ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701170074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
THANKS TO THE jet stream and a blast of arctic air from the North Pole, weekend temperatures will reach season lows.
While the prairie dogs at Mill Mountain Zoo sleep soundly and snugly in their underground beds, other Western Virginians had better brace themselves for the coldest temperatures so far this winter.
The National Weather Service's Blacksburg office issued a wind chill warning Thursday that was expected to remain in effect through Tuesday.
A blast of arctic air from the North Pole, with some help from the jet stream, is responsible for the extremely cold weather, meteorologist Jeff Stewart said.
Temperatures likely won't be record-setting, but with northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph, it will feel like 25 to 35 degrees below zero, the weather service said. As if one dose of bitterly cold arctic air isn't enough, a second blast should arrive Sunday night.
The cold will stick around as long as the jet stream continues to run north to south from Canada down to the East Coast, Stewart said. It may not shift until Tuesday.
With that forecast in mind, the staff at Mill Mountain Zoo made additional preparations for the menagerie.
The prairie dogs didn't need much help, but the staff put out extra hay for the dogs to carry to their homes, which are generally several feet underground, below the frost line, said Beth Hartsel, the zoo's animal care supervisor. Other animals are being kept indoors.
"Most of our animals can take the cold temperatures," Hartsel said. "We try to get really hardy species that can take the weather on the mountain."
Homeless shelters in Roanoke were filling up fast Thursday night, but Salvation Army Capt. Connie Long said "when it's cold like this, we don't turn anyone away."
During cold snaps like this one, people are advised to stay indoors unless it's absolutely necessary to go out. Those who must work outside have no choice.
Roanoke firefighters called out for a church fire in Northeast Roanoke Thursday night also had to contend with icy conditions.
"As soon as the water would hit the street, it was freezing," District Fire Chief John Johnson said. Several firefighters slipped on the ice. Maintenance crews were called in to put chemicals on the street.
Alan Ganoe works at the Pulaski Water Treatment Plant and has to go outdoors to test water levels throughout his shift.
That's not something he was looking forward to Thursday about 7 p.m., when it was already 20 degrees outside with 15 mph winds blowing. The wind is what makes it bad, he said. "It will cut you like a knife."
He has his own secret weapon for combatting the weather, besides drinking lots of coffee and hot chocolate.
"The town bought us new coveralls last year when the weather turned cold," Ganoe said. "These are real good coveralls."
If Wilford Harris is late delivering his newspapers this morning, it won't be for lack of effort. The 72-year-old Roanoke Times carrier usually walks his Southeast Roanoke route, but he planned to drive today.
"It will take longer, but it's not like being out all the time," Harris said. He'll still have to get out of his car to throw his 100 papers, but he hopes to stay almost on schedule.
In Roanoke, there are not many jobs that rank below utility line repairman in the miserable-in-cold-weather department. These are the people, almost all of whom are on call 24 hours a day, who stumble out of their warm beds to repair broken water lines. The ground settling and then cooling down quickly often causes pipes to break.
The crews take portable kerosene heaters with them, but those don't help much, especially if the wind is blowing, said Ed Gunter, a utility supervisor. They wear plenty of layers, but that makes it hard to move around.
Because only one person can fit in a hole at a time, the other crew members end up spending a lot of time just standing around waiting for their turn to work on the line.
When they do get to work, they're usually standing in water, but the worst part is their hands, Gunter said.
"There's no kind of glove you can wear," he said. "You can't do but so much with gloves on. I've seen it where pipes stuck to people's hands, and the water freezes as soon as it comes out."
John Spencer doesn't have to wait for something to break. His work's already out there.
He'll be on a Roanoke garbage truck at 7 a.m., heading out to pick up trash, which won't be easy.
"The cans are frozen, and the bags are stuck to them," Spencer said.
Spencer and his colleagues start feeling frozen themselves.
"It's difficult to stay warm," he said. "When we're on the truck, the weather is hitting us in the face."
LENGTH: Medium: 89 linesby CNB