Baby, It's Cold Outside!!

[WelshWitchPMD]

OHH Its beyond cold here in Rhode Island!! My car still won't start. Thankfully I don't have to work today cause it's Saturday. Hopefully it will start later on so I can go out and get a few things.

Can you believe that there is a football playoff game in Foxboro, Massachusetts today?

Here is the article about the cold in New England and the Northeast.



BELCHERTOWN, Mass. (Jan. 10) - Extreme cold gripped the Northeast with wind chill readings well below zero, forcing even the hardiest New Englanders to think twice before venturing outside. In New York, the wind chill reached minus 26 degrees in one city.


The cold was expected to get worse before warmer air emerges Sunday.

''It's just dry, frigid, your-ears-are-going-to-fall-off cold,'' said Patra McCafferty, 19, a student at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I., who warmed up on Friday between classes in front of a fireplace at a Starbucks.

The cold prompted Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., to lift its ban on blankets and sleeping bags for Saturday night's game between the New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans.

''You just prepare for it,'' said 33-year-old Marc Civilinski, who holds Patriots season tickets. ''You get there early. You have a few steak tips.''

In Syracuse, N.Y., where the wind chill was minus 26 degrees, the school system canceled classes for 22,000 students. The actual daytime high was minus 2.

''Not only do we have kids waiting at bus stops, we have a lot of walkers,'' said Neil Driscoll, a school district spokesman. ''Temperatures this low are dangerous.''

Homeless shelters in Rhode Island were filled beyond capacity, and churches were helping with the overflow. Not all of the occupants were homeless, either - just heatless.

''People are quite desperate. They're begging me to give them money so they can pay their gas or utility bills,'' said Cristina Amedeo, a director at one shelter.
Despite bright sunshine, the temperature in New York City had dropped to 15 by midafternoon. A normal high for the date in Central Park would be 38.

''How come it's always winter when we're below normal?'' asked Sondra Levy, only her eyes visible beneath a hooded parka as she rushed a street in suburban White Plains. ''I don't suppose we'll get 20 below normal in August.''

The National Weather Service predicted an overnight low of 7 degrees in New York City and minus 5 in the suburbs, with wind chills making it seem as cold as 20 below.

Two towns in Vermont, Sutton and East Berkshire, each registered actual lows of minus 35 Friday.

Diana Simpson, who works on her family's farm in Sutton, did not look at the thermometer before she went out to the barn at 4:30 a.m. ''Sometimes if I don't know how cold it is, it doesn't seem as bad,'' she said.
Many people were going about their normal routines despite the cold.

In Fort Drum, N.Y., where it was minus 18 at dawn with a wind chill of 35 below zero, soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division and National Guardsmen held their usual training activities.

''It's like any other day,'' said R.D. Murphy, a post spokesman. ''They dress in layers. They're out there marching, although they might be moving a little slower.''

Boston's record low for Jan. 10 is minus 1 - set in 1875. Worcester, about 45 miles away, hit minus 5 on the same day in 1968. Providence, R.I., was minus 3 in 1982, and Hartford, Conn., was minus 8 in 1942.

''The real meat of the cold is here in New England,'' said weather service meteorologist Charlie Foley in Taunton, Mass. ''This cold is coming right from the North Pole.''