AUGUSTA -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey and Maine State Climate Office announced today that a minus-50 reading in northwestern Maine held up to scientific scrutiny.That beats Maine's old record of 48 below zero set in 1925 in Van Buren, and ties the record for coldest temperature recorded in New England. That reading was made in 1933 in Bloomfield, Vt.
The record on New Hampshire's Mount Washington is minus-47.
Maine's minus-50 reading was made on Jan. 16 at a remote site along the Big Black River near the Quebec border as the region was in the grip of a blast of arctic air.
10:09
AUGUSTA -- Just how cold is the record cold in Maine?
NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the U.S. Geological Survey and the Maine State Climate Office will tell us today at a meeting in Augusta.
The question: Does a reading of minus-50 in northwestern Maine, made on Jan. 16 at a site along the Big Black River near the Quebec border, break the all-time record.
We'll have to wait until 11 a.m., to find out what the weather watchers above determined after reviewing the equipment used to make the reading.
The National Weather Service says the current cold record for Maine is 48 below, recorded in Van Buren on Jan. 19, 1925.