CNN
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Dangerous wind chills up to 50 degrees under Zero is blowing up the northeast, and parts of the south struggle to melt from a deadly ice storm.
The Center for Weather Prediction said the daunting cold set to hit New England “could feel the coldest in decades.”
More than 15 million people have a cold weather warning or advisory in the northeast. The alert will begin to go into effect early Friday morning and will continue through Saturday afternoon.
“This is an epic generational outbreak in the Arctic,” said the National Weather Service in Caribou, Maine.
In such extreme conditions, just 10 minutes can cause frostbite.
Luckily, the brutal explosion only lasts about 36 hours. Warmer temperatures are expected for most of the northeast by Sunday afternoon.
But further south, cities paralyzed by deadly ice storms this week will get an encore of bad weather before the snow finally melts this weekend.
Here’s what you can expect in the South and Northeast.
The ice storm that has killed at least three people in Texas will bring cooler rains Thursday morning.
Another quarter inch of ice could cover central and northern Texas, southern Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Even more tragically, according to PowerOutage.us, more than 400,000 homes, businesses and other power customers had no electricity on Thursday morning. Most of the power outages occur in the Austin area.
Another 60,000 customers in Arkansas, 20,000 in Mississippi, and 20,000 in Tennessee also lost power Thursday morning in the blistering cold.
By noon Thursday, however, temperatures will be above freezing in much of the region.
More than 15 million people will issue cold weather warnings starting Friday as freezing temperatures and fierce winds hit the Northeast.
“Wind chills have not been seen in northern and eastern Maine since similar outbreaks in 1982 and 1988,” the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The alert covers all of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Also includes northern New Jersey, northeastern Pennsylvania, and most of New York State outside of New York City and Long Island.
Severe cold weather is expected to shift to the region on Friday morning, with the lowest temperatures expected on Friday night and Saturday morning.
Temperatures are expected to drop below 0 degrees Fahrenheit in much of New York State and New England. In northern New York and northern New England, temperatures will drop to -15 to -25 degrees Celsius.
However, strong winds make the air feel even colder. Upstate New York and New England In northern England, wind chill can drop from -35 to -50 degrees.
“Avoid outdoor activities on Fridays and Saturdays!” New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management posted on Facebook. “Cold temperatures combined with wind chill factors could lead to potentially life-threatening conditions outdoors.”
New York City can withstand cold temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius.
And in Boston, where temperatures feel like -27 degrees, the mayor has declared a cold emergency from Friday to Sunday.
“We urge all Boston residents to take precautions, stay warm and safe, and check on their neighbors during this cold emergency,” Mayor Michelle Wu said.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has activated the state’s severe cold weather protocol, which runs from noon Thursday through the weekend.
“With the bitter cold that’s heading toward us, frostbite can occur on exposed skin within 30 minutes,” the governor said.
“Spending time outdoors in these conditions can be not only harmful, but deadly.”
Shelters and warming centers are available throughout Connecticut and can provide transportation if needed, Lamont said.
Warming centers are also expected to be available in Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont, officials said.
However, the suffering does not last long. High temperatures across the region will rise by 20-30 degrees Saturday through Sunday.
In fact, much of the northeast, except northern Maine, will experience a warmer-than-normal Sunday, with highs of 30-40 degrees Celsius.
