RALEIGH (AP) ó Bone-chilling temperatures startled North Carolina residents Friday morning as they headed to school and work, but the mercury levels still didn’t break records, forecasters said.
“It’s cold, but it’s not that cold,” said meteorologist Doug Outlaw of the National Weather Service. “I don’t think we’re going to hit records with this cold snap.”
A wind chill advisory was issued until noon Friday for about a dozen counties in western North Carolina, where the weather service said temperatures could feel like zero to minus-10 degrees. Forecasters said exposure to the cold winds could result in frost bite and hypothermia.
Forecasters said the Arctic air that caused temperatures to plunge across North Carolina will remain over the state through Saturday. Temperatures are expected to reach the high 30s in western North Carolina, the 40s in central parts of the state and around 50 degrees on the coast by Sunday.
Outlaw said the morning low at Asheville was 5 degrees, but the record there was minus 1, set in 1994. The low at Charlotte was 12 degrees, while the record for the same date is 5 degrees, set in 1893, Outlaw said.
Elsewhere in the state, Raleigh-Durham International Airport had a reading of 15 degrees, well short of the record 3 degrees set in 1994, said meteorologist Jason Beaman.
On the coast, forecasters said the low was 15 degrees, short of the record of 10. Meteorologist Rick Neuherz said the high in the coastal city of Wilmington was expected to be about 35.
Temperatures forced Chatham County school officials to delay the start of classes so students wouldn’t have to wait for buses during the coldest hours of the morning. In Randolph County, officials sent students home from an elementary school because it didn’t have heat.
Shelter director Katrina Knight at the Good Shepherd Center in Wilmington laid out extra mats to boost overnight capacity to about 130 people.
“We’ve had cold snaps, but this is probably the most drastic we’ve seen” this year, Knight told the Star-News of Wilmington. “There’s a difference between being outside in this cold and laying down on the ground in the cold.”
Jim McDonald, 47, has been staying at the shelter since he lost his truck-driving job three months ago.
“So far I’ve been really fortunate. I haven’t had to stay out in the cold,” McDonald said. “Everybody worries about being out in the cold.”
In western North Carolina, subfreezing weather also caused problems.
Tommy Brooks, a division chief with the Asheville Fire and Rescue Department, said he felt the chill at the scene of a house fire Thursday night, The Asheville Citizen-Times reported.
Brooks said the freezing temperatures complicate hoses because they will freeze when shut off. The water also creates sheets of ice that cause problems.
Brooks said the fire department uses an old city bus where firefighters can seek shelter.
“We try to rotate them about every 15 to 20 minutes,” Brooks said. “When you pull them out of a fire and they’re wet, it doesn’t take long to get chilled.”