Maine's bone-numbing minus-50 sets state record

AUGUSTA, Maine—When it comes to cold weather, Mainers have something new to brag about.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey and Maine State Climate Office announced Tuesday 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.