Arctic blasts' icy fingers grasp northeastern United States


A blast of Arctic air grasped the northeastern United States on Friday, bringing Boston the coldest temperatures for this day in more than a century, prompting school closings and officials to warn residents to cover up or stay indoors.

An Arctic front will combine with a storm flowing across the Rocky Mountains on Friday, according to a National Weather Service advisory. Extreme conditions in many parts of the country will continue into Saturday, it said, with snowfall but slightly milder temperatures expected in the Northeast.

Boston's morning low of 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 16 Celsius) was the coldest for this date since 1883, when the mercury dipped to 1 Fahrenheit (minus 17 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service.

"We definitely have a blast of Arctic air," said Lenore Correia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. "We have a really strong northern flow of air and it's pulling cold air down from Canada to New England and much of the country."

Wind chill and winter storm warnings were in effect for much of the northern United States - as far west as Montana and Idaho through the Midwest to New York, Massachusetts and Maine.
Schools were closed in Worcester and Lowell, Massachusetts, due to the frigid conditions.



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