WORCESTER – The last time the temperature dipped to 6 degrees in the city on Jan. 6 was more than a century ago.
The National Weather Service said the high temperature of 6 degrees on Saturday tied the record high temperature on Jan. 6, 1896. The record low temperature for Jan. 6, 12 degrees below zero, was also set in 1896.
"It’s too cold," Ismael Matos, a native of Puerto Rico who lives in Worcester, said while washing the salt from the roads off his car at the ScrubaDub on Route 9 in Shrewsbury.
Other people stopped by to clean their vehicles, but most left after seeing that the automated service was closed and they would have to wash their cars themselves in one of two self-service bays that was operational.
Rofiyat Tosin, who braved the bitter cold Saturday to visit a store on Front Street Saturday, said she is not used to the bitter cold. She was born in Nigeria but has traveled to Worcester since 2009.
"This is some of the most extreme weather I have ever seen," she said. "Yesterday was my birthday and I couldn't go anywhere."
The temperature was expected to dip to 8 degrees below zero Saturday night into Sunday morning.
"So it’s possible (Worcester) will break the (Jan. 7) record low of minus 5 degrees set in 1942," Lenore Correia, an NWS meteorologist in Taunton said. "People should limit their time outside because you could get frostbite in under an hour."
With the wind-chill factor, the temperature will feel more like minus 25 to minus 30 degrees for the predawn hours Sunday. Then the winds are expected to drop off and temperatures climb into the lower teens.
The lowest high temperature for Jan. 7 was 11 degrees set in 1912 and tied in 1973. The normal high temperature for Worcester on Jan. 7 is 32 degrees.
Temperatures will begin to return to normal on Monday, when the high is expected to be near 30 degrees. There is a possibility of snow showers Monday night, but no major accumulation. This week’s temperatures will continue to climb, reaching the low to middle 40s on Thursday and Friday.
The warmer weather will bring some relief for homeowners and companies that deliver heating oil. Because of the extreme weather and delays in trucks bringing oil from the ports in Rhode Island to the area, Gov. Charlie Baker has issued an emergency waiver to allow truckers that haul propane gas, liquefied natural gas and heating oil to customers in the state to exceed the number of consecutive hours they are allowed to work. The waiver is through 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 9.
Sean Flynn, owner of Al’s Oil in Shrewsbury, said the situation was exacerbated Friday after a power outage at the Shell Oil terminal in Rhode Island, which provides 70 percent of the fuel to the area.
His trucks and others’ had to go to other terminals for oil. The outage turned the usual two hours of time it takes for a truck to get there, load fuel and return to five to eight hours, he said.
"There is no shortage of oil. Customers are fine. It’s just taking longer to make deliveries," he said. "We go out at 9 p.m. sometimes because we can’t get to everybody during the day. We’re asking customers not to panic."
He recommended that people not call for additional oil until their tank is down to around a quarter full to help ensure that customers who are near empty are served first.
"It’s not like there’s no oil to deliver or that there is a crisis. But, this definitely impacts our business and makes it a little bit difficult to get out to people," Mr. Flynn said. "But, there’s definitely no reason to panic."