New England braces for 'epic, generational arctic outbreak'

[Zorro]

Source: Washington Post

Wind chills in northern Maine could approach minus-60, the lowest in decades. The worst of the cold is expected Friday night.

Wind chill warnings are in effect for most of New England and New York ahead of what the National Weather Service is describing as a “epic, generational arctic outbreak.”

“Life-threatening” cold, according to the Weather Service, will pour into the Northeast Thursday night into Friday — with the most extreme conditions expected Friday night into Saturday morning.

Wind chills will plunge to minus-30 to minus-45 by early Saturday throughout much of New England, while northern and western Maine could see wind chills down to minus-60 and even as low as minus-80 to minus-90 at high elevations.

“The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 5 minutes,” cautioned the Weather Service office in Caribou, serving northern and western Maine.

Read more: https://wapo.st/3Rvm30W

[Bayard]

1. Storm Of The Century

Be safe and warm, northeast DU'ers.

[FailureToCommunicate]

2. Thank you, we'll try. We have the wood stove, and a bottle of Sheep Dip, ready.

(And of course faucets dripping, checking in with neighbors, etc etc.)

[maxsolomon]

3. Global Weirding

Extreme weather events become more frequent.

Good luck, NE; please don't climb Mt. Washington on Friday.

[markie]

4. thanks for the advice!!

I'm not even going out on the rail trail tomorrow

already, here in Northern Vermont, my water pipes froze yesterday (20 below -forgot to turn on heat tape)... went to store bought a small heater to put down near my pipes... all good now!

early 90's we had a stretch of -40 for a week but not again, until now

[MissMillie]

5. School has been cancelled in a number of cities/town (for tomorrow)

I imagine they do this so that the kids don't have to wait in the cold for the bus.

[wnylib]

6. Buffalo public and private schools are all closed for tomorrow.

All extra curricular activities are cancelled.

Snow, high winds, and very low temps are predicted in this region (and in most of NY), but not as bad as in Maine. I am glad that it will be brief. By next week, temperatures are forecast to be above average.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. The local TV channel here in NE NY has a crawl running at the bottom of the screen warning

Of the severe weather alert for tomorrow and Saturday.

[Better Days Ahoy]

15. Same for us here in Springfield, MA!

Brrrrr! Stay warm and safe, Rhiannon.
I finally unloaded my car's worth of glass jars yesterday after a weekend supply run to Lancaster, PA. A big oops that I remembered before the big freeze.
No walk for us today in Forest Park!

[ancianita]

8. Please stay safe, everyone.

Shivering just thinking about this storm.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

9. Its 70 degrees and Im driving my convertible with the top down, sorry, my magnolia tree is blooming

[NickB79]

10. Coldest I ever experienced was -40F air temp, -60F windchill

February 1996, central Minnesota. The governor closed all the schools in that cold spell. Up on the Canadian border in Tower, MN it hit -60F air temp and -75F wind chill.

Of course, my dad didn't cancel farm chores that day. No rest for farm kids, even when you have to worry about your eyeballs freezing 🤣

[riversedge]

11. Hoping folks just bunker down and stay safe

[NullTuples]

12. This is what climate chaos looks like. "100 yr storms" every few years, new records are the norm...

[wishstar]

13. Real temp predicted to be -19 in Bangor tonight

At least it's a weekend where many won't have to go out to work or school. The only time we had temps that low here in W North Carolina was in '85 when my car wouldn't start for a couple of days so I had to get rides to work from neighbor who kept their car in attached garage.

[Better Days Ahoy]

14. Ready for it here in Springfield, MA!

Schools and activities cancelled today so kids and at-risk adults don't have to walk or wait for bus/shuttle to/from school or activity centers.
Turning up the heat a few more degrees to warm nooks and crannies.
Electric space heaters ready to point at a few water pipes. Dripping them, of course.
Bought extra food for birds and outdoor critters.
Hunkering down today and tomorrow!

[Abigail_Adams]

16. Here in Boston

I filled the bird feeders to the max and hope they don't blow away. Everybody is hunkered down. I feel sorry for my neighbor's backyard chickens in their coop. Sometimes she puts them in a big dog carrier and puts them in her basement during weather like this--tonight's a good time for that.

[Better Days Ahoy]

17. Yes, please. Save the chickens!

We bought big bags of bird seed, too. Two feeders and two suet cakes we're popular today. Plus, kibble in the yard for any mammal critters who get hungry enough to venture out tonight.