National Signing Day, Page B1 Sooners upset Baylor, Page B1 With You Since the Land Run of 1889 Norman, Oklahoma
Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011
Early spring Famed forecaster says winter is over, Page A2
It’s colder than ... It’s official, Norman was every bit as cold as the North Pole on Wednesday but still colder than H-E-Double L. That’s right, about 12:30 p.m. Norman was 12 degrees with a wind chill of zero and an overnight low of 2 expected, according to weather.com. Weather.com reports the North Pole was a toasty 12 degrees with a wind chill of -2. A little farther south, Hell, Mich., was about 21 degrees at 12:30 p.m. with an overnight low of 8 degrees predicted. Today, the southeast Michigan town is expected to have a high of 19 and a low of 6 degrees, at which point it will return to being colder than Norman. Today’s forecast in Norman calls for partly cloudy skies, a high of 28 degrees and a low of 8. — Debra A. Parker Transcript Editor
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naiveté (n) na&'v)&t+ [na-.))v.!e#] 1. the quality or state of being inexperienced or lacking judgment; simplicity; artlessness Example: His naivete about international politics is impressive. Editor’s note: These are examples of words students likely will encounter as they prepare for college. Sample sentences are selected at random from www.yourdictionary.com. Sponsored by:
Transcript Staff
Kyle Phillips / The Transcript
A snow plow takes a break after piling up snow on Main Street Wednesday. Across the county crews have been working largely around the clock to keep the main streets and roads clear.
Road crews stay on the job clearing streets The thermostat isn’t anticipated to creep above freezing until Friday and later into the weekend, a meteorologist at the National Weather Center in Norman said. But forecasts predicting another cold front to move through the area Sunday night and Monday — keeping the state in a snowy loop — dulled Wednesday’s forecast for an early spring from Punxsutawney Phil, Pennsylvania’s famous groundhog. “That’s the story anyway,” said Erin Maxwell, meteorologist at the center of the groundhog fable. Thursday will be slightly warmer, but the snow-covered ground will hold the temperature around 18 to 19 degrees. Maxwell said any of the snow Norman received Tuesday that melts will refreeze overnight, meaning driving on the roadways could still be treacherous this morning. “It won’t be until we get above freezing that we can really get some good melting,” Maxwell said of Friday’s anticipated high of 33 to 34
FURNITURE 226 E. Main 321-4949 WEATHER Partly cloudy, high 28; low, 8 See weather page, A8
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Tell a friend Know anyone who has missed their paper in all the snow? Well, the Transcript has posted complimentary editions of the blizzard coverage on its Web site
The cold wind chills will continue today, still well below zero until midday Thursday, when the wind chill advisory for Norman is scheduled to lift. Maxwell said there is a chance the storm system moving through Texas could make its way north through Norman, but that possibility is slight. She said the radar currently shows it remaining south of the area. “It’s a very slim shot. We may get some snow flurries Friday, but nothing accumulating,” Maxwell said.
Road Conditions
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation updated its roads conditions Wednesday morning. According to a news release, ODOT crews reported high snow drifts and slick, snow-packed highways and interstates throughout the state. While around-the-clock clearing efforts continue to restore lanes degrees. “There will be general and ramps to ideal conditions, the improvement over the next few days, work is expected to take several but it will be gradual.” days. Throughout the state travel Winds are still gusty, but not as remains highly discouraged. powerful as Tuesday, she said.
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• Please see DIGS on page A3
Storm goes easy on power lines By Andrew Knittle Transcript Staff Writer
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Member, Newspaper Holdings, Inc. Vol. 121, No. 203 ©2010. All rights reserved. Two sections
Another snow day for OU, schools
Transcript Staff Writers
Because of early deadlines caused by inclement weather, selected results such as the OU women’s game vs. Baylor in Waco, Texas, were unavailable Wednesday night. Find details from the game at:
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Cleveland County digs out
By Nanette Light And Meghan McCormick
Early deadline
50 cents
normantranscript.com
Power lines in Norman serving both OG&E and Oklahoma Electric Cooperative customers were left relatively unscatched by the massive amounts of snow that fell late Monday and much of the day Tuesday. Representatives from both companies said they’ve had very few outages reported due to the snowstorm. James Chappel, community affairs manager for OG&E in Norman, said the blizzard conditions the city endured Monday and Tuesday went easy on the powerlines. “We didn’t get any freezing rain, we had wind and sleet,” Chappel said. “Freezing rain is bad for us, so we were lucky.” Chappel said that few
customers statewide had power outages caused by the storm. At about noon on Wednesday, 98 of OG&E’s customers were without power, according to the company’s website. “That’s intermitent stuff, like somebody drove into a pole or something,” Chappel said. OEC spokeswoman Patti Rogers said that her company’s lines were spared as well. “We’ve had very few outages,” Rogers said. As is the case with extreme hot tempertures during the summer, Chappel said no OG&E customers are being turned off right now due to non-payment. “We’re not doing that Kyle Phillips / The Transcript right now,” he said. “We try Jim Albertson shovels snow in front of his house Wednesday, hoping to keep the street a little • Please see POWER on cleaner so he can get on the road when he needs page A3 to get out.
The University of Oklahoma will be closed Thursday, as will many Cleveland County schools. Students are encouraged to visit Desire2Learn at learn.ou.edu to check their assignments, said Catherine Bishop, vice president of OU Public Affairs. OU’s Huston Huffman and Couch restaurants, however, are still open. Norman, Moore, Noble, Lexington and Little Axe public schools will be closed Thursday, mainly because of challenges clearing roads and parking lots. NPS Superintendent Joe Siano said he will wait until classes have resumed to decide the make-up day schedule. He said the district still has days built into the schedule that can be replaced for instruction days or additional hours could be added to school days. All Saints Catholic School and Community Christian School in Norman will be closed Thursday.
Hospitals see few for storm injuries By Meghan McCormick Transcript Staff Writer
Five people sought treatment at Norman Regional Hospital’s emergency department on Tuesday for storm-related injuries, said NRHS spokesperson Kelly Wells. There were no reports of hypothermia or frostbite cases at any NRHS hospital. Wells said doctors and nurses were busy at the Porter campus caring for patients with non-acute ailments such as sore throats and nausea. The patient increase was believed related to doctors’ offices being closed in the area. The Norman Regional HealthPlex and Moore Medical Center saw similar situations. Oklahoma Blood Institute donation centers were open Wednesday for anyone who • Please see INJURIES on page A3
Blistering cold • People in Norman heed advice, stay inside out of the cold, A3 • Roads remain closed in Northeast Oklahoma, hardest hit by the storm, A3 • Severe conditions move into the Chicago, Great Lakes area, A3 • More photos and video from around Norman available at
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