Extreme heat and frozen temperatures are plaguing the Americas throughout February.
The North American continent has faced seemingly relentless frozen temperatures since the end of 2022 and into 2023. Everywhere from California to New England has suffered drastic cooling conditions, as well as back-to-back extreme weather events.
The lowest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. struck on Friday at Mount Washington in New Hampshire, where the wind chill reached -108F, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. Reuters disputed this temperature somewhat, claiming that the exact reading was -105F. This squabble feels like petty semantics as the nation comes to grips with schizophrenic weather patterns.
Mount Washington, New Hampshire, has experienced the most extreme weather on planet Earth today.
Wind chills have dipped as low as -109°F, which is cold enough to give someone frostbite in about 1 minute. pic.twitter.com/nCSteVH6MZ
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) February 4, 2023
With a sudden warm front expected to sweep through the country on Tuesday. Texas, which was frozen at the start of February, will potentially be hit with severe thunderstorms, according to USA Today. The storms are a natural response to the sudden warm front slapping into the frozen north.
Cities like Boston and Worcester, MA, Providence, RI, Harford, CT, and Albany, NY, matched or beat previous cold temperature records, but now might see highs of 36F on Tuesday, Today noted. As more than 80 people have died since Christmas 2022 from storms and extreme weather in California, Buffalo, and other parts of the U.S., weather warnings are expected to last until things calm down. (RELATED: Check Out The National Weather Service’s Amazing Word Gymnastics Over California Drought Questions)
Things are quite different the further south one gets in the Americas. Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay are all forecast to see temperatures between 5-10Celsius degrees higher than average, according to the Guardian. At least 23 people have died as a result of the heat in Chile, and some 39 wildfires have erupted as low humidity and staggering high temperatures sit atop the continent.