Cold brings extreme discomfort

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - A blast of arctic air is chilling Western Massachusetts. With temperatures in the teens and single digits that teeth-chattering cold wave is expected to keep its icy grip on western Massachusetts into the weekend.

A polar air mass has prompted the National Weather Service to issue wind chill advisories across upstate New York and here in Western Massachusetts.

In northern Maine, the temperature dipped to as low as 36 degrees below zero this morning.

In the Springfield area residents woke up to temperature just barely above zero... and windchills well below zero.

Anyone who had to venture outside felt first hand the numbing effects of todays arctic blast.

“Actually I'm not liking it at all.  My feet feel frozen. It's a bit hard to talk and I can't feel my hands,” said Holly Bell from East Longmeadow.

At one point this morning the wind chill was measured at ten degrees below zero in Chicopee.

Some of those who had to suffer through these frigid temperatures were kids waiting at the bus stop.

“It's hard for some students they have to wait 15 minutes or more at the bus stop with this weather,” said Carmelo Ramos, a Crosswalk Guard in Springfield.

With temperatures this low there's a heightened threat for frostbite or hypothermia for those venturing outside.

Anyone outside, especially children and elderly... should limit areas of exposed skin and dress in layers...and limit time outside.