Frigid temps don't stop outside work, though some escape to sunny Florida

Mother Nature threw a bit of shade over Western Pennsylvania early Friday, with cloud cover warming up temperatures to a balmy 8 to 12 degrees in most places – well above what was expected to be closer to zero.

“If we would have stayed clear last night with the snow pack and everything we have on the ground it would have gotten down to near zero, but the clouds act sort of like a blanket and don’t let whatever little heat from the day escape,” said Rich Redmond, a meteorologist at the regional National Weather Service office in Moon Township.

Lows were expected to inch toward zero degrees Friday night into Saturday, when temperatures will rise to the low to mid-20s. More extreme cold temperatures are predicted next week.

The relatively mild beginning to winter in the region appears to be over.

“It looks like we’re going to be in a pretty cold pattern to finish out January and as we move into February,” Redmond said.

But life – and work – goes on.

Jeannette

Robert Katonka hovered by the front windows of the Sunoco convenience store along Route 130, where Jeannette, Hempfield and Penn townships meet up. A turn signal blinked in the dark. It was time.

The cowbell clanked on the front door as he pushed out into Friday’s early morning freeze, when the temperature was 9 degrees. Katonka, of Grapeville, was ready for his 10-hour shift pumping gas at the full service station, with layers of thermals and hooded sweatshirts as well as a hand warmer or two slipped into his pockets. He ditched his heavy insulated boots, though, opting instead for lighter sneakers over wool socks.

His morning, which started at 5 a.m. got off slowly — as usual. Business picked up as people headed to work, which is typical on cold days like these.

Katonka has been on the job for 35 years. It takes a couple minutes to pump the gas and pick up payment, then head back inside — if he’s lucky.

“I stay out there as long as they need me,” he said. “Usually by the time you get back to the doors, there’s like two more cars pulling in so you never make it back in to get warm.”

He can have as many as four gas pumps going at one time. A break for a sip of a warm drink helps on cold mornings, but he said the best way to shake off the chill — a hot shower — waits at home.

Lower Burrell

There’s cold, damn cold, then extremely cold, said Todd Giammatteo, director of Lower Burrell’s Public Works and Parks.

Friday morning’s single-digit temperatures fell in the middle category, according to Giammatteo’s rating system.

It was also a busy morning. In addition to routine maintenance tasks across the city, workers thawed a frozen water pipe in Fisher Hall in Burrell Lake Park.

Public works crews were out at 7 a.m. checking seven sewage pump stations, which they monitor twice a week regardless of the weather.

These electric-fed, hydraulic pumps prevent unpleasant and potentially damaging sewage backups. The pumps are an integral of the city’s infrastructure: They push sewage from city neighborhoods over hill and dale to the New Kensington sewage treatment plant miles away.

Billy Thomey, a Lower Burrell sewer mechanic, said he didn’t know the exact temperature Friday morning — only that it was frigid.

“Whether you’re in Lower Burrell or Pittsburgh, you still got to do what you got to do,” he said.

Dressed in a well-insulated fluorescent coat, Thomey jumped out of his work truck and pushed back the frozen snow to open a locked gate to reach the Little Braeburn Pump Station along Braeburn Road.

Thomey took readings of the pump operations and recorded them in a log by pencil. As anyone who works in the outdoors knows, ink pens freeze.

Unity

At 7 a.m. at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, it was 10 degrees outside the terminal building. A five-foot high snow pile sat less than a snow ball’s throw away from the statue of the legendary golfer from Latrobe leaning on his club.

It was already more than two hours into the shift for the eight members of the airport’s maintenance crew, led by operations and public safety manager Maurice “Moe” Haas. The crew’s job was to get the airport grounds, ramp and runway ready for the scheduled 8:20 a.m. departure of Spirit flight NK893. The 821-mile trip was expected to take two hours and 32 minutes, landing at Orlando International Airport at 10:55 a.m. The flight was filled with 170 passengers Friday, according to airline officials.

Maintenance worker Nick Rubino said it was “minus 2” when workers began arriving at the maintenance shed just before 5 a.m.

“It was really cold. Sometimes my mom will tell me it’s just flurrying outside and I have to tell her that that’s not good for us … it means more work,” Rubino said.

The maintenance crew tackles light snow covering the runway with huge, 22-foot wide, rotating snow brooms to clear the takeoff path for the Spirit A320 air bus.

Haas said the big brush and multiple plows were not needed Friday.

“It’s such a relief when you pull in (to the airport) and look out over the airfield and see the runway is just a big, long patch of black asphalt. It usually means it’s clear,” Haas said.

After multiple days of clearing snow since Monday’s storm dumped 9 inches, it was a welcome relief, Haas said.

The maintenance staff spread a little specialized sand which consists of “a little larger granules “than normal mortar sand to fix “just a few icy spots” on the ramp area. But then Haas directed the crews to salt and continue clearing space for vehicles in the passenger parking areas.

The terminal bustled with excited passengers lining up at the Spirit passenger gate to flee the coldest temperatures so far this winter for Orlando, where the temperature was on its way to a high of 74.

“I can’t wait to go swimming,” said Emmi Diehm, 12, of New Kensington.

Emmi was travelling with her 14-year-old brother, Baxter, and their mother, Andrea Diehm, who said she can’t wait to “get away from the cold.” They were headed to Port St. Lucie to house sit for her parents while they are on a cruise.

“It will be really nice for all of us to get some time in the sun,” she said.

Kelly Rodland of Erie said her son, Will, and her fiance, Mark Santiago, were going to spend the next few days at Universal Studios amusement park.

“Me? I’m going to be laying out in the sun in a hot tub somewhere. No amusement park for me, just warm weather,” Rodland said.

Airport executive director Gabe Monzo, whose office looks out over the field, said he spends more than 300 days a year watching hundreds of flights come and go to warm weather destinations.

“But it’s days like today, where temperatures start in the single digits, that really get to you and wish you were going, too,” Monzo said.

The flight departed early at 8:14 a.m.

Washington Township

Leftover ice from this week’s winter storm didn’t stand a chance Friday morning as crews from Washington Township Public Works Department worked in single digit temps on Camp Nancy Road.

Public Works director Rick Huffman said the township is responsible for about 14 miles of roads during winter.

“We’re down two trucks right now,” Huffman said. “Things tend to break down when it’s cold.”

Huffman said salt and anti skid supplies are good and he ordered about 950 tons of both to accommodate anticipated winter snow and ice removal.

Jim Morehead has 42 years with the township, primarily working outside.

He and co-worker Thad Haney, who has 34 years of service, worked to remove solid sections of ice along Camp Nancy Road.

The township issues cold weather-related gear such as a winter coat and insulated coveralls, but Morehead said he is pretty well conditioned to arctic temps.

“I’m tough,” said Morehead, who worked without gloves. The morning, after all, had warmed to 10 degrees.

Staff writers Joyce Hanz, Paul Peirce, Renatta Signorini, Mary Ann Thomas and Megan Tomasic contributed to this report.