WEATHER WATCH: Words seldom used by residents...

WEATHER WATCH: Words seldom used by residents of Ventura County unless talking to relatives in the Midwest: frostbite , wind-chill factor , slush , hypothermia. . . . Even our coldest temperatures this month seem balmy compared with those in other parts of the country. . . . Fargo, N. D., for example, averages a high of 4 degrees and a low of minus 4, with the wind-chill factor often hitting 70 below zero. . . . The nation’s hot spot in January? Honolulu, with an average low of only 66.

NEW LIFE: Robert V. Biroschak was 50 when he gave up his law practice in 1989 to study for the Roman Catholic priesthood (Voices, B11). . . . Now associate pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption in Ventura, Father Bob was never married and didn’t really surprise friends by becoming a priest. . . . “Religion was always important to me, but I wasn’t a church mouse,” he said. “At 8 or 9, I knew I wanted to be a priest, but it took me a long time to say yes.” He has no ambitions other than “to be the best priest I can be.”

LOW BRIDGES: A project to build a new bridge over Santa Paula Freeway will cost $6.5 million more than expected (B1). . . . But the bridges of Ventura County--hey, good title for a book--didn’t always cost megabucks. The county’s first cement span, the Harmon Barranca Bridge on Telephone Road in Ventura, was built in 1896 for $9,500. . . . In 1912, the Ventura River Bridge cost $49,626. . . . The longest bridge in county history, a 300-foot span crossing Sespe Creek in Fillmore, was destroyed by high water in 1914.

ROAD REPAIRS: Buried deep beneath the pavement, a worn-out traffic signal detector has been causing dangerous conditions at the intersection of Agoura Road and Westlake Boulevard, but the city of Thousand Oaks plans to correct the problem later this month (Street Smart, B1). . . . After scores of complaints by motorists, Oxnard restriped Rose Avenue to allow safer access into the Shopping at the Rose parking lot.

Cold Month

Average low temperatures Ojai: 37 Moorpark: 41 Fillmore: 41 Santa Paula: 41 Camarillo: 42 Thousand Oaks: 43 Simi Valley: 44 Oxnard: 44 Ventura: 44 Port Hueneme: 46