Temperatures dropped to record levels, and strong winds swept across the northeastern United States, creating life-threatening conditions.
And the Mount Washington, New Hampshire region recorded, during the night before yesterday, cold winds, in which the temperature dropped to less than 78 degrees Celsius, which appears to be the lowest ever in the United States. The air temperature at the peak reached minus 44 degrees Celsius, with winds approaching 160 kilometers per hour, according to the Mount Washington Observatory.
“High winds toppled a tree on a car in Southwick, Massachusetts, smashing the car and killing an infant,” the district attorney for Hampden County, Massachusetts, said in a statement. The driver of the car was taken to hospital in serious condition.
Officials have suspended classes in public schools in Boston, because temperatures are expected to drop to less than -23 degrees Celsius, breaking the record recorded during this day in more than a century, according to the US National Weather Service.
Several cities took emergency measures to help residents, including opening heating centers, and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy ordered Boston’s main rail station to remain open overnight, as an emergency shelter, especially for the homeless to keep warm.
The National Meteorological Authority said, “It is expected that the very cold weather will not last for a long time, with temperatures expected to rise significantly during the coming period.”
In addition, five people were killed as a result of avalanches in Austria and Switzerland, prompting officials in the two countries to warn of the dangers posed by the unstable snow cover.
Three of the victims were tourists who were visiting the Alpine region in Austria, while in Switzerland, two people who were skiing outside the track were killed by an avalanche in the southeastern canton of Graubünden, according to local police.
Officials in Austria urged winter sports fans to be vigilant, and authorities said the alert level had been raised to four on a scale of five.
78
Below zero degrees Celsius recorded in New Hampshire.
