Cold Records Fall; Ice, Snow Plague Deep South

The temperature fell to 62 degrees below zero in Maybell, Colo., Friday, breaking the state’s all-time low-temperature record, as frigid air covered much of the nation.

Ice and snow downed power lines, closed schools and turned highways into skating rinks deep into the South.

Winter storm warnings extended over central Kentucky, the western two-thirds of Tennessee, much of Mississippi, the northern half of Louisiana and northern Texas.

Travelers’ advisories warning of snow and freezing rain reached from southern New Mexico through the central Appalachians.

Records Fall

Record lows for the date, all below zero, included Casper, Wyo., minus 26; Cheyenne, Wyo., minus 25; Chicago, minus 14; Green Bay, Wis., minus 24; Idaho Falls, Ida., minus 38; International Falls, Minn., minus 40; Madison, Wis., minus 28; Marquette, Mich., minus 21; Moline, Ill., minus 18; Pocatello, Ida., minus 33; Rockford, Ill., minus 22; and Salt Lake City, minus nine. The two Idaho lows also were all-time records.

Colorado lay under its third full day of bitter arctic cold with numerous below-zero readings reported.

Terry Seewald, a clerk at the Maybell Store in the little northwestern Colorado ranch town, said Maybellians had little to say about the cold record during the morning coffee break at the store.

“Nobody really likes to talk about it, it’s just cold,” she said. “Everybody out here has to get out and work in this cold so it’s not a nice record to set,” she said. “The sun is shining and it looks nice--that’s from inside the store.”

The old state cold record of 60 below zero was set on Feb. 1, 1951, at Taylor Park Reservoir near Gunnison.

The mercury dipped below freezing Friday afternoon as far south as Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas, and freezing rain fell over the Lower Rio Grande Valley on the Mexican border. Up to eight inches of snow fell across northern Texas.

Ice up to an inch thick was reported in central Mississippi and northern Louisiana, with one to five inches of ice and snow covering other parts of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. The ice snapped tree limbs and downed power lines and made travel hazardous.

“You’ve got snow and sleet mixed on most of the highways,” said Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Worden Gray. “We are advising that you don’t drive unless you have to.”

Traffic accidents were reported across the South. Icy roads forced the municipal bus system at Jackson, Miss., to shut down Friday.

Up to six inches of freezing rain hit Hamilton in northwest Alabama, felling trees and power lines. Some portions of Alabama reported rain, sleet, snow--and thunder.

Lines ‘Popping All Over’

“They (the power company) got lines and trees down all over the county,” said Limestone County, Ala., Chief Deputy Jimmy Landers. “They are working on them but they can’t get caught up for everything breaking loose. The lines are breaking and popping all over.”

Businesses closed early or did not open at all in communities in Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Kentucky reported its worst winter storm of the season. Heavy snowfall was reported near Princeton, and police in Central City said drifts stood three to six feet high.

Roads throughout New Mexico were snowpacked and icy in places, said Joe Healy, highway department spokesman, and in Arizona light flurries were reported at the edges of Phoenix, which had a record-tying low of 28. Prescott, Ariz., at an elevation of 7,000 feet, had a record low for the date of 23 below.

Meanwhile, helicopter crews in northeast Arizona dropped fuel and livestock feed to hundreds of snowbound Hopi and Navajo Indians.

The airlift, which began Wednesday, focused initially on medical evacuations and delivery of food, water and medicine. The reservations were isolated by up to two feet of snow and deep drifts.