Record cold descends on Utah, killing one and filling shelters

By ARRIN NEWTON BRUNSON
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

A man died in Washington County, homeless people were turned away from a packed shelter in St. George and records fell across the state as an arctic cold front settled over Utah.

In all, 16 record-low minimum and 16 record-low maximum temperatures were set or met on Sunday. For example, Delta and Randolph, the coldest places in Utah, dipped to minus 24 degrees, while Richfield and Duchesne never made it past 9 degrees.

In the tiny town of Virgin, in the southwest corner of the state, a man apparently trying to stay warm died when his wood-burning stove set his bedding ablaze.

Firefighters dispatched around 5 a.m. found a mobile home fully engulfed, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The victim was found inside after the fire was extinguished.

"The homeowner only had one source of heat to the home, a wood-burning stove," said state fire marshal investigator Todd Hohbein. "We've had extremely cold weather up here, and it looks like he had the couch and a little sleeping mat pulled right up to the stove. It caught the material on fire."

The man, whose name was not released, apparently tried to escape, but he was overcome by smoke, Hohbein said.

Hohbein estimated temperatures in Virgin may have dipped to 12 degrees.

In St. George, 45 people sought refuge from the cold at the Dixie Care and Share and the shelter was at capacity.

"We're having to turn people away," said staff supervisor Henry Beach.

Those people are given sleeping bags, or a coat, hat and gloves to help insulate them from cold temperatures that plunged to 16 degrees early Sunday.

Yet 50 miles to the north in Cedar City, where a new record low of minus 19 degrees was set Sunday, the Iron County Care and Share had 10 men and two women staying at the facility and room for four more. And most homeless people in northern Utah were able to find warm food, clothing and shelter at rescue missions in Salt Lake City and Ogden.

Community advocate Pamela Atkinson said the shelters in Salt Lake City were filling, with many people being bused to an overflow shelter in Midvale. Cold weather necessities such as hats, scarves, blankets and sub-zero sleeping bags have been passed out to those in need _ many from the trunk of Atkinson's car.

Even some areas one might think would appreciate the cold were stymied.

The frigid air is bad for business at Beaver Mountain ski resort in northern Utah, according to ticket agent Annette West, who reported a high of 11 degrees.

"Our numbers are down and I'm sure it's the cold," she said. "Usually this is one of our biggest weekends of the year."

The deep-freeze is expected to last for several days, according to Pete Wilensky, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City.

Wilensky predicted a rise in the barometric pressure will create inversions and possibly haze and fog on the valley floors later this week.

"It's a deeply cold air mass," Wilensky said. "We will have single-digits lows for the next few nights with below zero temperatures."

(Contact Arrin Brunson(at)sltrib.com.)