School across Wisconsin closed because of dangerous cold
(Published Monday, February 5, 2007 10:06:06 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Associated Press
Double-digit subzero temperatures kept Wisconsin in the deep freeze Monday, closing hundreds of schools and day care centers because of the dangerously cold weather.
From La Crosse to Appleton and from Superior to Janesville, school administrators decided it was just too cold to send children outdoors to catch the school bus. The state's largest school district, Milwaukee Public Schools with 9,000 students, was also among those closed.
"The temperature was 12 below and wind chill 31 below, and we didn't want to expose the children to such severe conditions," Phil Harris, an MPS spokesman, said.
Nearly 300 We Energies customers in southeastern Wisconsin lost power, and subsequently their heat, Monday morning, according to utility spokesman Rick James. But power was restored within three hours, he said.
Highs Sunday varied from about 1 above in the southwest to about 11 below in north central Wisconsin.
Temperatures dropped overnight to as low as 27 below at Hayward and 26 below at Solon Springs and Osceola in northern Wisconsin, Steve Gohde of the National Weather Service office in Duluth, Minn., said.
Wind chills around the state ranged down to nearly 40 below Monday morning.
"It was pretty quiet" in Hayward during the intense cold, Police Chief Don Sheehan said, but added: "If people really want to commit a crime, the cold is not going to stop them."
AAA Wisconsin received 3,261 calls around the state Sunday for emergency road service, nearly four times the number on the same date last year, AAA spokeswoman Pam Moen said. She said it had received more than 1,000 by 9 a.m. Monday, more than three times the number at the same time on this date last year.
"It's been a long time since temperatures have been this low in the state, and many vehicles are not starting," she said.
The forecast called for highs Monday around Wisconsin to be mainly in the single digits below, and lows Monday night from 15 below to 23 below in the north and 6 below to 14 below in the south but they are expected to reach the single digits above zero Tuesday.
Wind chill advisories remained in effect for portions of the state into Tuesday morning.
