‘Once-in-a-generation’ arctic blast grips US and Canada

A powerful arctic blast swept into the U.S. Northeast on Friday, pushing temperatures to perilously low levels across the region, including New Hampshire's Mount Washington, where the wind chill dropped to 105 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-79 Celsius), forecasters said. (AP Photo)

Wind-child warnings were posted for most of New York state and all six New England states - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine - a region home to some 16 million people. (AP Photo)

Hats, scarves, mittens, and gloves are pictured hanging on a fence for people who are experiencing homelessness to grab as a cold Arctic Front hits in Boston, Massachusetts, US. (Reuters)

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the deep freeze would be relatively short-lived, but the combination of numbing cold and biting winds gripping the Northeast would pose life-threatening conditions well into Saturday. (AP Photo)

Schools in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, New England's two largest cities, were among those closed on Friday over concerns about the risk of hypothermia and frostbite for children walking to school or waiting for buses. (AP Photo)

“This is an epic, generational arctic outbreak,” said the National Weather Service bureau in Maine, adding that it expected the “lowest wind chills in decades or, in some cases, the lowest ever recorded”. (AP Photo)

Meanwhile, air temperatures in Eureka, Canada's northernmost Arctic weather station, were hovering at -41 F (-41 C) on Friday morning. (AP Photo)

A person rests on his bed inside a shelter at Crossroads Rhode Island during a wave of frigid weather in Providence, R.I., Friday. The shelter extended their hours to allow residents to stay indoors as an Arctic front swept in from Canada. The frigid weather led communities in the Northeast to close schools and open warming centers Friday. (AP Photo)