How cold was it?
Posted by Richard on December 15, 2008
It was so cold that hundreds of school buses wouldn't start or died en route because the diesel fuel had jelled:
DENVER (AP/CBS4) ― Denver area school districts reported dozens of buses used to pick up students for class were delayed or wouldn't start at all Monday morning because of the extreme cold. About a third of the 370 buses in the state's largest school district, Jefferson County, either wouldn't start or couldn't finish their routes Monday morning because of cold-related engine and fuel problems.
The JeffCo school district saved two cents per gallon by buying diesel fuel without cold-weather additives, apparently confident that Al Gore was correct (emphasis added):
DENVER (CBS4) ― The problem that idled or stalled an estimated 45 percent of Jefferson County School's school bus fleet on Monday could have been prevented.
As a cost saving measure, the district had been buying diesel fuel without cold weather additives.
"We never expected it to get as cold as it did," said District Spokeswoman Melissa Reeves.
No word on how paying the extra couple of pennies for 3 months would compare with the cost of today's mess, with mechanics and tow trucks running around all over and thousands of kids stranded.
So how cold did it get? Officially at the airport, -19° F., clobbering the record of -6° set in 1951.
This afternoon, we got to 3° above zero. Woohoo!
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