A powerful cold snap delivered a fierce punch to much of the Northeast through the weekend, leaving students throughout the University of Massachusetts’ campus looking for a place to stay warm.
Temperatures reached into the double digits below zero Monday, making many in the area loathe going outside.
Ed Carroll, the chief meteorologist at Springfield-based WGGB-TV abc40, said records were shattered throughout the region.
“They hit 21 [degrees] below zero at Westover,” Carroll said of the temperatures in a phone interview last night, referencing Westover Joint Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, where all official records for the region are calculated. “The old record was minus 13.”
Carroll noted that those values reflect the actual air temperature, saying there was almost no wind yesterday.
“This is as cold as it’s been,” added Carroll, a longtime meteorologist in the region. He noted that, in his many years of forecasting, he has never seen temperatures dip as low as they did yesterday.
On and around campus, students lamented those temperatures and tried to bundle up as best as they could.
“It was frigid,” said Jessica Stern, a junior communications major, who lives off campus. Stern noted another side effect of the frigid weather was the high cost of heating her home to stay free from the freezing temperatures.
“When you can see your breath, you know it’s bad,” she quipped.
Allison Sacks, a junior psychology major and a companion of Stern who also lives off campus, said her car died yesterday morning, forcing her to take the bus to get to classes. When she arrived at the bus stop, she said, she had just missed the bus that would have taken her to campus, forcing her to wait out in the cold for 15 minutes for another bus to arrive.
“It’s hard to go to class” in this weather, Sacks said, noting her ideal weather would be a more Mediterranean clime somewhere in the 70s.
Dinah Gorelik, a junior public health major, expressed a similar disdain for the cold temperatures.
“Staying dressed is the only thing that you can do in this weather,” said Gorelik, who trotted over from the Southwest residential area to munch on dinner at the Blue Wall.
Despite the fierce coldness, it doesn’t appear that any major weather-related emergencies occurred yesterday — beyond pipes freezing in some areas. Attempts to reach the Amherst Fire Department were unsuccessful last night, but there were no reports in local media of any mishaps directly related to the weather.
A bit of relief from the frigid weather, though, is in sight. Carroll said temperatures could reach into the 30s today.
“It’ll get better,” Carroll said.
However, Carroll noted the region will see a bit snowfall in the next few days. But, he said, any storms that do hit the area will not be of any major significance.
William Perkins can be reached at [email protected].
