The Great Winter Hits Again

For a moment, there was a pause. and temperatures turned comparatively toasty. Minneapolis warmed to a high of 29DEG, Chicago 30DEG, Atlanta 55DEG. But then the Great Winter of '77 exhaled again, and the Big Freeze was back. Minneapolis shivered in a low of -8DEG, Chicago -13DEG, Atlanta -18DEG, Miami Beach 54DEG. Worse yet, another blizzard howled across the Midwest, and even colder blasts of arctic air--carrying temperatures as frigid as 40DEG below normal --were expected to dive southward during the weekend across much of the U.S. east of the Rockies.

The new storm swept from Minnesota through Ohio, sending temperatures plummeting and piling drifts high across roads. Winds up to 50 m.p.h. created low chill factors of --71DEG in Minneapolis and --45DEG in snow-buried Buffalo. Interstate highways from Wisconsin south to St. Louis were blocked. As crews worked desperately to clear passageways, the 30-day forecast brought no hope. The prediction was for more snow, extending even into the South and Southwest, and lower-than-normal temperatures throughout most of the eastern two-thirds of the nation.

The continuing cold deepened the nation's energy crisis and increased the already high economic losses (see following story) caused by a winter that could well become the coldest on record in the U.S. The number of states declaring an emergency because of the cold rose to eight* as natural-gas supplies dwindled, electricity consumption remained high and the abnormal weather disrupted crops and commerce.

Late Saturday afternoon President Carter called an emergency Cabinet meeting. The goal: to help organize federal aid for the hardest-hit regions. He instructed the Cabinet officers to take the initiative by going to the individual states and asking "What can we do to help you?" Among the moves under consideration was widespread use of the National Guard, the Corps of Engineers, the Forest Service and agencies of the Interior Department. The Commerce Department was instructed to help business and industries with fuel conservation plans: one possibility is a four-day work week. Meanwhile. state authorities were moving fast on their own. Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp ordered all of his state's schools closed. The National Guard was called out to help remove snow in Buffalo; even a local course in arctic survival techniques was canceled because of the weather. Maryland ordered a drastic reduction in all business uses of natural gas. Heating costs soared in New England, where poor residents of Providence sought emergency loans from a $400,000 state fund to help pay their fuel bills.

Governor James A. Rhodes of Ohio --perhaps the hardest-hit state of all --ordered the National Guard to stand by and asked the Defense Department to provide air cargo planes to deliver oil to emergency centers. He also called a capitol prayer meeting in Columbus to seek divine assistance in finding "the strength to endure the coldest days of our time."

President Jimmy Carter's plea for the nation to lower thermostats to a daytime 65DEG was reinforced by Governors in many states, who ordered cooler temperatures in public buildings and places of business.

Sweaters and Vests. As life began at 65, the new thermostat settings were resisted by many citizens--and by balky heating plants, both antiquated and modern. "My thermostat at 65? Hell, no. I got two small kids who sleep uncovered," protested Chicago Barber Vito Citrano. Not only did one irate caller to Washington radio station WRC not intend to comply, but he figured that "if I'm ever condemned for not turning the temperature back, I'm sure I'll get a pardon nowadays."

When maintenance men at the Federal Bower Commission in Washington dutifully went along with Carter's cutback, some executives brought in electric heaters to warm their offices. They seemed unconcerned that electric heating--a field in which they presumably were experts--is the most energy-consuming of all. At the Pentagon, some staffers wore overcoats, and the ladies' room was so cold that one woman was "surprised the pipes didn't freeze." Many Government buildings have jury-rigged heating systems that make it virtually impossible to maintain an even low temperature. "There's no big thermostat in the sky that you can turn down," explained one exasperated General Services Administration official.

Many Americans did their best to adapt to the new conditions. Headquarters employees of General Motors in Detroit wore sweaters and vests to cope with the 65DEG in their building. In state offices in Minnesota, where a four-day work week has been ordered to conserve fuel, the Governor's secretary answered her phone with a cheery: "Governor Perpich's office. Have you turned down your thermostat?" In Rensselaer,

Ind. (pop. 4,700), nearly every home and building was down to 62DEG, because the town was almost out of natural gas. The residents were cooperating, explained Mayor Emmett Eger, because all would suffer if they did not, and in a small town "everyone knows who everyone is."

In some of the coldest areas, school closings reduced the spread of weather-related infectious disease by limiting what doctors call "group contacts." A pediatrician in the snow-smothered mountains of North Carolina, where school has been out since Christmas, joked, "We're going bankrupt." Nevertheless, the national Center for Disease Control in Atlanta reported widespread outbreaks of influenza in parts of New Jersey, Michigan, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and North Carolina. There were more localized infections in Connecticut, New York, Alabama and Georgia. Although the elderly with emphysema or heart ailments are especially susceptible to the cold, no notable increase in such deaths was yet reported.

But weather dealt out death in more direct fashion. Five tree trimmers, headed home from work, were found asphyxiated in their snow-covered car near Fostoria, Ohio. Near Milwaukee, two women died, victims of fumes in their car after the blizzard had forced them to pull off the highway. A Green Bay, Wis., man apparently locked himself out of his mobile home; he collapsed and froze to death. The worst tragedy of the harrowing winter so far struck the small town of Breckenridge, Minn. (pop. 4,200). As firemen vainly fought flames, gales and a --85DEG wind chill, a three-story hotel burned to the ground. At least 17 occupants were dead or missing.

* Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio. Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.

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