By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CA construction worker casts a shadow on plastic sheeting sheltering him from the wind and cold Thursday in Over-the-Rhine. He is working on a building as part of the Findlay Market redevelopment. (Glenn Hartong photo)

The coldest weather of the season hit the area Thursday and early today with wind chills well below zero, filling shelters and taxing emergency workers.

"We're bracing for the influx in calls (this) morning, especially for folks who may not have had their battery checked in the fall," said Sandra Guile, public relations coordinator for AAA Cincinnati, downtown.

On this date last year, the local AAA office fielded 1,937 calls from drivers needing help with dead batteries, frozen locks or other problems.

An average day in January yields 1,558 calls, she said.

The Drop-Inn Center planned to take 50 people to an Over-the-Rhine warming center Thursday night, only the second time this winter it has been open.

The last time was Jan. 6, when the shelter sent 32 people to the Over-the-Rhine Community Center at 1715 Republic, which the city of Cincinnati keeps open overnight when the Drop-Inn is full and temperatures are projected to fall below zero.

"We're beyond capacity. And we're expecting a lot of people (Thursday night)," said Steve Knight, who coordinates shelter programs for Drop-Inn.

Wednesday, nearly 300 people crowded the shelter, sleeping on benches and floors, Knight said. The shelter's nominal capacity is 250.

The National Weather Service office in Wilmington, Ohio, issued an alert Thursday advising that an arctic front would drop temperatures to as low as 4 degrees overnight in the Cincinnati area.

Wind gusts will make it feel 10 degrees below zero.

The record low for Thursday was minus 15 degrees, and for today, minus 17 degrees, both set in 1936.

In Butler County, many shelters are full, an emergency-assistance agency said.

One man sought help this week from the agency in Hamilton after living off-and-on in a van in Fairfield, said Jeff Diver, executive director of Supports to Encourage Low-Income Families.

"Believe it or not, even with this cold, there are people who are living outside and are at risk of dying from exposure," Diver said.

About 1,400 people have applied to Diver's agency for the Home Energy Assistance Program, about the same as last year.

But Diver's staff says the numbers have increased dramatically this week as the weather has turned colder.

For rescue workers, frostbite is just one worry, Glendale Fire Chief Don Latta said.

There's also the risk of slipping on ice at a fire.

"It just becomes a very dangerous situation," Latta said.

"Firefighters have to move more slowly."

National Weather Service forecasters expect highs today in the upper 20s, with temperatures climbing above freezing by Saturday.

Janice Morse and David Eck contributed.

E-mail loakes@enquirer.com