Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993 TAG: 9312290105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
The temperature dropped to 15 below zero early Tuesday in Minneapolis. Record lows elsewhere included minus 6 at Grand Rapids, Mich.; 21 below at Mason City, Iowa; and 19 below at Caribou, Maine. The nation's coldest spot outside Alaska was Tower, Minn., at 38 below, the National Weather Service said.
Snow spread across the Ohio Valley to the East Coast.
A weather emergency was declared in Washington, D.C., because of the steady snow, government offices closed early and National Airport was shut down for a short time.
All 6,248 of New York New York City's shelter beds for homeless people were taken Tuesday night, according to Mary Brosnahan, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless.
At least five deaths had been blamed on the weather since the weekend. They included two people in Indiana, a 64-year-old homeless man found frozen in an alley in Toledo, Ohio, and a woman in Baltimore. In New York City, a man was found frozen on a bench.
Meanwhile, Nome, Alaska, only about 150 miles from the Arctic Circle, has been warmer than some places in Florida.
"Everybody's in T-shirts," said Duane Cocking. "I don't understand it . . . I think we even have a palm tree coming up." Vicki Horton said, "Our polar bears are wearing bikinis."
While temperatures this week dipped to 50 below in Minnesota, Nome hit a record high Monday of 40 - above.
by CNB