Powerful winds, frigid air wreak havoc
Many woke up to scattered power outages and downed tree limbs Tuesday.
Howling winds whipping across Massachusetts toppled trees into homes and knocked down power lines on Tuesday, leaving tens of thousands in the dark during a bitterly cold day.
The powerful wind gusts peaked at 76 mph in Provincetown and 78 mph on Mount Tom in western Massachusetts, according to the highest wind reports from the National Weather Service.
In Wellesley, gusty winds took down a large tree, which smashed into a home on Francis Road. No one was injured in the incident, according to police.
Trees and power lines were down across the region, including in Wilmington where a fallen large tree blocked the driveway to an apartment complex, police said.
Otherwise there were no reports of major damage from the winds in Greater Lowell Monday night or Tuesday morning, but downed trees and limbs that caught power lines caused scattered power outages across the region.
On Tuesday morning, as about 27,000 National Grid customers were without power statewide, with 6,500 of those customers were all in Dracut, where about half of the town was without power. Billerica, the second hardest-hit local community, had about 1,200 customers without power, according to National Grid.
Several area roads were closed by falling trees as well, including Sheldon Street in Billerica, which was closed for hours between Oak Street and the Tewksbury line after a tree fell across the road and took power lines with it, according to Billerica Police.
“More than 1,800 field employees and contractors are responding to a wind storm that has toppled trees and knocked down power lines,” National Grid tweeted. “At the peak of the storm, more than 84,000 of our customers in New England were without power.”
An arctic front moving through southern New England produced the strong winds and brought with it frigid temperatures. The wind chills Tuesday morning plummeted to minus 11 in Fitchburg, minus 8 in Worcester and minus 6 in Beverly, according to the National Weather Service.
“Luckily this is only a single-day event,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson, based in NWS Boston’s Norton office.
And hopefully, you weren’t at the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Meteorologists there recorded 100 mph wind gusts and minus 80 wind chill.
After the frigid and blustery weather on Tuesday, Massachusetts residents should expect to enjoy high temps climbing into the mid40s today.
“What a difference 24 hours can make sometimes, especially in early March,” the National Weather Service forecast discussion read on Tuesday. “There will be a bit of a breeze with some westerly gusts between 20 and 25 mph, but certainly nothing like today. That coupled with temperatures around 20 degrees milder will make quite a difference for outdoor activities by Wednesday afternoon.”
Then the temperature roller coaster will continue heading into the weekend with temps diving back into the 30s.
A warm up, however, is looking likely for next week — with temps soaring into the 50s.