An “epic” cold snap hits the United States with temperatures of over 30 degrees below zero

He The northeastern United States and Canada are experiencing a historic cold snapwith extremely low temperatures that in some areas of the state of Maine could reach records of 51 degrees below zero.

“This is an epic, generational arctic wave”said the US National Weather Service (NWS) office in Caribou, near Maine’s border with Canada.

The weather report added that “Northern and eastern Maine have not seen similar (cold) spells since 1982 and 1988.”

“Most seasons are expected to live on the lowest wind chill in decades or, in some cases, the lowest on record,” the NWS added.

He also warned that under such conditions, frostbite of exposed skin can occur in as little as five minutes.

“The danger of not being prepared, without shelter from the elements and without the proper winter survival gear cannot be emphasized enough,” he said.

The most extreme conditions were recorded Friday evening and Saturday morning, with extremely low wind chill warnings across much of New England.

In Bostonthe thermometer marked -22 degrees Celsius, with gusts of icy wind that brought the wind chill at -34 degrees. In In New York the temperature was -15 and the thermal -25.

In Canada, the wind created the city of Montreal The wind chill dropped to -43 degrees this morning. The thermometers should drop to -50ºC in the northern regions of Québec and in the province of Ontario it is alert for extreme cold.

Arctic White Sea fog has lifted over parts of the St. Lawrence River due to extreme cold winds passing over the meltwater.

Hydro-Quebec power company said it was preparing to do so historical electricity consumption overnight on Friday and early Saturday morning, and asked users to reduce their use.

In Ottawa, the Canadian capital, a blizzard with winds of 60 to 70 kilometers per hour abated Thursday night and early Friday.s visibility to practically zero.

The region’s meteorological experts predict an improvement for Sunday.