Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9401200230
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The jolt taught us some hard lessons, such as 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.
At 4 a.m. Wednesday, 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. Jill Lightner of the Highland County community of Headwaters recorded a minus 40 reading at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday - unofficially the lowest temperature recorded in the state.
The high in Roanoke on Wednesday was 15. And the forecast for overnight was for lows from zero to 5 below.
The record-low temperatures 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. The city's recreation centers were closed; libraries closed at 5 p.m.
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. The company reported 600 service calls to check on customer complaints Wednesday.
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.
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, Appalachian Power Co. saw the demand on its system rise to a record 6,877 megawatts, a 10 percent increase over the previous record of 6,263 megawatts, just set Sunday.
Wednesday's record was a level of power demand that Apco didn't expect to reach until the year 2000, company spokesman Don Johnson said. The company's previous record high for power demand before Sunday was set on Dec. 22, 1989, when power use reached 5,966 megawatts.
The company responded by asking customers to cut off unnecessary lighting, turn down electric heat and curtail use of electrical appliances. The last time Apco asked for such voluntary conservation measures was in 1978.
To conserve power, Apco also reduced the voltage on its system by 2.5 percent. That, according to Johnson, would have the effect of making a 100-watt light bulb glow like a 95-watt bulb.
The news is getting better, though. State Climatologist Patrick Michaels, based at the University of Virginia, said that 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.
The Weather Service said temperatures should climb into the 40s Saturday and the 50s Sunday.
by CNB