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 Officials warned residents to stay indoors in the face of the -9
degree Fahrenheit (-22.8 Celsius) temperatures, which felt as cold
as -40 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill.
"It's fair to say that this is a historic Arctic outbreak for the
modern era," the National Weather Service said in a morning forecast
update.
Forecasters warned that frostbite could set in on exposed skin
within minutes, and urged residents to check on elderly neighbors.
While the system brought intense cold to the region, little snow has
fallen so far this winter, placing less stress on roads and rails
than last winter's record-setting 9 feet (2.75 meters) of snowfall
in Boston.
New York was also feeling the coldest weather it had experienced in
a year, and Governor Andrew Cuomo urged people to stay inside.
 "With bitterly cold temperatures expected to continue through the
long weekend, New Yorkers should remain alert and avoid all
unnecessary travel," Cuomo said.
The cold put a damper on some couples' Valentine's Day celebration
plans, with walks and other outdoor activities curtailed.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kristen Carlson, 25, and her boyfriend
Ross Crory, also 25, were adapting their plans.
"We're going to brunch," Carlson said. "We're going rock climbing
later. Indoor activities. Tonight we're staying in and cooking
dinner." Others embraced the extremes, with more than 2,000 taking
part in the Sea Isle, New Jersey, annual "Polar Bear Plunge,"
dipping into the icy Atlantic to raise funds for the city's
revitalization.
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Police throughout the region sought homeless people to urge them to
spend the night in shelters, where cots, mats and even chairs were
rolled out to give people a place to shelter from the cold.
But Kevin Taylor, a 49-year-old native of Massachusetts living on
the street in Harvard Square, outside Boston, said he had coped with
the cold on his own.
"I got a sleeping bag sized tent that protects me from wind and
snow. I got a zero degree sleeping bag and fleece blankets," Taylor
said. "I was born and raised in New England. I'm used to this. It'll
start breaking tomorrow."
Forecasters said temperatures around Boston would rise to about 29
degrees Fahrenheit (-1.7 Celsius) on Monday.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Alison Williams and Phil
Berlowitz)
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