Chill Air Follows New England Snow; Record Lows Set

Frigid air followed Thanksgiving Day’s snowstorm into the Northeast on Friday, chilling hardy New Englanders with temperatures as much as a dozen degrees below previous daily records and dropping the mercury to the lowest November reading ever at one spot in Connecticut.

A storm system that brought between 4 inches and 14 inches of snow to the Northeast on Wednesday and Thursday moved out to sea Friday, sucking biting cold air along in its wake.

Record lows were reported Friday morning in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine.

At Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., a reading of 1 degree broke the record of 13 set in 1956 and established a new record for the month of November, surpassing the mark of 6 degrees set on Nov. 17, 1924.

The temperature at Concord, N.H., fell to 5 below zero, breaking the record of minus 1 set in 1897. The National Weather Service said it was the coldest temperature ever recorded during the first 24 days of November in Concord, where records go back to 1871.

A record of 3 degrees was recorded at Portland, Me., smashing the mark of 15 set in 1956. In Caribou in far northern Maine, a record low reading of 1 below zero broke the record of 2 above set in 1964.

The temperature bottomed out at 6 degrees at the National Weather Service office in Rhode Island.

“That’s not only darn cold, but it’s a full 12 degrees colder than the previous all-time low of 18, set way back in 1914,” a weather service forecaster said.

Record lows were set or tied in 12 Northeast cities Friday morning. The early morning low for the Lower 48 states was 14 degrees below zero at Houlton, Me.

Temperatures were still below freezing at midday Friday across much of the area from Minnesota through the Great Lakes to New England, with teens in northern Minnesota and Upper Michigan.

Snow associated with a cold front spread into the lower Great Lakes region early Friday. The weather service said between 2 inches and 5 inches of snow were expected in western New York state.

A front spread rain across the Pacific Northwest into the Rocky Mountains with snow in some of the higher elevations, the weather service said.

Up to 8 inches blanketed the Cascade Mountains of Oregon Thursday night and another 4 to 8 inches could fall.

An advisory for snow and blowing snow was in effect for the northern and central mountains of Colorado, where 4 to 8 inches were expected.

Snow advisories were in effect for the mountains of southeast Idaho, the northern and western mountains of Wyoming, and elevations above 7,000 feet in northern Utah, with up to 8 inches expected.

Temperatures were warming into the 50s and 60s in the south-central states, with readings in the 70s in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and in the 60s and 70s across the Florida Peninsula and in southern Arizona.

Strong and gusty winds blew across the southern and central Plains and the mountains of southwest Texas. Gusts of 46 m.p.h. were reported at Guadelupe Pass, Tex., and gusts around Casper, Wyo., reached 50 m.p.h.