This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The blast of arctic air that has engulfed portions of the US east coast broke more cold temperature records in several cities on Sunday, although a warm-up was forecast for Monday.

Brutal and 'bone-chilling' cold envelops US east coast two days after storm Read more

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the temperature in Worcester, Massachusetts, fell to -9F (-23C) on Sunday, breaking a record of -5F (-21C) set in 1942.

In Providence, Rhode Island, temperatures fell to -3 (-19C), breaking a record low of -1 (-18F) set in 1912. And in Hartford, Connecticut, the temperature dropped to -9F, smashing the previous record of 1F (-17C), also set in 1912. Boston tied a low-temperature record set more than a century ago, in 1896, of -2F (-19C).

By Monday, temperatures in Boston should return to a more seasonable low 30s. The city could see temperatures in the mid-40s by Thursday and as high as the low-50s on Friday.

Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, said the wind would not be as punishing on Sunday as it was on Friday and Saturday.

“With the wind dying down it will probably feel significantly better although many of these areas will still be below freezing,” Burke said.

Many north-east residents endured jaw-clenching temperatures and brutal wind chills on Saturday as clean-up continued from the storm that dropped as much as 18in (46cm) of snow in some places on Thursday.



Aviation crews at South Carolina’s busiest airport, Charleston International, struggled to clear runways of snow and ice so they could be reopened. In New England water main breaks, frozen hydrants and burst pipes created new problems for officials.

Boston was wrangling with a shortage of plumbers as the weather wreaked havoc on pipes that froze and cracked, Mayor Marty Walsh reported.

Play Video 0:33 Cars freeze in floodwaters in Revere, Massachusetts – video

A 3ft tidal surge brought on by the nor’easter along the Massachusetts coast was the highest recorded in nearly a century. Residents of Boston and its suburbs were cleaning up after the tide that came in on Thursday, flooding streets and forcing some residents to be evacuate as the water started to freeze.

Hartford, Connecticut, registered 10F (-12C) with a wind chill of -20F (-29C) while Burlington, Vermont, was -1F (-18C) and had a wind chill of -30F (-34C).

The temperature registered -37F (-38C) on Saturday at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire, one of the coldest places on the planet. The wind chill was -93F (-69C). It tied for second place with Armstrong, Ontario, as the coldest spot in the world.

Meteorologist Mike Carmon said people at the observatory were “layering up as a much as we can”.