Winter's cruel intrusion into almost every phase of Midlands life is maintaining its unforgiving pace. The cold's persistence has become noteworthy, said Ken Dewey, weather analyst for the High Plains Climate Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dewey said this could be among the area's longest cold spells on record. Since Nov. 7, Omaha has had eight days above the normal temperature, which is about 32 degrees this time of year. Across both Iowa and Nebraska, temperatures have been up to 10 degrees below normal.
Homeless shelters are crowded.
Siena-Francis House in Omaha has been taking in an average of 260 people a night in quarters designed for 144. Plumbing and furnace-repair work has increased. Leslie Regan of Taylor Plumbing said the company has been receiving 10 to 12 calls a day more than in past years. Broken water pipes are the usual cause. Karen Tweedy, branch manager for ServiceOne, said the company's average calls per day for furnace problems have gone up by 20 a day.