MT. WASHINGTON, N.H. – Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast, recorded a wind chill of -108.4° Fahrenheit Friday evening–the coldest wind chill in the history of the United States when an arctic air mass hit New England.
According to the Mount Washington Observatory, a new record low air temperature (for February 4th) was recorded on Saturday at -47.2 degrees Fahrenheit at 1:49 AM EST. The previous record for the date was -35 set in 1963.
The low temperature record for February was also broken. Friday’s low was -45.9, beating the old record of -32, also set in 1963.
The wind chill record was broken when wind chills dropped to -108.4° Fahrenheit Friday evening. The previous record was -102.7° Fahrenheit, also set atop Mount Washington.
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The all-time record low temperature for Mount Washington still stands at -50 degrees.
Many New England cities broke daily temperature records, including Providence which broke low temperature records on Friday and Saturday.
The 6,288 foot peak of Mount Washington, actually went into the stratosphere Friday evening as the deep cold descended over New England.
“Needless to say, such conditions will pose a great risk to anyone that plans on venturing to the higher summits. With such extreme conditions expected, a wind chill warning will remain in effect through noon on Sunday,” the observatory website reads.
Mount Washington also holds the record for the strongest wind gust recorded on Earth. On April 12, 1934, the wind gusted to 231mph.
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