Cold Records Fall in 129 Cities in 30 States

Crippling arctic air plunged the mercury far below zero from Montana to Pennsylvania on Friday and smashed temperature records in 30 states, as one of the most severe cold waves of all time numbed much of America.

In all, the mercury tumbled to record lows for the date, month or all time in 129 cities in 30 states, the weather service reported.

“The number of record lows today was as great as that of Christmas Day in 1983 and establishes this cold wave, along with those of December, 1983, and February, 1899, as one of the most severe of all time for the Central and Eastern U.S.,” the weather service said in a statement.

The icy cold pushed across the Gulf Coast region and into Florida, which braced for record low temperatures and up to 4 inches of snow, the weather service said.

Huntsville, Ala., hit a record 3 degrees below zero. Afternoon temperatures dipped into the 20s in northern Florida.

The stinging cold clamped its tightest grip on the Midwest, overwhelming power companies, closing schools, leaving countless motorists stranded with dead batteries and blocking river traffic on the ice-clogged Mississippi.

Numbing temperatures also threatened to devastate citrus orchards in Texas and Louisiana.

The temperature in Scottsbluff, Neb., slipped to a record 42 degrees below zero, the town’s coldest recorded reading this century.

“This isn’t even funny anymore,” complained Scottsbluff resident B. J. Peters. “My car just kind of sat there and looked at me. I put a battery charger on it and it still wouldn’t turn over.”

A reading of 23 degrees below zero in Indianapolis was the coldest reading of the century in that city. It was 13 below in Hot Springs, Va.

In the Adirondacks, a two-man bobsled competition was called off because temperatures reached 18 below zero at the top of Mt. Van Hoevenberg.

It was the coldest December day on record Friday across much of Ohio, with temperatures dipping to 20 degrees below zero in Dayton and Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh, Pa., tied its December low of 12 below zero, set on Christmas Day, 1983.

Other low-temperature records included: Billings, Mont., 26 below; Kansas City, Mo., 23 below; Goodland, Kan., 27 below; Sioux City, Iowa, 23 below; Paducah, Ky., 10 below, and Omaha, 25 below.

The Gibson Discount Center in Goodland reported a run on gasoline tank anti-freeze.

“We’re selling it a case at a time,” assistant store manager Rob Tomsik said.

The cold weather posed a fierce occupational hazard for those forced to work outdoors.

Several firefighters suffered frostbite Friday while battling a blaze in West Des Moines, Iowa, in temperatures of 20 below zero. “We’re hurting. This is cold,” Fire Chief Randy Bracken said.

Temperatures were as low as 22 below in West Virginia, making it rough on toll collectors on the state’s turnpike. “You have heat (in the booth), but when you have to open the window the left side of your body gets cold, your face gets cold, your fingers get numb,” shift supervisor Jeanette Howard said.

Utility companies strained under a record demand for power in many cities, and they urged customers to conserve electricity by turning down thermostats.

A huge ice jam across the Mississippi River at its confluence with the Missouri River north of St. Louis kept a 203-mile stretch of the Mississippi virtually closed between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill.

Friday marked the fifth day that river traffic had been restricted because of ice and low water.

In Texas, the state’s $40-million citrus industry was just starting to recover from a devastating 1983 freeze when the latest cold snap struck.

“When it gets down below 20, (citrus trees) just explode. They’re evergreen trees and are full of water, and they split,” said Jerry Walzel of the Texas Citrus and Vegetable Assn. “You can actually hear it--it sounds like a .30-.30 rifle cracking.”

Growers in Louisiana scrambled into their orchards to strip trees of fruit before it could be damaged by the freeze.