Officials are warning that the winter storm that brought rain, strong winds and coastal flooding to southern New England on Friday will also bring dangerously cold temperatures over the weekend.
Forecasters expect the temperature to plummet Friday night, from around 37 in Providence at 5pm to an overnight low around 12 degrees.
“We’re expecting temperatures to drop this evening creating dangerous driving conditions,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee tweeted Friday afternoon.
With temperatures expected to stay below freezing for the weekend, officials throughout New England are opening warming centers.
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza said the city has opened 24-hour warming centers at Crossroads (160 Broad St.) and the Providence Rescue Mission (627 Cranston St.) The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency has a list of warming centers open throughout the state.
The storm’s high winds knocked out power to thousands in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
More than 3,600 utility customers were without power in Rhode Island as of 2 p.m. Friday. Over 1,400 customers were without power in Bristol County, Massachusetts.The National Weather Service predicted a high tide surge of about 3 feet Friday morning in Providence and warned to expect “minor nuisance flooding.” The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier was closed in anticipation of the storm.
Warwick saw wind gusts as high as 51 mph Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service’s Boston office. Weather stations in New Bedford clocked gusts at 49 mph.
The Block Island Ferry canceled all ferries on Friday due to adverse sea conditions.
Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans endured bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages and canceled holiday gatherings Friday from the winter storm, which forecasters said was nearly unprecedented in its scope, exposing 60% of the population to some sort of winter weather advisory or warning.
More than 200 million people — about 60% of the U.S. population — were under some form of winter weather advisory or warning on Friday, the National Weather Service said. The weather service’s map “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” forecasters said in a statement Friday.
More than 3,100 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled Friday, according to the tracking site FlightAware, causing more mayhem as travelers try to make it home for the holidays. More than 350,000 homes and businesses were without power Friday morning.
The huge storm stretched from border to border. In Canada, WestJet canceled all flights Friday at Toronto Pearson International Airport, beginning at 9 a.m. And in Mexico, migrants waited near the U.S. border in unusually cold temperatures as they awaited a U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether and when to lift pandemic-era restrictions that prevent many from seeking asylum.
“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” President Joe Biden warned Thursday in the Oval Office after a briefing from federal officials. “This is serious stuff.”
Forecasters are expecting a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — to develop near the Great Lakes. That will stir up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.
Among those with canceled flights was Ashley Sherrod, who planned to fly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Flint, Michigan, on Thursday afternoon. Sherrod was debating whether to drive or risk booking a Saturday flight that she worries will be canceled.
“My family is calling, they want me home for Christmas, but they want me to be safe, too,” said Sherrod, whose bag — including the Grinch pajamas she was planning to wear to a family party — was packed and ready by the door. “Christmas is starting to, for lack of a better word, suck.”
