The
northeastern United States and Canada are experiencing a historic cold snap
, with extremely low temperatures that in some parts of Maine could reach records of 51 degrees below zero.
"This is an epic, generational arctic wave
," said the US National Weather Service (NWS) office in Caribou, near Maine's border with Canada.
The weather report added that "northern and eastern Maine have not seen similar (cold) waves since 1982 and 1988."
"Most stations are forecast to experience
the lowest wind chill in decades
or, in some cases, the lowest ever recorded," the NWS added.
He also warned that in such conditions,
frostbite on exposed skin can occur in as little as five minutes
.
"The danger of not being prepared, without shelter from the elements and without the proper winter survival gear cannot be stressed enough," he said.
The most extreme conditions were recorded Friday night and Saturday morning, with extremely low wind chill warnings across much of New England.
In
Boston
, the thermometer read -22 degrees Celsius, with gusts of icy wind that brought the wind chill
to -34 degrees
.
In
New York the temperature was -15 and the thermal was -25
.
In Canada, the wind caused the wind chill in the city of
Montreal
to drop to -43 degrees this morning.
Thermometers are expected to drop to
-50ºC
in the northern regions of Quebec, and an extreme cold alert is in effect in the province of Ontario.
White Arctic Sea mist has risen over parts of the St. Lawrence River due to extreme cold winds passing over the thawing water.
Power company Hydro-Quebec said it was bracing for record
power consumption
overnight Friday and early Saturday, and asked customers to reduce their use.
The Canadian province of Ontario is under an extreme cold alert.
Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP.
In Ottawa, the Canadian capital, a snowstorm with winds of between 60 and 70 kilometers per hour reduced visibility to practically zero
on Thursday night and early Friday .
Weather experts in the region forecast an improvement for Sunday.
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