Record-breaking cold that gripped the state Saturday morning will give way to milder temperatures through the weekend before frigid weather returns Monday evening.
Bradley International Airport broke its record low for the day on Saturday morning with the temperature reaching 9 below zero, said FOX CT meteorologist Rachel Frank. The previous record was minus 7, set in 1981.
The coldest temperature in the state Saturday morning was in the Bakerville section of New Hartford, where the low reached minus 15 degrees, Frank said.
With the cold temperatures came reports of water main breaks and burst pipes throughout the state.
A water leak probably caused by a frozen sprinkler pipe forced some patients in the delivery area and newborn nursery of the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington to be moved to different rooms as a precaution, center spokesman Chris DeFrancesco said. Most of the areas affected by the leak were unoccupied and clean-up was well underway Saturday afternoon, he said.
Temperatures plunged Friday night and the low temperatures Saturday morning ranged from 0 and minus 15 around the state.
By Saturday afternoon, temperatures in much of the state had risen into the 20s, and they are expected to rise into the 30s on Sunday, Frank said.
“Temperatures in the 40s are likely early Monday before we crash back to winter by afternoon with a flash freeze possible,” she said Saturday.
Shelters around the state were operating at 120 percent of capacity on Friday, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.
Snowfall totals from Thursday’s storm, which were hard to measure Friday morning as winds blew the snow around, ranged from 3.8 inches in Colchester to 9.5 in Darien and Milford, according to the National Weather Service. Most of the state got between 5 and 7 inches, Frank said.
Massachusetts took the brunt of the storm, FOX CT meteorologist Joe Furey said Friday.
“We were pretty much brushed by this storm system,” he said. “Some places north of Boston picked up a foot yesterday.”
Boxford, about 25 miles north of Boston, topped the Massachusetts snowfall totals with 23.8 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
By Kelly Glista and Christine Dempsey, Hartford Courant. FOX CT reporters contributed to this story.