David Herron skis along the Little Miami River Sunday. The ice platforms on the trees indicate the high-water mark from heavy rains and freezing temperatures several weeks ago. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The Tristate closed out 2000 with the fourth coldest December on record — and keep your earmuffs handy for the new millennium.

        The mercury crept to a high of 30 degrees Sunday and is expected to hover below freezing for the next few days.

        “It looks, at least short term, that it's going to stay in the high 20s with lows around 10 to 15,” said Mike Ryan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Wilmington. “We may see temperatures begin to moderate a little toward the end of the week.“

        Sunday's cool air tied the 1989 record of 14 straight December days of sub-freezing temperatures.

        The coldest December on record was in 1989, when the average temperature was 21.6 degrees. December 2000's average, through Saturday, was 23.2 degrees, compared with an average December temperature of 33.5 degrees.

Weather page

        It could be worse.

        Part of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast rang in the New Year by digging out from two feet of snow. And the South continued to feel effects from last week's crippling ice storm.

        On Saturday, the American Red Cross Greater Cincinnati chapter sent disaster specialist Bob Armstrong to Texarkana, Ark., where he'll be a damage assessment officer for at least two weeks. An ice storm left thousands without power as ice snapped trees, damaging homes and businesses in southwest Arkansas and northeast Texas.

        “He will coordinate local volunteers to go out and actually assess the damage to homes,” said Sean Townsley, Red Cross spokesman. “He will determine the needs of families” and with other workers, provide that relief.
       

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