How Cold Was It? It was so cold that ...
... it chilled to the bone, shivered the timbers, stoked cabin fever
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
When temperatures are well below zero, cars and trucks need more than a little coaxing to gear up for the morning commute.
Some need a few extra turns of the key, a jump-start for the battery or some warm water to thaw frozen doors and locks.
Tow truck drivers, repair shops and auto parts stores faced an influx of customers Friday, as near-record-breaking temperatures in the Augusta area prevented many cars from starting.
Augusta reached a low Friday morning of minus 13, and by late afternoon warmed up to 5 — just two degrees above the lowest high temperature recorded in 1979.
Other areas of Kennebec County saw much colder mornings, with lows of minus 28 in Albion and minus 20 in some parts of Waterville.
In Portland, temperatures dipped to minus 17, easily breaking the record low of minus 11.
While Friday was a few degrees warmer than Thursday, state climatologist Greg Zielinski said the wind chill made the air feel like it was about -25 degrees.
Jeff Goggin, manager at Tri-City Auto Supply in Augusta, said Thursday's frigid overnight lows brought an influx of customers through his doors Friday morning, requesting everything from spark plugs to starters.
"We've had some cold weather, but I think last night pushed anything that was normal over the edge," Goggin said Friday.
While Tri-City does much of its business with repair shops, Goggin said a higher-than-usual number of do-it-yourself mechanics came in looking for ways to get their cars running without calling a tow truck operator. He said some problems were because of driver error.
"I think that they're hitting the gas pedal hard and flooding their engines," Goggin said.
As the average age of cars has become younger over the past few years, he said, most drivers now have fuel-injected engines, which don't require extra gas to get started as did older models.
Toby Watson of Maine-ly Towing in Augusta said he saw the same problem as he responded to the barrage of calls that came in Friday morning.
"A lot of people think they can just pump their gas (pedal)," Watson said.
During the early hours of Friday morning, about 22 calls came in all at once, he said.
"We've been on the road since 5:30," Watson said.
Battery jump-starts made up a majority of the calls for Watson and Maine-ly's other three drivers. Those jobs are easy, he said, and he usually gets morning commuters on the road quickly.
"You get out there and just hook up jumper cables and a battery pack," Watson said.
Frozen locks and doors also presented problems for many drivers, Watson said. He advised drivers to avoid washing their vehicles while the weather is extremely cold because the added moisture freezes.
But Friday's biggest challenge was staying warm on the job, Watson said. He had to wear plenty of clothes and a warm hat.
The short-term forecast doesn't show much improvement, according to Art Lester of the National Weather Service in Gray.
Lester said today will be less breezy with plenty of sunshine, but only a few degrees warmer. Cold air is expected to stay through Sunday night, with the possibility of moderate warming on Monday.
Danielle Gamiz — 623-3811, Ext. 431
dgamiz@centralmaine.com