CEDAR CITY, Utah - For many residents here in Cedar City, they woke up to sub-zero temperatures. For some businesses that’s good news, but homeowners who aren’t prepared can run into problems.
Residents like Becky Freeman bundled up Thursday morning, hardly believing what the thermometer read.
“It was tough getting started,” Freeman said. “It was negative seven, I believe, when I started.”
Freeman would up at The Grind coffee shop, in search of a hot drink on the single digit day. Shop owner AJ Baruffi said the shop always fills up when it gets cold, unless it gets too cold.
“Hot Chocolate, hot apple cider, hot egg nogs… We should do pretty well," Baruffi said. “It is a college town, so we do get a lot of college kids. If it gets too cold, they just won’t walk up from the college. They’ll just stay in the student union and wont come out.”
Coffee shops aren’t the only ones reaping the benefit of a bitter cold. Plumbers said they’ve been busy helping homeowners with frozen pipes.
“Unfortunately, that’s the result of the kind of weather we’re dealing with,” said Bruce Thompson Plumbing owner Bruce Thompson. “There is some preventative maintenance that could have been taken maybe ahead of time.”
Thompson said, for many homeowners, frozen pipes will fix when the pipes thaw, but older pipes may crack. To prevent it, Thompson recommends keeping the heat on, at least at the minimum setting, and to be sure and wrap pipes exposed to colder areas like exterior walls
“Look for any signs of exposed piping,” Thompson said. “And realize that, even though we live in southern Utah, We sure get cold down here.”
Those freezing temperatures are going to stick around for a while. Current forecasts don’t predict a rise in temperature for at least the next seven days.
