The rare, arctic-like temperatures hitting most of Ohio this week have proven enough to close Ohio University, but city officials and weather experts say Athens residents can expect normal service from local government and businesses.
The coldest and “most dangerous” weather to get caught in this week will be during the wee hours of Tuesday morning between midnight and 4 a.m., when the wind chill index is expected to be about minus 20, said Kyle Clem, associate director of OU’s Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis.
Clem said uncovered skin can get frostbite in as little as 30 minutes at those temperatures.
From 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., when some OU students might be waking up and commuting to early morning classes or activities, it could be as cold as 15 degrees below zero.
At those temperatures, frostbite becomes a factor in about 45 minutes, Clem said, adding that after 9 a.m., it’s safe to assume any uncovered skin could get frostbite in less than an hour.
Still, he said keeping safe is as simple as bundling up before going outside.
“It’s going to be bad, but it’s not going to be as bad as what everyone thinks,” Clem said. “With fairly simple precautions, you’re going to be fine.”
But for Athens, this type of weather might only come around once every five years, he said, noting that the weather so far this winter is so unusual that Athens likely won’t experience similar conditions for another 20 years.
But city leaders say that won’t stop city services — including trash collection and law enforcement efforts.
Ron Lucas, the city’s deputy service-safety director, said all public city services will be operating “24/7.”
“Water storage, police department, everything,” Lucas said. “We can’t just shut down.”
Lucas added the Athens Community Center, 701 E. State St., will be open “for people who need places in extremely cold weather.”
He did not say when the center would be open.
As far as how anyone living in off-campus housing might be affected, City Engineer and Director of Public Works Andy Stone said it’s likely some water distribution lines to individual homes might freeze.
“We get a lot of calls about freeze-ups,” Stone said. “The freeze-up is in the individual service line or in the house itself. We respond to calls and come out to check if there’s a leak or if the meter is still running.
“We’re going to continue treating water and sending it so it can get to people’s homes.”
Some advice Stone offered: “Know where your internal shutoff is to your water in your house,” and know “where your heat source is versus where your pipes are. Leave the cupboard doors open to let the heat get to the pipes.”
In an email to customers last week, AEP Ohio also recommended running a constant trickle of water to prevent pipes from freezing.
The weather itself is not unusual — it’s just unusual that it has dipped so far south as to affect Athens and other parts of the U.S., experts said.
“It’s nothing of concern, it’s just a variability in the weather patterns we’re experiencing in this part of world,” said Steve Hrebenach, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Wilmington, Ohio.
Clem agreed.
“?Life goes on in places of the country where it gets much more colder than this,” he said.
— Suhyeon Park, Hannah Yang and Jordan Stickle contributed to this report.
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