Arctic blast on the way: Worcester may see record cold this weekend
Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately reported that the low temperature may break a record for all Saturdays. The record would involve the date of Feb. 4.
WORCESTER — It's likely that the city will break the all-time record for lowest temperature Feb. 4, when arctic air rolls in this coming weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The forecast calls for minus 8 degrees Saturday morning, four degrees colder than the current record for Feb. 4 of minus 4, set 89 years ago in 1934. With the wind chill factored in, Saturday could drop to a frigid minus 30 degrees.
“The record (Feb. 4 temperature) is in danger, as they say,” said Bill Simpson, a 35-year veteran meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Norton.
LatestWorcester weather report
An artic blast from the North Pole is the culprit and it will be “short-lived,” said Simpson, lasting 30 to 36 hours.
Arctic blast arrives Friday
It is all expected to start when cold air arrives in the early morning hours Friday, with temperatures in the upper 20s, falling to the lower 20s by daybreak and the upper single digits by late afternoon.
Sunset will be time for teeth chattering, with a wind chill recording expected at minus 20 degrees.
Then it’s time to brace for expected record-cold Saturday morning of minus 8, with a minus 30 degree windchill.
“People won’t be ready for it,” Simpson explained, given this winter’s stretch of mild temperatures. “People will be kind of shocked, especially with the wind chill.”
Worcester officials are working to identify the best sites to protect its homeless from the cold and expect to announce a plan Tuesday, said a city spokesman.
The city reports a rising homeless population: 586 adults in November, compared to 577 one year earlier. Unsheltered homeless are included in those totals and their numbers increased over the same period, from 155 to 226.
It could be even colder in parts of northern Worcester County, said Simpson, with an expected minus 12 degrees near the New Hampshire border and a minus 35 wind chill.
It’s difficult to say if minus 12 is a record low for Feb. 4 in the northern part of the county because Simpson explained that record keeping by cities and towns in Massachusetts is spotty outside of Boston and Worcester.
Saturday's high in Worcester is expected to reach 12 degrees, 10 degrees in Northern Worcester County.
As quickly as the arctic air arrived, it will just as quickly move out — Simpson called it a “30-to 36-hour arctic outbreak” — as Sunday warmth, so to speak, will descend on Worcester, with temperatures rising to the mid to upper 30s. That’s actually a few degrees warmer than the normal high mark of 32 degrees for this time of year.
Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @henrytelegram
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Record-breaking cold on the way to Worcester, Massachusetts
