Polar Vortex Smashes Augusta, Maine Low Temperature Records

If you are an avid follower of our local meteorologists, like the ones who are WMTW and News Center Maine, there is a good chance that you heard at least one of them refer to last week's temperatures as being "historic".

Calling the low temperatures we had on Friday and Saturday that really does make sense.  After all, can you really remember the last time we had a deep freeze like that in Central Maine?

It turns out, calling them "historic" was even more accurate than we thought.

According to an article in the KJ, Augusta set new daily records.

On Friday, we saw a low temperature of 16 below!  Keep in mind, that this does not take into account the wind chill.  According to most of the local TV stations, when you factor in the wind chill factor, the low temperature was more like 45 below!

That temperature did set a new daily low temperature.  The previous low for February 3 was minus 13 degrees.  That record was set in 1955.

We set a new low-temperature record on Saturday, too.  Augusta hit 17 below early on Saturday morning.  The previous low-temperature record for February 4th had been 14 degrees below zero.  That record had been set in 1971.

Again, keep in mind that the temperature would have been much colder when you factor in the wind chill.

Even wilder, these were nearing the point where they would be record lows for the City of Augusta.  According to the article, the lowest temperature ever recorded in Augusta was negative 23 degrees.  That record was set on February 2nd, 1962.

There is a good chance that other places saw record lows, but the data from many towns have gaps in them.  This is according to the article.

Elsewhere in New England, Mount Washington, notorious for its wild weather, set a new wind chill record.  According to the New York Times, Mount Washington recorded a low temperature of around 47 below.  Because of the wind chill, it felt like 108 degrees below!