Warming centers opened in Maine Thursday as the state braced for extremely cold temperatures that could bring freezing winds of minus 60 degrees, officials said.
Wind chills of minus 35 degrees could be seen along the Maine coasts, and minus 45 in the foothills, the governor’s office said as it warned residents to stay prepared and safe.
“Frost and hypothermia are real risks when temperatures are this extreme,” Nirav D. Shah, director of the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a declaration.
Wind chill warnings covered more than 16 million people in the US on Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service, with the largest area in a swath of Syracuse and Binghamton in New York and in New England. and Maine.
the weather service in caribou In far northeast Maine, where a blizzard warning was also in place, he said winds of 50 mph and wind chills down to minus 60 degrees were possible.
Coastal wind chills of minus 40 to minus 45 degrees along the Maine coast could be the coldest some Maines have ever felt.
“Although it’s not official, based on the records we’ve been able to gather, the coldest wind chill in Portland since 1948 was -43 degrees in 1971, so we’re getting close to wind chill values most haven’t seen in their life,” the weather service said. in a forecast discussion.
Wind chill advisories will be in effect from 4 a.m. Friday through 7 p.m. Saturday in Caribou. In the state capital of Augusta, the advisory is from 10 a.m. Friday to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Other northeastern states were also preparing and warning residents.
Massachusetts’ emergency management agency warned of dangerous cold Friday night and into Saturday, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the cold could be life-threatening.
Power companies, including National Grid and Central Maine Power, said they were preparing for freezing temperatures.
New York City’s Friday night low was forecast at 9 degrees, and the city’s emergency management department warned of wind chills that could be minus 5 degrees.
In Boston, a low temperature of minus 8 degrees was forecast for Friday night. The wind chill could reach 35 below zero, said the weather service. Boston closed schools Friday to protect students.
The Arctic blast forecast warnings for the Northeast come as an ice storm that caused misery in Texas was winding down on Thursday.
But the effects lingered there. More than 323,000 homes and businesses in the state remained without power Thursday night, mostly in central and northeast Texas.
Austin Energy, which had 142,000 customers without power as of Thursday night, said it could not provide an estimated time for the entire system to be restored. Oncor utility company had about 100,000 customers without power.
