Arctic temperatures and gusty winds are responsible for at least one death, as Friday’s high winds were blamed for the death of a baby in Southwick, Massachusetts.
The wind brought down a tree branch on a vehicle driven by a 23-year-old woman from Winstead, Connecticut, according to a statement from the Hampden district attorney’s office.
The driver was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but the child died, authorities said.
The powerful arctic blast will bring “dangerously cold wind chill” to the northeast through Saturday night, along with snowstorms in northern Maine, forecasters have warned.
Arctic air descending in the northeast on Saturday brought sub-zero temperatures and chills to the region, including a record-breaking wind chill of minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 78 C) at the top of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington.
On Saturday, Rochester, New York matched its record low temperature of minus 8 for this 1918 date, federal forecasters said.
According to the National Weather Service, the following cities also set record lows for February 4 on Saturday: Boston; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Connecticut; and Worcester, Massachusetts. The minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit temperature in Boston broke the previous February 4 record of minus 2 set in 1886. The minus 13 degrees temperature in Albany, New York, tied the record low for the date. Glens Falls, New York, set a record low of minus 24 degrees, colder than the previous record of minus 22 set in 1978.
“Temperatures will be 10 to 30 degrees below average in parts from the northeast to the mid-Atlantic coast,” the National Weather Service said in a bulletin.
Wind chill warnings and advisories have been issued in New York state and New England, it said.
The weather service added that high winds could cause power outages and damage property over the northern Rocky Mountain front and the High Plains.
In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu declared a state of emergency through Sunday and opened warming centers to help the city’s more than 650,000 residents cope.