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Wow It Is Incredibly Cold Out There in Boston

Curse you, polar vortex.


wind chills boston

Screenshot from 5 a.m. Thursday via National Weather Service

How many layers are you wearing right now? Hopefully plenty of them if you planned on heading outside in Boston Thursday morning, after the polar vortex’s incursion into much of the U.S. arrived in Boston.

Serious cold and skin-scorching wind chills greeted early morning commuters on Thursday, as the felt temperature in the city dropped to minus-12. Central Massachusetts communities saw temps drop as low as minus-25 (!).

That came after the furthest reaches of the Arctic blast soared through the city, bringing snow squalls—the quickly arriving snow storms that brought whiteout conditions to roads. That wasn’t the last of the driving hazards wrought by this unusual weather event: The National Weather Service warned of roads slick with ice from the deep freeze, despite the fact that the region didn’t see any rain. Much of it, the forecasting office says, is impervious to road salt.

The sun is expected to help temperatures rebound a bit, but only into the teens. Highs on Friday are expected to remain below freezing, at about 21 degrees.

Students in Boston found their school days were going on as planned Thursday. Boston Public Schools was warning students to be safe in the chill, and of course, to dress appropriately.

It’s been a truly weird, and in some cases tragic, couple of days. In the Midwest where temperatures have been recorded at record lows, at least six people have reportedly died in the elements.

In Boston, efforts to get the homeless into shelters were underway.

For locals, the storm also introduced us to a concept that many had never heard tell of before: The snow squall. You may have gotten an alert on your phone about its arrival Wednesday evening. On social media, many were puzzling over the seemingly new term and gawking at photos of the wintry wrath.