BOSTON (WHDH) - A brutal blast of Arctic air that created painful and life-threatening conditions throughout the Midwest this week arrived in New England Thursday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue wind chill warnings and advisories across Massachusetts.
Temperatures plummeted to as low as minus 26 in North Dakota with wind chills as low as minus 62 in Minnesota. Some cities turned buses into warming shelters for the homeless, while the U.S. Postal Service said it would not deliver mail in some parts on Wednesday.
And though it wasn’t quite as cold in the Bay State, conditions are still extremely dangerous.
Wind chills as low 30 below zero are expected. The dangerously cold temperatures could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes, according to the NWS. Even hypothermia or death can occur if precautions are not taken.
Advisories from parts of Middlesex, Essex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Bristol, Worcester and Suffolk counties expired at 9 a.m., where wind chills reached near 25 below zero.
Forecasters say the bitter blast of winter weather is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed frigid temperatures to dip much further south than usual.
Temperatures are expected to linger in the 20s on Friday before climbing into the 30s on Saturday and Sunday.
For more, visit the 7Weather page.
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