The northeastern US was hit with the coldest temperatures seen in decades over the weekend as an arctic air mass passed over the region. The polar vortex was accompanied by strong winds, driving wind chills to dangerous levels.
Temperatures broke records set a century ago early Saturday in Boston, where actual temperatures reached -10 Fahrenheit, and in Providence, Rhode Island, which fell to -9 degrees Fahrenheit (both about -23 degrees Celsius), according to the National Weather Service (NWS). ). Temperatures dropped to 4 degrees in New York, -6 in Hartford, Connecticut and -15 in Concord, New Hampshire, with strong winds making it feel much colder everywhere.
The summit of New Hampshire's Mount Washington, the region's highest elevation at 6,288 feet, dropped to -47 degrees Celsius early Saturday morning, tying the previous record set in 1934. Wind chills on the mountaintop approached – 110 degrees (−79 Celsius). The NWS in Caribou, Maine, tweeted Friday that it had received reports of “frost shakes,” earthquake-like tremors in the ground caused by sudden cracks in the frozen ground.
According to poweroutage.us, 18,000 customers in Maine and New York state were without power Saturday morning. Power had been restored to all but 5,000 customers by afternoon.
The cold weather followed a January that saw record high temperatures in many parts of the region. While the cold may seem at odds with the growing evidence of global warming, many meteorologists argue that such wild swings in temperatures are actually a sign of climate change. Some scientists say rapid warming in the Arctic may be increasing the likelihood of icy polar air plunging southward.
In New York City, a Code Blue was in effect, meaning that no one seeking shelter should be turned away. A cold state of emergency was declared until Sunday by Mayor Michelle Wu in Boston, where city and agency workers visited outside areas frequented by many homeless people. Boston authorities said only 10 people chose to stay outdoors Friday night at the city's largest tent camp.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy has ordered Boston's South Station to remain open to homeless people to sleep after the train station's private property manager recently illegally locked them out by covering the doors with garbage bags. Dozens of people slept on benches and on walls at the station on Friday night.
In late December, state housing authorities sent a letter to the Massachusetts legislature warning that within months the state could run out of space and be unable to place homeless families in the state's emergency shelter system if action is not taken.
Mike Kennealy, state secretary of housing and economic development, and Jennifer Maddox, assistant secretary for the state Department of Housing and Community Development, cited “decreased exits” from the shelter system and increased entries into it as reasons for the extreme homelessness. They said the state would not be able to expand funding and operation of the existing network of 3,500 shelter units, meaning those seeking shelter could be turned away.
Winter temperatures in colder parts of the country mean many homeless people and families sleeping in cars, emergency rooms, campgrounds, state forests and other places unfit for human habitation are seeking emergency shelter. As of mid-December, 294 homeless families were living in motels or temporary shelters instead of more traditional shelters.
Last year, Massachusetts had the third highest number of homeless families in the country. The state also has a Right to Housing Act that requires the state government to immediately house certain families who apply for assistance. However, such laws are almost useless in circumstances where the funding is not there to meet the increased need.
The cold temperatures only add to the crisis that exists due to exploding house prices and rents and conditions where increasing numbers of people have been pushed into homelessness due to unemployment, low wages and skyrocketing living costs. The pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis.
In addition, thousands of immigrants have come to New England and New York after being sent there in defiance by the fascist governors of Texas and Florida. In September, Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis ordered two planes of migrants to fly to the Massachusetts offshore island of Martha's Vineyard, where they were abandoned with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
The record-breaking cold weather has also exposed the deteriorating condition of Massachusetts' hospital system. On Saturday night, a pipe burst in Boston Medical Center's emergency department, flooding it and keeping it closed until Tuesday. Ambulances will be diverted to other hospitals until it can reopen.
This latest crisis comes as median ambulance response times in Boston for life-threatening emergencies such as cardiac arrest, arterial bleeding or loss of consciousness have increased significantly over the past year, rising from just over 7 minutes to 7.7 minutes in December , according to Boston EMS records.
Citywide response times are the slowest since at least 2014. In some Boston neighborhoods, response times are even worse, reaching nearly 11 minutes in Hyde Park and 9.5 minutes in West Roxbury for emergency calls. In such emergencies, seconds can mean the difference between life and death.
According to a recent analysis of Boston Globe, the delays are due not only to the high volume of calls and the short staffing of health workers, who left the profession due to worsening conditions, low pay and burnout during the pandemic. A central cause is hospital overcrowding, due to the inability of hospitals to quickly discharge patients to understaffed nursing homes and rehabilitation centers.
This hospital capacity crisis is slowing ambulance service by forcing EMS workers to stand in line until hospital teams can take care of their patients. EMTs call it “holding the wall,” according to Cataldo Ambulance Service, one of the busiest ambulance companies in Eastern Massachusetts.
David Franklin, Cataldo's nurse, told the Sphere, “Sometimes ambulances are backed up in a hospital 12 deep, waiting for the hospital's triage nurse to speak to others ahead of them in line.” Ambulance crews were forced to wait up to two hours on some days in December at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to Sphere.
