 
Published Thursday
Lengthy Cold Snap Affects Midlanders' Way of Life BY JAMES IVEY AND VERONICA ROSMAN
Winter's cruel intrusion into almost every phase of Midlands life is maintaining its unforgiving pace. Bone-chilled in the grip of eight weeks of below-normal temperatures, residents are feeling the cold in a profusion to the senses: the sickening crunch of a fender, the anemia of a cold-weakened motor, a soaring gas bill, lines of traffic, icy sidewalks, back-straining shoveling. Omaha hasn't seen above-freezing temperatures in more than two weeks, Iowa probably will have its coldest month since 1983, and Lincoln has had its second-coldest November-December on record. The cold's persistence has become noteworthy, said Ken Dewey, weather analyst for the High Plains Climate Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Past cold spells have "lasted only a week or two, then it got warm," he said. Dewey said this could be among the area's longest cold spells on record. Since Nov. 7, Omaha has had eight days above the normal temperature, which is about 32 degrees this time of year. Across both Iowa and Nebraska, temperatures have been up to 10 degrees below normal. Homeless shelters are crowded. Siena-Francis House in Omaha has been taking in an average of 260 people a night in quarters designed for 144. "If we turn them away, they'll freeze to death," said the shelter's director, Paul Koch. Plumbing and furnace-repair work has increased. Leslie Regan of Taylor Plumbing said the company has been receiving 10 to 12 calls a day more than in past years. Broken water pipes are the usual cause. Karen Tweedy, branch manager for ServiceOne, said the company's average calls per day for furnace problems have gone up by 20 a day. Troubled-motorist calls to Nebraska AAA have increased by 45 percent this year. From Dec. 11 to Wednesday, the auto club helped 6,943 motorists, compared with 4,795 in the same period last year. And that is only for problems such as dead batteries or keys locked in cars. It doesn't count calls for towing. Last week, AAA could provide towing for only 5,000 of the 18,000 requests it received, said Rose White, public affairs director. She said members were instructed to find other providers and submit receipts for reimbursement. "As we speak, we have about 60 calls waiting to be served. On the worst days, there's been up to 150 calls waiting to be served," she said. Instructing motorists involved in fender-benders to exchange driver-insurance information has become a way of life at the Omaha-Douglas County emergency radio center. During a one-hour period recently, the center received 211 calls, more than three a minute. Hospital emergency rooms have been busy with injuries, heart problems, and sprains brought on by battling the weather. At Clarkson Hospital, a woman was treated for a frostbitten knee after kneeling to change a flat tire. Kathy Spanheimer, assistant store manager of the SuperTarget at North 132nd Street and West Maple Road, said the store has been having a hard time keeping in stock anything winter-weather related. She said the store almost ran out of snow shovels last week: "In the past, we've been stuck with shovels," she said. The store each year bases its inventory on how much of a product it sold the year before. Because of past mild winters, there are winter products that it can't keep in supply, she said. "We can't keep salt in stock," she said. In addition to shovels, salt and antifreeze, the sales of winter clothing, blankets and arctic fleece has been brisk, stores reported. Many parents took full advantage of having a white Christmas this year with sleds and snowboards among the hot items. Colette Sauvageau, a sales clerk for Bahnsen's Ski & Sport at 74th and L Streets, agreed that snowboards are becoming increasingly popular, but that even snowboards can't beat the popularity of ski masks this year. "We're getting our third order of ski masks already," Sauvageau said. "I don't think we ever really ran out before." For some it's still business as usual. Construction continues on the 40-story First National Tower in downtown Omaha. A winter enclosure allows electricians, drywall installers and others to move forward with their work. Occasionally, snow and high winds will keep iron workers at the top from putting up structural steel. Otherwise, weather won't slow work, said John Lehning, a First National vice president who is director of construction and leasing for the tower. "We'll work all winter," he said. The cold snap has not affected any state road projects. State officials said they plan for weather like this and focus on designing projects or doing minor repair work. "Pretty much by December we fold up our major construction projects," said Mary Jo Hall, the communications director for the Nebraska Department of Roads. "We usually start gearing up in April." World-Herald staff writers Tom Shaw, Tara Deering and Angie Brunkow contributed to this report |