Hub bundles up as extreme cold envelops region

A paralyzing cold snap that might have claimed the life of a Boston man was expected to drive temperatures to zero again tonight, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a frostbite warning for much of Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New England.

Work slowed at the dismantling of the Central Artery, while postal workers, toll takers, and police officers forced to work outdoors braved record-low temperatures with lots of clothing and fateful resignation.

Yesterday's freezing wind and dropping mercury were just a preview of even colder temperatures expected tonight and this weekend, which forecasters said could make this January the harshest in a decade.

"This type of cold is the worst. It goes right through you," said Dan McGuiggan, 44, a 20-year veteran US Postal Service letter carrier.

Yesterday, he spent six hours on the streets of Quincy's Squantum neighborhod, bundled up with two pairs of socks, five layers of shirts and tops, two layers of pants, and a face mask.

Snow and rain don't bother him nearly as much as the kind of cold that seeps into your skin, he said. "The windier it is, the worse it is," McGuiggan said.

In what might be the first casualty of this latest cold front, Boston police found an unidentified man in his 40s dead at 1368 Dorchester Ave. yesterday and were investigating exposure as a possible cause of death, according to police spokeswoman Mariellen Burns.

The cold snap slowed demolition crews tearing down the old Central Artery in downtown Boston, Big Dig spokesman Doug Hanchett said.

For one thing, Demolition workers spray the rubble of the pulverized concrete roadway deck with water to minimize dust. When that water freezes, it turns the piles of rubble into an unworkable frozen mess, like ice cubes clumped together in a refrigerator bin.

The blowtorches that workers use to carve up the steel beams of the artery are also harder to light in extreme cold, Hanchett said, and tanks and canisters of combustible liquids used in the demolition must be kept warm in special huts. "People who are bundled up also just tend to move around more slowly," Hanchett said.

National Weather Service meteorologists said a Canadian front was funneling cold air southward into New England, prompting record low temperatures across much of the region.

Towns west and north of Boston, including Framingham, Lawrence, Lowell, and Fitchburg, were expecting temperatures as low as 5 degrees below zero. With winds blowing up to 20 miles per hour, it actually feels like 25 degrees below zero, cold enough to cause frostbite to exposed skin.

"It's not as cold as it's going to be," National Weather Service forecaster Alan Dunham said. "We won't see an end to this until Sunday."

Temperatures in Boston haven't fallen below zero at this time of year since 1994.

For those out in the cold, the weather offered a biting taste of winter misery to come. People who work outdoors braved a windchill index of 1 degree Fahrenheit at noon yesterday.

"It's unbelievable," said Roger Haskins, chuckling, during a break from collecting tolls at the Weston interchange on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

On duty until 10 last night, Haskins spent the day poking his head and hands into the frigid cold from his heated booth, a frequent hot-cold transition that leaves him utterly drained at the end of a shift.

"Once that sun goes down, then all hell breaks loose," Haskins said. Because he handles money, he can't wear gloves, and he had lost feeling in his fingers.

At Downtown Crossing, Flora Calderon walked laps around her pushcart, where she sells hats, gloves, and scarves. She was wearing three pairs of pants, four shirts, a coat, two pairs of gloves, and three pairs of socks. The low temperatures had frozen her credit card machine. "I like the cold, but this is a bit much," she said.

In Winthrop last night, the cold was being blamed for a break in a 20-inch water main on Revere Street. Police Lieutenant Frank Scarpa said the break, which occurred at 6:15, took a couple of hours to shut down and flooded several businesses in the Demitri Liquors building complex. Officials closed off several streets due to flooding and icing, including Harvard, Franklin, Payson, and parts of Revere Street. He said he expected the repair and detours to last through today. "We're recommending that motorists totally avoid Revere Street."

The Pine Street Inn, a Boston homeless shelter with 700 beds, had more than 100 additional people sleeping on floors and cots last night.

"It was freezing out there," said Christine Cericola, a street outreach counselor for Pine Street, who spent the day on the streets distributing blankets and encouraging the homeless to warm up in the Boston Public Library or at city homeless shelters.

"It's a scary time for people to be out on the street," she said. "We worry a lot about frostbite and hypothermia right now."

For the next few days, warned National Weather Service forecaster Dunham, New Englanders should take heed and take precautions.

"If you're going out, make sure you dress warmly, in several layers," he said. "Make sure your ears and exposed skin are well covered."

Drivers should carry a cold-weather kit, including a sleeping bag, in case of a breakdown.

There's not much relief in sight either, according to the National Weather Service.

Globe Staff reporter Anthony Flint and Globe correspondent Jessica Bennett contributed to this story. Thanassis Cambanis can be reached at tcambanis@globe.com.