Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9401200172
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The jolt taught us some hard lessons, like not to take our electric and gas service for granted and to be careful at work and play because falls on ice-covered walks and once-grassy front yards can break bones.
Record-low temperatures overnight Tuesday led to an all-time high demand for electricity by Appalachian Power Co.'s customers. That, in turn, prompted Apco to ask for cutbacks in power use to avert blackouts.
But Apco customers still were better off than those depending on Virginia Power, which ordered a series of temporary interruptions of electricity to its customers to protect its system.
Roanoke city government, doing its part, took the grave step of darkening a beloved city landmark, the Mill Mountain Star.
Roanoke Gas Co., which had handled with relative ease the demand on its system over the weekend, faced a challenge overnight Tuesday as low pressure in gas lines in Southwest Roanoke caused hundreds of residential furnaces to shut down.
At Roanoke Memorial Hospital, three orthopedic surgeons and three residents spent the day in surgery Tuesday, repairing broken wrists, elbows, hips and shoulders. One 17-year-old boy who tried sledding on ice lost a kidney. The number of accidents dropped off Wednesday.
The skies over Roanoke have been unusually quiet all week as Roanoke Regional Airport remained closed Wednesday.
Operators at the American Automobile Association office in Roanoke handled 300 calls for emergency service between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, most of them dead batteries and frozen fuel lines. Delays for road service were running between four and five hours.
At 4 a.m. Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service's thermometer at Roanoke Regional Airport dipped to minus 6 degrees, breaking the old record low temperature for the date of 3 degrees set in 1977. Record lows also were set in other parts of the state, including minus 10 in Charlottesville and minus 12 in Winchester.
The high in Roanoke on Wednesday was 15. And the forecast for Wednesday night was for lows from zero to 5 below.
The Roanoke Valley faces a 30 percent chance of snow today but with no accumulations expected. Areas to the north may get 1 to 2 inches, though.
But relief is on the way, at least temporarily.
Friday should be the last cold day this week, with highs in the 20s, said Donato Cacciapaglia of the National Weather Service office in Roanoke. Temperatures should climb into the 40s Saturday and the 50s Sunday, he said.
State Climatologist Patrick Michaels, based at the University of Virginia, explained that the record low temperatures have been caused by a larger-than-normal mass of extremely cold air that had built up over Siberia and the North Pole region since October. It was only a matter of time before it made its way south, he said.
As the high-pressure system that brought the cold northwesterly winds into the area moves through, southwesterly winds on the other side will bring warmer temperatures over the weekend, he said.
But, Michaels cautioned, there is evidence that cold weather probably will return after the warming spell.
Staff writers Joel Turner and Karen Barnes contributed information to this story.
by CNB