In Northeast, mid-40s feel like a heat wave after brutal cold
Temperatures in many areas of the Northeast climbed to the mid-40s Sunday, a day after the region suffered through temperatures that plummeted into the negative teens and felt like minus 50 degrees with the wind chill.
Atop 6,288-foot Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the temperature rose to a relatively balmy 18 degrees Sunday, a day after the temperature nosedived to minus 47 degrees, and the wind chill was measured in excess of minus 108.
The warming weather extended to Texas, where thousands of Austin residents were still without power five days after an ice storm knocked out electricity to nearly a third of the city. By Sunday, more than 90% of the city had power, according to Austin Energy. But the lights were still out for 40,000 customers, and there was no timetable for completing repairs.
Katy Manganella, 37, grew so fed-up that when Austin Energy came to her neighborhood Sunday with a charging station for residents — but still no repair trucks — she paced in front of the station holding a poster that read, “This pregnant lady is over it!”
“It’s been pretty miserable,” said Manganella, a therapist who is seven months pregnant. “How is there no plan for this?”
Back in the Northeast, there was some collateral damage from the extreme cold and high winds.
Boston Medical Center closed its emergency department after a pipe froze and burst Saturday night. It is expected to remain closed until Tuesday.
“All patients in the affected areas of the Emergency Department were safely moved to other areas of the hospital,” the center said in a tweet.
A Providence, Rhode Island, armory being used as a warming center had some of its windows blown out by raging winds over the weekend. No one was hurt.
The above-average temperatures were expected to stick around for some time, said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
“We do expect the temperatures to be above average for the upcoming week across the good part of the country, especially the Northeast,” he said.