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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 19, 1994                   TAG: 9401190200
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WAUSAU, WIS.                                LENGTH: Medium

`I DON'T MIND THE COLD, BUT . . .

"I tried every trick in the book," he said, staring under the hood of one car hooked to a battery charger. "They were all running yesterday."

It isn't a good time to be a driver - or a car. The coldest weather to hit Wisconsin in years paralyzed many an engine, forcing commuters to find alternate transportation and swamping cab companies.

Car repair shops turned away business and busy towing companies couldn't offer help until later in the week.

By midday, the American Automobile Association of Wisconsin had handled 10,000 requests for help since the cold snap began Thursday night, four times the normal amount for this time of year, spokesman Joe Laubmeier said.

Winter's wrath flared Monday from the Deep South to the Plains and the Northeast. The weather has been blamed for 47 deaths since last week.

Temperatures in Mississippi and Alabama plunged to 7 degrees, and to 10 below zero in Louisville, Ky.

"I don't mind the cold, but God, this is unbelievable," said David O'Cull in Madison, Wis., where the wind made a record low of 27 below feel like minus 70.

Thousands of people were without electricity after heavy snow and ice from Monday's storm weighed down power lines.

States of emergency continued in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia because of the snow. Interstate highways remained closed throughout Kentucky.

Tuesday's record low temperatures for the date ranged from 34 below zero at Devils Lake, N.D., and 27 below at Madison to 3 below at Jackson, Ky. Chicago's 21 below erased the record of minus 16 that had been on the books since 1930.

The frigid air was pushing southward and Tupelo, Miss., had a low Tuesday of just 7 degrees. Today's forecast low was about 4, the National Weather Service said.

Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson ordered schools closed statewide to make sure no youngsters had to wait at bus stops with wind chills as low as 75 below zero.

"When it gets this cold, it's just too dangerous," said Robert Hanson, school superintendent in Rhinelander, Wis. "If in this weather one of the buses goes down, you don't have much time to get those 60 to 70 kids somewhere with heat."

Ohio sent more than 100 National Guardsmen and 50 emergency vehicles to help dig out counties in southern Ohio, where up to 30 inches of snow fell Monday. West Virginia National Guardsmen cleared roads and helped in medical emergencies in seven counties. The Kentucky Guard also was at work.

In Parkersburg, W.Va., where 18 inches of snow fell, two dozen tenants retrieved belongings Tuesday from a one-story apartment building whose snow-laden roof collapsed during the night, Fire Chief Jim Beckett said.

"It's a scary situation. The snow load is so severe right now. It's just unreal," Beckett said.

Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia was closed through midmorning after a Brazilian airliner slid off an icy runway.

Flights at Baltimore-Washington International Airport were cancelled. Spokeswoman Adrienne Walker-Pittman said she didn't know when the airport, which had been closed since Monday afternoon, would reopen.

The weather was blamed for seven deaths in Georgia; four in New York and Wisconsin; three in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Indiana; two each in Iowa, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma and Maryland; and one each in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee and West Virginia.