Last week’s below-zero temperatures did not set a record for cold weather at the Platteville Municipal Airport. That is little comfort for those who had to deal with temperatures well below zero and wind chills low enough to prompt a National Weather Service extreme cold warning for wind chills as low as 45 below zero. Platteville’s coldest low was 19 below zero Thursday night, followed by 13 below

zero Friday night, according

to the NWS automated weather station at the airport. Thursday’s Platteville low was not the coldest in Southwest Wisconsin. Boscobel reached 22 below zero Saturday. Lancaster reached 21 below zero Friday. Steuben reached 21 below zero Thursday and 20 below zero Friday. Dodgeville reached 20 below zero Friday. Darlington reached 19 below zero Friday. The cold weather resulted in school closings Friday and school activities canceled in some schools Thursday night and Saturday. Many schools, including Monroe, Platteville, Belmont and Cuba City opened two hours late Monday morning.

The cold weather also prompted a group of Platteville churches to organize an overnight warming shelter at Lutheran Church of Peace Thursday through Saturday. The shelter was used by two people

Thursday and Saturday and one person Friday, according to Rev. Jasmine Tesdahl, the church’s pastor. “This shelter was an example of what it looks like when people come

together on behalf of their neighbors,” she said. “This is why living in small Midwestern towns can be so encouraging. The warming shelter made a difference for two people this weekend who would have

been out in the cold, otherwise. Sometimes, after events like this, it can be tempting to look at data and say, ‘This undertaking wasn’t worth the cost — it only helped two people.’ But I would caution against such thinking. “For the two people we helped, it was definitely ‘worth the cost.’ Those folks had a safe, warm place to sleep for multiple nights. We may have prevented two weather-related

deaths in our community. We got folks connected with services that are available to them through the Southwest Wisconsin Community Action Program]. And we showed each other that this type of

community effort is not only possible, but achievable. The only real cost of the shelter was time, effort and some food. And I, for one, would rather have a large, heated building helping people rather than just sitting empty all night.” The Platteville Police Department was also open overnight, while the Municipal Building and the Platteville Public Library were open during the day for shelter from the

cold. Neither the Municipal Building nor the Police Department had visitors who stayed to escape the cold. Library director Jessie Lee-Jones said library visitor numbers were “definitely below average” from Thursday to Sunday “but high given the weather conditions.” A cold weather advisory was issued Sunday night for wind chills to 35 below zero. NWS forecasts predicted highs in the teens through the rest of this week and lows near or below zero to finally above zero Saturday night. For those who hate the cold, the NWS Climate Prediction Center is predicting a slight chance of

warmer- t h a n - a v e r a g e weather in early February, though the CPC also predicts a more than even chance of a colder than average February.