
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 16, 1991                   TAG: 9102160003
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BITTER COLD HITS SOUTH

Bitter cold, ice and up to 17 inches of snow blew across the eastern half of the nation Friday, turning highways into deadly bobsled runs and dropping temperatures below the freezing mark as far south as Alabama.

Vehicles slid into chain-reaction pileups in both the Midwest and the South. Slippery roads were blamed for at least 13 traffic deaths in states including Illinois and Tennessee.

"The roads are bad," said Tucker County Sheriff Hank Thompson in West Virginia. "They're snow-covered and hazardous."

Temperatures fell during the day from New England into the Southeast, dropping through the 30s, 20s and teens. At midafternoon in West Virginia, the wind chill in Elkins and Beckley was 15 below zero.

The temperature at Huntsville, Ala., was expected to drop to 10 degrees during the night. The National Weather Service warned of wind chills of zero to 20 below for northern Georgia.

Florida expected freezing temperatures by this morning as far south as Fort Lauderdale, with readings only in the upper 30s in Miami. Central Florida citrus growers anxiously watched forecasts to decide whether they should take precautions against a hard freeze.

"Everybody's anxious and keeping a close eye on the weather," said Mary Hartney, spokeswoman for Florida Citrus Mutual, a farmers cooperative in Lakeland. "Forty-five percent of the orange crops are still out, including 98 percent of the Valencias . . . and half of the seedless grapefruits."

Shelters for the homeless geared up to help larger-than-normal crowds. "I'm going to try to take in as many as I can," said Faith Rescue Mission director Tom Newman in Montgomery, Ala.

Meanwhile, Montana, which normally has cold, snowy winters, has been basking in mild weather with highs in the 50s, and people have been acting like it's spring.

"They're out playing tennis, they're out playing golf, they're asking us to fill up the swimming pools," said Joe Fedin, superintendent of recreation in Billings.

Schools were closed in parts of Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, New York state and Ohio, and in southeastern Minnesota. Some North Carolina schools closed early.

by CNB