By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
Piercing cold set teeth to chattering as locals settled in for what promises to be a bone-chilling post-holiday week.
It’s not so much the lower-than-usual daytime highs, but the duration of the cold snap that helps make this week’s Southern chill a record-setting event, said one national meteorologist.
“This is definitely a period of prolonged cold,” said Justin Povick, a meteorologist with the private weather service AccuWeather in State College, Pa.
Temperatures in Washington, D.C., were below normal for the past seven to 10 days, and they likely will remain below normal for the next seven to 10 days, Povick commented.
The capital forecast mirrors the Southern picture as Arctic air barrels toward the Atlantic, he indicated.
“There’s really no reprieve,” he said. “There’s no break in the cold.”
Early Monday morning, the National Weather Service’s Web site showed that the cold, coupled with a northwest wind, was set to “produce wind chill values around 10 degrees in most locations.”
The Web site also forecast a 30-percent chance of snow for the Original Washington on Thursday night and Friday.
The possibility of snow will turn on the track of a storm that is expected to sweep through the region near week’s end, Povick said.
The storm could pull in colder air that might lead to snow, but more frigid temperatures would follow the system regardless of whether precipitation falls as rain or frozen stuff, he related.
AccuWeather’s Web site, AccuWeather.com, was predicting the worst winter weather in a quarter-century, with freezing temperatures extending as far south as Florida.
Local oil companies reported rising demand for heating fuel as the freeze set in.
“Whenever it gets this cold, we have a lot of people call in,” said Doug Clark, owner of Clark Oil Co. in Belhaven.
“A lot of it’s just people worried about the cold weather,” Clark said, adding that he is sure to see an increase in usage.
Clark Oil had fielded numerous phone calls from customers Monday morning, he said.
“They just want to make sure they’ve got enough,” Clark noted.
Taking into account several factors, weather seems to be driving higher demand, said Ray Moore, owner of F. Ray Moore Oil Co. in Washington.
On average, winters don’t vary more than 3 to 4 percent in the way the company measures cold, which is by degree days, Moore said.
“The phrase I like to use is ‘God has a way of balancing out winters,’” he said.
Moore added that temperatures were fairly normal from October through the first part of December, and that averages would probably balance things out before the season’s end.
“What my dad used to tell me is remember to shut the front door in a hurry,” he said.
Calls were also rushing in at Taylor Oil &Gas Co. in Washington, according to John Moore, president.
“Everybody at once,” Moore said, when asked if he was seeing a higher-than-normal call volume.
“Some people have to wait until they get paid to be able to buy some fuel,” he noted, adding that delivery trucks were diverted from their normal routes to top off customers’ tanks.
“Our demand is popular right now,” he said. “We’ve been locked in this cold weather since before Christmas.”
Tideland Electric Membership Corp. hadn’t set a new record for peak power usage as of Monday, said Heidi Smith, spokeswoman.
“Largely, that was probably because we went into the severe cold weather on a weekend when a lot of large loads were down,” and schools and commercial buildings were closed for the holiday, Smith said.
“What we are having issues with, though, is we’re having some consumers call in that are having isolated voltage issues” resulting from people turning on space heaters or cranking up thermostats, she continued.
“One thing that has been really good is the sun has been brilliant during the day,” Smith said, advising people to open their shades and take advantage of the sun’s natural warmth to help lower energy costs.
Usage information wasn’t immediately available from Washington Electric Utilities.
Though bitter cold can be taxing on those who work outside, some workers could be seen bundling up and soldiering on about their tasks Monday.
“Collecting garbage is like delivering the mail. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, you’ve got to go,” said Rob Cuthrell, owner of David’s Trash Service, which provides private garbage pickup services throughout the area.
Ice and snow could delay service, but, otherwise, collection continues, Cuthrell said.
“Trucks don’t like to start on cold mornings, just like people,” he said, adding: “We’re just thankful that we don’t live further north.”