The Arctic weather blasting the South has its good sides, its bad sides. Along with broken furnaces comes the "economic stimulus" of repair work. City budgets quake at the costs. In Miami, frozen (hibernating) iguanas can be thawed with a little TLC and a warm towel. Luckily, this will all be a dim nightmarish memory in a couple of months.
Raleigh -
Ronald Keith of Airmakers Heating & Air-Conditioning might as well have had golden beams of light streaming from his head as he arrived at Angela Chapman's home in the Raleigh area. Sweet Old Sol come to do battle with impish Jack Frost. A degree in heating and air-conditioning repair versus years of neglect and an overheated circuit board in Chapman's gas furnace. Read the complete story at newsobserver.com
Miami, Florida -
Embittered and frost-bitten South Floridians breathed a sigh of relief on Friday. Enjoy it, because by Saturday you might be able to see your breath with the arrival of a windy cold snap that will be colder than the one earlier this week. Read the complete story at miamiherald.com
Fort Worth, Texas -
Trimyian Barrow burned his socks to stay warm. The homeless man lit a white athletic sock with a Bic lighter and dangled it over a pile of sticks and branches outside his tent staked on a hill east of downtown. "You gotta do what you gotta do, " Barrow said from under the hood of his coat. "This is how you survive." Homeless people on Thursday hunkered in shelters, under makeshift tents and around campfires as temperatures plummeted to dangerous levels. Overnight lows were expected to bottom out in the low teens, conditions that last occurred here more than a decade ago and are unfamiliar to even some grizzled street dwellers. Read the complete story at star-telegram.com
Columbia, S.C. -
Picking through supplies at Three Fountains ACE Hardware, Jennifer Finklea was weighing which tarp would keep her dogs warm. Her three dogs usually curl up together outside. But as forecasters predicted snow overnight, the Lexington woman wanted to insulate the doghouse. Bundled up in a winter coat, Finklea was among a horde of Midlands residents who rushed to the stores for cold-weather supplies, sending local merchants scrambling to stock shelves. Read the complete story at thestate.com
Myrtle Beach, S.C. -
The deep freeze of late that has cracked pipes and turned heat pumps cold continues cranking the flow of business for area plumbers and heating and cooling contractors. Verlon Woulf credited this unusually cold weather for "a little economic stimulus" to his heating and air conditioning business, Carolina Cool, near Surfside Beach. Read the complete story at thesunnews.com
Belleville, Ill -
With the economy taking a toll on the revenue of metro-east communities, the last thing city leaders wanted to see were extra expenses dealing with snow removal. "We estimate it costs the city more than $1,000 per hour for snow removal operations," O'Fallon City Administrator Walter Denton said. "This assumes costs for fuel, salt, and overtime wages for employees." Read the complete story at bnd.com
Gulfport, Miss. -
Skies are supposed to be mostly sunny today, but a cold front that blew through South Mississippi on Thursday left behind temperatures in the 30s for a high and wind-chill values near 10 degrees. The expected cold, snow and ice caused Gov. Haley Barbour to declare a state of emergency for the whole state Wednesday. Read the complete story at sunherald.com
Kansas City -
Foul weather can put you in a foul mood, but many are still spreading cheer in KC. Read these stories of good deeds in the bad weather. Neighbors helping neighbors. Read the complete story at kansascity.com