Deep freeze closes schools

What a difference a year makes.

The bone-chilling temperatures this week are nothing like what Butler had a year ago.

The time-temperature signs on this date last year were showing temperatures in the 30s and 40s all day — cresting at 46 degrees in the afternoon — a far cry from the 7 below zero that is forecast for overnight tonight. The temperature today dipped to 0 at 7:15 a.m. and moved back up to 1 at 8:30 a.m.

That was cold enough to convince superintendents to close all public schools in the county. Slippery Rock University and Butler County Community College both started late today.

And even the promise of a temperature rebound this weekend — into the mid-30s on Saturday and high 30s on Sunday — still pales by comparison to a year ago, when the thermometer at Butler airport reached 52 degrees on Feb. 20, 2014.

That reading stuck around overnight, going to 54 at one point on Feb. 21, 2014, before falling off to 36 by the end of that day.

What follows this weekend will be familiar. The extended forecast has temperatures once again dipping into the single digits during the first part of the work week, with highs reaching into the 20s.