Arctic blast grips New York City region

An arctic blast that sent shivers across the Midwest spread to the eastern U.S. on Wednesday, with bitter weather breaking records from Mississippi to Maine.

In the Northeast, temperatures dipped to single digits early Wednesday in some communities. Forecasters projected even lower temperatures late Wednesday and early Thursday in some locations.

More than 200 records have fallen since Monday, and the number is expected to exceed 300 by the time the cold snap ends, said Patrick Burke, lead forecaster at NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

The temperatures reflect a normal winter weather pattern that broke loose early in the season, unleashing cold air from Arctic Circle, he said.

“This was a wakeup call for a lot of folks in the eastern half of the country,” Burke said, noting that the eastern U.S. had enjoyed warm weather in September and October.

Record low temperatures for the date were recorded Tuesday in New York City; Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Augusta, Maine, and parts of Ohio. More daily records were broken Wednesday morning in Burlington, Augusta, and several locations in Pennsylvania.

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