The US east coast awoke on Presidents’ Day to one of the most brutal freezes in a generation. Massachusetts in particular braced for bone-chilling temperatures after a winter storm blanketed Boston with more than a foot of snow on Sunday in what is the city’s third-snowiest winter on record.
The cold snap follows a siege of winter storms that have logged record-setting snowfalls in parts of the region.
By Monday morning, temperatures ranged from the single digits in New York City and Philadelphia to below zero in parts of the eastern Great Lakes and upstate New York, the Weather Channel reported.
Just before midnight on Sunday, the temperature in New York’s Central Park dipped to 4F (-16C), while a dangerous windchill whips through the city, making it feel significantly colder. In upstate, the residents of Buffalo, New York, experienced the city’s coldest day in 21 years with a high of 2F. A wind chill warning remains in effect until mid-morning on Monday for the central New York region.
Elsewhere in the region saw temperatures that tied or broke record daily lows, including in Syracuse, New York with -17F; Cleveland, Ohio, with -12F; and Flint, Michigan, with -21F.
At least six people have died from the storm, mostly in roadway accidents. Fierce winds knocked out power in nearly 250,000 homes across in the mid-Atlantic region on Saturday evening, though crews were able to restore power to much of the region by the following day.
Last week, New York mayor Bill de Blasio called the cold “dangerous” and urged New Yorkers to stay indoors.
“Stay indoors if you don’t have to be out,” De Blasio urged on Friday.
On Saturday, New York governor Andrew Cuomo added a warning of his own, saying: “New Yorkers should take every appropriate precaution as subzero temperatures and blizzard-like conditions hit the state this weekend.
“This weather can be extremely dangerous for everyone from children to the elderly, so I encourage people to stay indoors whenever possible and stay safe.”
Meanwhile, the US south is bracing for a sweeping wintry blast bringing snow and ice from the Rockies across the Appalachians and into parts of the mid-Atlantic and, possibly, the north-east. The greatest snowfall is expected to extend from southern Missouri to southern West Virginia, with some parts expected to accumulate as much as a foot of snow, the National Weather Service predicts.
The storm will move through the Ozarks on Monday and into the Appalachians before spreading into Carolinas. As the storm winds its way east, the biggest threat to states further south is ice, making travel dangerous. Pockets of heavy icing may cause power outages and fell trees, the service warns.
By nightfall, the storm is expected to bring sprinkle snow on the mid-Atlantic region, including Philadelphia and Washington DC. And depending on the storm’s strength, it could push north on Tuesday, bringing snow to New York City and southern New England.
