First Posted: 2/19/2015
LIMA — It’s Ohio, it’s cold and everyone knows it.
In an effort to escape, folks are trading in their coats for sunglasses and heading for warmer weather.
Trips to Florida and the Caribbean are some of the more popular trips being booked right now, said Cindy Nelson, the manager of sales and service at AAA’s Lima location.
“There’s always a lot of travelers during colder seasons,” she said. “Everyone wants to get out of Ohio and out of the cold.”
As one of the coldest Februaries on record in Northwest Ohio — the ninth coldest in 74 years according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center — AAA Ohio has already seen a 25 percent increase in the number of vacations booked this time of year.
Folks left at home obviously understand the unpredictability of winter months in the Midwest, as the number of days below zero — currently seven — increase.
The climate center has already deemed 2015 as the 11th coldest since 1942 for the region, with temperature averages hovering around 20 degrees, the lowest average being 12.7 and high average being 29.3. So far, the National Weather service determined that Jan. 6 has been the coldest day of the year at -6 degrees. February’s isn’t much better at -1 degrees on the 15th.
With more snow predicted for the coming weekend and freezing temperatures expected for the beginning of the week, the fight against frigid temperatures rages on, especially for heaters, pipes and furnaces.
Mike Lawrence, the president of Lima’s Lippincott Plumbing Heating Air Condition and Refrigeration Inc. in, said crews have seen things freeze that have never froze before.
For example, the company had a customer whose well froze. A light was installed just to prevent it from freezing again. Freezing pipes and breaking furnaces are also becoming more common.
“They’re taking a big hit,” Lawrence said.
Cars similarly suffer thanks to the cold. Cathy Mcllean, the owner of Wapakoneta’s B & B Auto Repair said the most common issues involve gas lines, pumps or car batteries. Things that can sometimes be prevented with a routine tune-up before the season, or just making sure to keep gas in the tank and keep an eye on car batteries, she said.
Stephen Casebolt, a nurse practitioner at Westside Urgent Care, said cars serve a cause for health concerns, too. Most of the season’s common slips and falls happen in the parking lot as people come and go, which is the source for most of the orthopedic injuries that come through the urgent care.
As with anything else regarding cold weather, the best way to combat incidents is to bundle up and go slow.
“It all correlates,” he said.
