Arctic Temps Hit Lower 48: Welcome To Our World

 Baby, It's Cold Outside...

And Other Americans Aren't Used To It 

Photo, Country Journal 

The East Coast is experiencing a "two-day cold event" in early February, 2023. That event has dropped temperatures there to uncharacteristic "Alaskan" levels. The Washington Post reported that it was minus 35 in Vermont, minus 13 in Massachusetts, minus 45 in Maine, and minus 38 in Upstate New York.

Lower 48ers aren't familiar with this type of weather. And, for now, when people  down South say "it's truly cold" – for once, they actually mean it. 

Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, which is often considered one of the Lower 48's coldest places, recently hit a windchill of 108 below. 

This Alaskan-style cold is considered "historic." 

Unlike the Copper Valley, where high winds and extreme cold don't typically happen at the same time, explosive winds, up to 100 mph,  are a big part of the East Coast event. 

And maple trees in New England are cracking and popping as extreme cold explodes the sap that's sitting inside the trees, waiting for spring. It's a phenomenon well known to any Copper Valley resident who owns a cabin that is undergoing 50 below temperatures, as the house walls react to the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures. 

But the sound of apparent gunshots originating in trees is something new in the Lower 48.