© Suzanne Kreiter/Boston GlobeBoston shivered yesterday in the coldest weather to hit the area in six years. Above, Keith Saviano dug out his truck from the roof down in Framingham.
Travel stalls, shelters fill, but warming on wayThe coldest weather to strike Boston in six years wreaked havoc on commuters yesterday, freezing car batteries across the region and leaving thousands shivering in the bitter cold on exposed platforms as they waited for MBTA trains that either broke down or were stalled behind those that did.
An Arctic blast drove the officially recorded temperature down to minus 2 at Logan International Airport, minus 9 in Bedford, and minus 24 in the Franklin County town of Orange. Emergency responders said the region appeared to be spared death and serious injury. But hundreds called to seek heating assistance and other help coping with the extreme cold, and homeless shelters were over capacity.
Eleanor Vallier-Talbot, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, said the minus 2 at Logan was the first sub-zero temperature in Boston in six years and matched the low of Jan. 22, 2005.
The mercury crept back above zero by midmorning and hit 10 at Logan in time for lunch. More normal January temperatures, highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s, are expected today and tomorrow, just in time for a predicted mix of snow, rain, and sleet, courtesy of a storm headed this way from the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Weather Service warned that
the storm could bring coastal flooding, as well as the usual winter roadway hazards.
Comment: SOTT.net finds this very interesting in light of RyanX's recent look at the relationship between Earth's magnetic field and the Moon (and charged celestial bodies in general):
Pole Shift? Look to the Skies!