By Michelle Key
Editor

The new year began with the coldest temperatures of the winter. With high temperatures never hitting above freezing, and lows down in the teens, many residents found their sprinkler systems, fountains and ornamental ponds frozen over. While the unintentional ice sculptures were works of nature’s beauty, some residents were left to deal with less pleasant aspects of freezing weather, including water outages that were caused by the rupture of a city water main underneath Seventh Street and Fourth Avenue, and frozen pipes in homes around the area.
Experts recommend that households leave faucets dripping overnight during extreme cold weather to help prevent frozen pipes.