By Nichola Groom
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bone-chilling arctic winds and record low temperatures swept the U.S. Northeast on Friday, closing schools in Boston, disrupting flights in New York and raising the chance of New England power blackouts.
Social workers and police took homeless people to shelters and utilities were stretched to the limit, asking customers to conserve energy, as temperatures in the region were well below those in Juneau, Alaska and Reykjavik, Iceland.
Pedestrians bustled on New York streets bundled up from head to toe as arctic winds of 18 mph made exposed skin feel painfully cold.
"We have never experienced anything like this," said Tamara Neema, a tourist from California visiting New York's Times Square.
In Central Park, the temperature overnight fell to 1 degree Fahrenheit, matching a record low set in 1893 and caused parts of the Hudson River to freeze over.
Temperatures moved into the double digits as the day wore on, but the National Weather Service warned that winds of up to 25 mph could drag them back into negative territory.
New York's Department of Homeless Services said outreach teams were working at maximum capacity trying to bring homeless men and women in from the cold, sometimes against their will.
In addition, New York's Office of Emergency Management opened temporary warming centers in each of the city's five boroughs for New Yorkers without heat in their homes.
ROLLING BLACKOUTS AVERTED
At LaGuardia Airport in Queens, icy runways led to delays and several flight cancellations, while field trips and after-school activities were canceled at New York City public schools.
Electricity companies reported that energy usage in New York reached record highs on Thursday and said they expected to approach record levels again on Friday.
New England's regional power grid operator urged utilities to prepare for possible rotating outages as power plants came under heavy pressure from soaring home heating demand.
But by Friday afternoon as the temperatures rose, utility companies said they were increasingly confident they had enough energy to avert rolling blackouts.
In Boston, the mercury hit 7 below zero Fahrenheit, eclipsing the previous daily low of minus 5 set in 1920, according to the National Weather Service.
"This is pretty much the coldest day in Boston since it went to seven below zero on Christmas Day 1980," said Alan Dunham, National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Public schools in the New England city closed because of the cold.
Providence, Rhode Island, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Worcester, Massachusetts were among the other northeastern cities that saw record low temperatures on Friday.
Exposure to the extreme cold lead to at least one death in the region as New Hampshire authorities confirmed that a hiker in the state's White Mountain National Forest, Kenneth Holmes, 37, of Athol, Massachusetts, died from hypothermia. Temperatures plunged to as low as minus 44 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, the day Holmes disappeared.
At least four additional weather-related deaths were reported in the Detroit area, where 10 inches of snow fell on Wednesday. All involved heart attacks or strokes, according to the police and local hospitals. (Additional reporting by Greg Frost in Boston and Tom Brown in Detroit)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bone-chilling arctic winds and record low temperatures swept the U.S. Northeast on Friday, closing schools in Boston, disrupting flights in New York and raising the chance of New England power blackouts.
Social workers and police took homeless people to shelters and utilities were stretched to the limit, asking customers to conserve energy, as temperatures in the region were well below those in Juneau, Alaska and Reykjavik, Iceland.
Pedestrians bustled on New York streets bundled up from head to toe as arctic winds of 18 mph made exposed skin feel painfully cold.
"We have never experienced anything like this," said Tamara Neema, a tourist from California visiting New York's Times Square.
In Central Park, the temperature overnight fell to 1 degree Fahrenheit, matching a record low set in 1893 and caused parts of the Hudson River to freeze over.
Temperatures moved into the double digits as the day wore on, but the National Weather Service warned that winds of up to 25 mph could drag them back into negative territory.
New York's Department of Homeless Services said outreach teams were working at maximum capacity trying to bring homeless men and women in from the cold, sometimes against their will.
In addition, New York's Office of Emergency Management opened temporary warming centers in each of the city's five boroughs for New Yorkers without heat in their homes.
ROLLING BLACKOUTS AVERTED
At LaGuardia Airport in Queens, icy runways led to delays and several flight cancellations, while field trips and after-school activities were canceled at New York City public schools.
Electricity companies reported that energy usage in New York reached record highs on Thursday and said they expected to approach record levels again on Friday.
New England's regional power grid operator urged utilities to prepare for possible rotating outages as power plants came under heavy pressure from soaring home heating demand.
But by Friday afternoon as the temperatures rose, utility companies said they were increasingly confident they had enough energy to avert rolling blackouts.
In Boston, the mercury hit 7 below zero Fahrenheit, eclipsing the previous daily low of minus 5 set in 1920, according to the National Weather Service.
"This is pretty much the coldest day in Boston since it went to seven below zero on Christmas Day 1980," said Alan Dunham, National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Public schools in the New England city closed because of the cold.
Providence, Rhode Island, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Worcester, Massachusetts were among the other northeastern cities that saw record low temperatures on Friday.
Exposure to the extreme cold lead to at least one death in the region as New Hampshire authorities confirmed that a hiker in the state's White Mountain National Forest, Kenneth Holmes, 37, of Athol, Massachusetts, died from hypothermia. Temperatures plunged to as low as minus 44 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, the day Holmes disappeared.
At least four additional weather-related deaths were reported in the Detroit area, where 10 inches of snow fell on Wednesday. All involved heart attacks or strokes, according to the police and local hospitals. (Additional reporting by Greg Frost in Boston and Tom Brown in Detroit)