Published: January 07, 2010 10:21 am      

Front brings bitter cold, little precipitation to area

An arctic cold front blew into the McAlester area overnight, with wind chills forecast by the National Weather Service to drop as low as eight below zero tonight.

With the frigid weather set to remain in place through Sunday, frostbite and hypothermia could be the biggest dangers associated with the arctic front in the McAlester area.

Although some snow and freezing drizzle fell over parts of Pittsburg County, including the eastern half near Hartshorne, accumulations were minimal.

Pittsburg County Office of Emergency Management Director Trent Myers said early today that no weather-related disasters had been reported to his office.

“Everything’s going pretty good,” Myers said this morning.

“We’ve got power and the road is clear,” he said.

“It’s just the bitter cold. People need to watch out for hypothermia and frostbite from staying outside too long.”

Frostbite is defined on the Web site healthscout.com as damage to the skin tissue resulting from prolonged skin exposure to below freezing temperatures.

Symptoms include numbness and a tingly or burning feeling.

Preventive measures include dressing warmly, wearing dry clothing, applying skin moisturizer to the face and hands and other body parts that might be exposed and staying out of the wind.

The normal core body temperature of an individual is 98.6 degrees. Hypothermia is defined on the MedicineNet.com Web site as a condition which occurs when the body’s temperature gets too cold, heat production ceases and the core body temperature drops to less than 95 degrees.

Symptoms include shivering, hunger and nausea, with apathy resulting as the body’s core temperature drops.

Other symptoms include confusion, lethargy, slurred speech and eventually, loss of consciousness.

With the bitter cold set to remain in place over the next several days, emergency and medical personnel advise residents to try and avoid contracting either frostbite or hypothermia due to prolonged exposure to the frigid air.

Tonight’s low is forecast to drop to six degrees, with a north-northwesterly wind of around 14 mph forecast to drive the wind chill factor to eight below zero.

Friday is set to be mostly sunny in McAlester, but with a high of only 16 degrees and a low in the 5 degree range, with wind chills falling as low three below zero.

Saturday is forecast to have a high of 23 degrees, with an overnight low around six degrees, before temperatures are forecast to rise to near 37 degrees on Sunday.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.