Another Blast From The Big Chill.
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| Fri, 01-16-2004 - 9:19am |
The blue icon is 'cause we're blue with the cold here in New England. Right now it's -4 here with a wind chill of -36. I have my heater set at 75 just to keep the house temp. in the mid 60's.
That's my whine for the day.
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-cold0116.artjan16,1,4349542.story?coll=hc-big-headlines-breaking
Life-Threatening Cold Prompts Schools To Close; Residents Urged To Conserve Energy.
Potentially record-breaking low temperatures and arctic wind chills today are expected to place unprecedented demand on New England's power supply, and prompted scores of school districts to cancel or delay classes.
Meteorologists predict a polar air mass drifting south from Canada will push today's air temperatures down as low as 11 or 12 below zero - and to minus 35 with the wind chill - in parts of the region .
"We're looking at brutal wind at 20, 30 miles per hour and sometimes higher," said Charlie Foley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. "Those will combine to be one of the most brutal weather regimes in 30 years."
With New England and New York shattering electricity demand records, ISO New England, the power grid operator, announced Thursday night it was prepared to start rolling blackouts if a major power plant or transmission line was knocked out of service.
As of 10:30 p.m., David Radanovitch, a spokesman for Connecticut Light & Power Co., said the need for the forced blackouts - a last resort designed to lighten the power load on the entire region - did not present itself. "We'll continue to monitor the situation," Radanovich said.
In case the need arises, customers on life support have been alerted to ensure their backup power supplies are usable, he said. .
ISO extended its call for electricity conservation late Thursday until 9 p.m. tonight.
"We'd really like people to conserve electricity to the extent they can without injuring themselves," said Radanovich. "Avoid running your dishwasher. Don't do your laundry until this cold spell is over."
The reason for the tight electricity supply is that the cold weather is creating a big demand for natural gas among residential customers who cannot heat their homes with other fuels, said Erin O'Brien, a spokeswoman for ISO New England. Many of the region's electric power plants also use natural gas as fuel.
The arctic chill put further stress on already vulnerable water mains and boilers; plumbers across the state reported being inundated with calls for service on busted pipes. A broken water line in Waterbury Thursday evening left between 4,000 and 9,000 customers without water for several hours, and flooded several streets. The extreme cold complicated repair efforts.
Local health districts warned residents to make outdoor trips as brief as possible. Serious health problems can result from prolonged exposure to the cold, including frostbite and hypothermia, health officials and meteorologists said.
The most vulnerable areas to frostbite are the ears, nose, fingers and toes. Signs of frostbite include white or gray skin, unusually firm or waxy skin and numbness. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable.
Anticipating the potential for weather-related injury, school systems across the region - including at least 30 in Connecticut - announced Thursday night that schools would be closed today. More than 40 announced delayed openings. Others advised parents to check this morning for closing announcements.
Tom Murphy, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said he could not recall cold weather ever forcing schools to close. Murphy said superintendents acted largely out of concern for student safety.
"Why put kids at risk?" explained Manchester Superintendent Alan Beitman, who decided at about 6 p.m. Thursday to cancel today's classes.
"Even if a bus were delayed for a normal reason - like a flat tire - children could be left waiting outside for too long," he said. "That was my biggest fear."
School officials said they wanted to ensure that classrooms have adequate heat and that diesel-powered school buses are running properly before opening school. Diesel fuel can thicken in sub-zero temperatures, and buses may not start easily, officials said.
Other school district superintendents said they would make a decision on school closings and delays early this morning.
The weather sent the region - as far west as Albany - into a collective shiver beginning Thursday morning. The wind chill ranged from minus 7 at 9 a.m. in Central Park, N.Y., to minus 90 at Mount Washington, N.H. The sub-zero New England temperatures fell lower than a recent recording of 12 degrees on Mars.
Though forecasters warned the arctic conditions continuing into Friday could be record-breaking and dangerous, they also noted the state has experienced colder weather as recently as February 1996, when the air temperature dropped to 22 below zero in Windham. (The all-time record low air temperature for the state was recorded at 32 below zero on Feb. 16, 1943, in the Falls Village section of Canaan.)
"It's a little misleading to say this is the worst we're going to have in decades, because the pattern is going to moderate," said meteorologist Mel Goldstein.
The arctic blast of wind expected to continue today is caused by what is known as a polar vortex, a circulation of low pressure that hovers around the North Pole, Goldstein said.
"Every winter it moves southward, he explained. "Wherever it goes it can bring hardship and bitter cold."
The lowest recorded temperature in Hartford on Jan. 16 is minus 8, said Foley of the National Weather Service. Boston's low Thursday night tied a record of minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit set in 1957.
Despite the recent cold, Goldstein said that between the first official day of winter in December and last Tuesday, the temperature averaged 11 degrees warmer than normal.
"Ever since then we've had days where the temperature is 25 degrees colder than normal. That's what happens when the vortex settles down here."
There will soon be some relief, the forecasters say. Temperatures are expected to approach the 30s by Saturday.
But Goldstein warned not to be fooled by the rising temperatures over the weekend. "We should keep our snow shovels handy," he said. "There will be a series of storms that could be shaping up the next couple of weeks. So winter isn't over. Far from it."



Temps are going to be in the 30's today.
I paid $1.309 per gal. for heating oil last week, 210 gals. My electricity bills are almost double those of last year. You're right someone's making a profit.
OT Missed you. Don't tell me you've been off again to somewhere warm & tropical.
I hope that Bush and Congress follow through with coming up with a viable plan to lessen our dependence on foreign energy sources, and that the national grid does get updated.
Someone needs to invent cold fusion....(sorry but I saw The Saint on TV the other night, and though.....hey, there is the answer to the energy problem...LOL)