Preparing for the Arctic Blast

Another beautiful Winter’s day in Southern New England with seasonable temperatures topping out near 40. Seasonable and pleasant Winter weather will be here through Friday morning. An Arctic cold front drops into Southern New England Friday morning accompanied by a blustery wind gusting 35-40 mph. Friday will feel closer to 12 with the cold air/ wind combination. Temperatures will plummet Friday night into Saturday to a concerning level. As of now, lows will be -6, taking down the record low of -2 from 1918. The biggest concern isn’t just the record-breaking cold, but the resulting wind chill. Winds Friday overnight will be gusting as high as 35-40 mph which would yield a wind chill of -27 Saturday morning. In these conditions, frostbite can develop in as fast as 15 minutes on exposed skin. It is advised you limit outdoor exposure Saturday morning and keep pets indoors. A concern for mariners will be freezing sea spray at this time. Saturday will be cold with highs near 17, but with the blustery winds, it will feel like -5. Sunday morning will be cold in the single digits, but a cold front will bring a rapid recovers and bring highs to 40 in addition to rain.