WATCH: New Hampshire pounded by arctic blast, coldest wind chill ever measured

NEW HAMPSHIRE (WXIX) - Wind chill temperatures in Mount Washington are an astonishing -108 degrees Friday night due to an intense blast of arctic air.

That’s the coldest wind chill temp ever measured in the United States, including Alaska, according to FOX19 meteorologist Steve Horstmeyer.

Weather Underground has recorded -100 degree wind chill events just three times in U.S. history, all on Mount Washington. The previous record was -102.7 degrees.

It’s also likely the coldest wind chill temperature ever measured on earth, though Horstmeyer adds it’s likely colder wind chill temperatures have occurred in places like Antarctica without being measured.

Frostbite at those wind chill temps sets in less than a minute after first exposure.

Real temperatures are lower than -45 degrees. The previous record is -47 degrees.

For reference, the average temperature on Mars is -80 degrees.

Temperatures will continue to fall in the area into Saturday.

Mount Washington sits 6,288-ft. tall in northern New Hampshire. a 231-mile wind gust was recorded there in 1934, the highest known measured wind gust anywhere in the world not produced by a tornado or tropical cyclone.

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