Taunton area preparing for record-shattering cold this weekend

Daniel Schemer, The Taunton Daily Gazette
·2 min read

If you haven’t already, get your surplus of blankets out from storage ASAP.  Taunton is poised to shatter temperature records with the arrival this weekend of arctic cold.

The hazardous weather outlook from the National Weather Service, issued Tuesday, Jan. 31, says this dangerously cold airmass will spread Friday evening into early Saturday morning across all of Massachusetts east of Berkshire County, Northern Connecticut and all of Rhode Island.

According to the National Weather Service, overnight temperatures from Friday evening going into Saturday morning, Feb. 4, could drop to minus 5 to minus 6 degrees for Taunton. With wind chill Saturday morning, it could feel like minus 30 to minus 35 degrees.

Residents in the Taunton area and across the SouthCoast region can all expect the same thing.

“Taunton will fare about the same as most of southeastern Massachusetts,” said Kyle Pederson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Norton.

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What is the record cold in the Taunton area?

How does this compare historically?

According to Pederson, the National Weather Service’s tracking and record keeping for temperature highs and lows typically revolves around regional airports, such as those in Providence, Boston, Worcester, and Hartford, Connecticut.

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The projected minus 5-6 degrees for Taunton on Saturday, Feb. 4, would break the current record for Feb. 4 of minus 2 degrees for Providence Airport set back in 1918.

“It’s looking pretty good that it will break that record,” said Pederson.

The National Weather Service is advising residents to make preparations for a snap of extreme cold this weekend.
The National Weather Service is advising residents to make preparations for a snap of extreme cold this weekend.

Temperature data collected by the National Weather Service for Taunton Municipal Airport does not go as far back as data for regional airports. Data collected for the Taunton airport only goes as far back as December 1997.

For Feb. 4, minus 6 degrees was recorded for the Taunton Airport back in 2015, meaning the region could be on par with meeting that record.

The arctic blast slated for the weekend in New England will last between 30-36 hours.

The high estimated for Saturday is 15 degrees with the evening temperatures going into Sunday morning dropping as low as 10 degrees. On Sunday Taunton should be back to a high in the low 40s.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Winter cold to reach the negatives this weekend for Taunton