Washington.- Before the sun rose over the Northeast United States this Friday, temperatures were bearable, almost freezing in many places. It was a tricky start to a day when the mercury would drop to single digits and below freezing due to a short-lived, but impressive arctic blast that is forecast to settle in the region early in the weekend.
About a dozen daily cold temperature records are likely to be broken across the region in the coming days, mostly on Saturday morning, forecasters said. Winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour, combined with air temperatures well below freezing, will make conditions extremely dangerous.
Meteorologists with the Weather Prediction Center said some areas in northern New England could experience chills (the temperature the body feels when windy winds remove needed body heat).
“This will be the first time in 20 to 30 years in many places that the wind chill has dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius,” forecasters from the Portland, Maine office warned.
In New York City, the wind chill is expected to drop below minus 20 degrees. On Thursday, officials were already warning residents about the cold weather ahead.
In New Hampshire, a blinking sign next to northbound Interstate 89 warned motorists of what was ahead: “COLD ARCTIC WINDS,” it read. “PLAN AHEAD.”
Atop Mount Washington, known for some of the world’s worst weather, a wind chill of minus 75 degrees Celsius was forecast for Friday.
