Record-setting wind chill of – 78 C in northeast US

The Arctic air that descended on the US northeast  brought dangerously cold sub-zero temperatures and wind chills to the region, including a record-setting wind chill of minus 78 C on the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire.

Temperatures got so low that authorities in Massachusetts took the unusual step of keeping the South Station transit hub open overnight so homeless people had a safe place to sleep. 

Several cities in the northeast set or tied record low temperatures for the date, while the high winds brought down a tree branch on a car in western Massachusetts killing an infant.

The Arctic air reached the region just as a rapid cyclogenesis developed over Labrador and Newfoundland, churning up powerful winds, Donald Dumont at the National Weather Service in Maine, said on Friday, explaining the temperature plunge.

A cyclogenesis refers to an intensification of a cyclone or low-pressure storm system.

The Mount Washington Observatory at the peak of the northeast’s highest mountain, famous for its extreme weather conditions, also recorded an actual temperature of minus 44 C, tying an observatory record set in 1934 and a wind gust of 204 kmh.

Across the rest of the region, wind chills — the combined effect of wind and cold air on exposed skin — dropped to as low as minus 43 to minus 45 C.

Boston’s Pine Street Inn, the largest provider of homeless services in New England, ramped up outreach to those on the streets, doubling the number of vehicles that could transport people to shelters and opening their lobby to provide extra space.

The emergency room at Massachusetts General Hospital treated several people for hypothermia overnight and a couple were admitted for frostbite.

“The reason that people unfortunately end up with severe frostbite in most cases is just because they don’t have anywhere warm and safe to go,” said Dr. Ali Raja, deputy chair of the emergency department.

Boston; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Connecticut; Worcester, Massachusetts; Albany, New York; and Glens Falls, New York set or matched record low temperatures for February 4, according to the National Weather Service.

The cold air is expected to move out of much of the region by Sunday.