06 Feb WCME Midcoast News February 6, 2015

It Really Is Very Cold!

With both actual temperatures and wind chill factors below zero this morning the National Weather Service posted a wind chill advisory that has now expired. But the concern about cold lingers. And it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. Meteorologist Margaret Curtis at the National Weather Service in Gray says the cold will last into early next week with wind chills mostly below zero.

With many inches of snow having fallen lately, there is also renewed and heightened concern about carbon monoxide and carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s a gas that can easily go undetected because it is colorless and odorless, it can be found in combustion fumes, and it can build up in unventilated areas. A man in Yarmouth suffered carbon monoxide poisoning after his exhaust furnace became covered by snow drifts and he was unaware. The Northern New England Poison Control Center says in the week following the blizzard, it received 36 reports of confirmed or suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, 29 of them in Maine.

Ocean Concern

A special state panel wants the permission of the legislature and ultimately voters to borrow three million dollars that would allow scientists to collect data on increasing ocean acidity along the  Maine coast and its impact on the tourism industry–particularly on the lobster industry. There may be a public vote on the proposal later this year or perhaps next year.