monday.
In Quebec, extreme temperatures reached -42°C in Gatineau, -43°C in Montreal and -48°C in Quebec and Sherbrooke. In Ottawa, the capital, a temperature of -33.1°C was recorded on Saturday, beating the old record of -30°C set in 1948.
