Or maybe if you hear 40 degrees is the best you'll get from Mother Nature this week.

Today and Tuesday will be a relief from the remarkably cold Arctic air that's socked Lancaster County over the past few days.

That's the good news.

The bad news: Frigid air from eastern Canada swoops in again Wednesday and brings bitter cold weather back to Lancaster County for at least the remainder of the week. It may even bring some light snow Wednesday night, says Millersville University meteorologist Eric Horst.

The deep freeze this weekend sent some motorists into a tizzy, buying new batteries for their vehicles or calling AAA for help when their cars wouldn't start.

On Saturday, the actual temperature dipped to minus 1 at 6:30 a.m., a revised reading over a previously reported zero, Horst said.

The cold and needy packed Water Street Rescue Mission.

Fires started in chimneys.

Heating systems died.

Pipes froze, then burst. One large water leak even caused a Manheim Township nursing home to evacuate 45 residents.

"We're swamped. There's not time to sit around,'' Jay Denlinger, service manager for Robert H. Ranck Inc., said this morning.

The Lancaster plumbing and heating firm handled about 50 service calls this weekend, about 10 times the amount they usually have on weekends.

Most were plumbing-related problems, such as broken or frozen pipes, Denlinger said.

"It happens every year. It's always the same,'' he said.

The calls from people who had no heat or had broken pipes spraying water took priority, he said.

"On a weekend like this, a no-heat situation becomes critical,'' Denlinger said.

Likewise, at Brubaker Inc., service division manager Amy Phelan said her staff was busy today handling the plumbing- and heating-related calls they couldn't get to this weekend.

Over the weekend, about 10 customers called reporting problems with broken pipes and about 20 callers said they had no heat.

Shortly after midnight this morning, a frozen pipe burst in a unit and caused a large water leak at Lancashire Hall on Lititz Pike, Manheim Township, said Sharon Bixler, the nursing home's administrator.

Firefighters, police officers and other emergency workers arrived to help evacuate 45 residents to other areas of the building.

No one was injured, Bixler said.

Lancaster City firefighters overnight answered about six calls for ruptured water pipes attributed to the cold weather, a city fire captain said.

Also, firefighters from Durloch-Mount Airy in Clay Township and nearby areas battled a 7:28 p.m. blaze Saturday that damaged a home at 1189 Kleinfeltersville Road, Stevens, Lancaster County Control said.

The fire reportedly started in a chimney. There were no injuries, but damage was reported to be extensive.

Also this weekend, AAA Lancaster County employees were working longer hours to respond to calls for dead batteries, said Cindy Brough, marketing manager for AAA Central Pennsylvania.

"Calls are up, but we expect this whenever temperatures are extreme,'' Brough said.

"When the temperatures drop to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the battery's capacity is actually reduced about 75 percent, so it takes so much more to start or operate a car,'' she said.

That explains why the manager at Advance Auto Parts on Doe Run Road in Manheim said he sold about 10 percent more batteries this weekend than usual.

Some people, needing a warm place to sleep this weekend, found it at the Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster.

The mission is hosting about 220 residents, with bed space for between 240 and 250, said Brad Hoopes, director of development at the mission.

Also, six to 10 people stayed in the lobby area of the mission's chapel and slept on benches so they could stay warm, Hoopes said.

The mission is looking for donations of sweaters, flannel shirts and warm pajamas for the men and women who stay there, Hoopes said.

They'll need the warm clothing this week.

Today and Tuesday's high will reach about 40 degrees, which is normal for this time of year, Horst said.

But then, when the Arctic front returns Wednesday, temperatures will fall to a high in the low 20s and then dip to a low of about 16 or 18 degrees overnight. A light coating of snow could arrive with the cold front, he said.

"The rest of the week will be frigid,'' Horst said.

Highs will be in the upper teens to near 20. The lows on Thursday and Friday will be in the single digits, perhaps near zero, Horst said.



Staff writer John M. Hoober III contributed to this report.

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