Associated Press Published

Cold Eases, Yet Nearly 6,200 Remain Without Power in West Virginia

House in snow

West Virginia is beginning to warm up a bit following an arctic blast that broke cold temperature records across the state.
 
     Temperatures on Wednesday morning ranged from 4 degrees in Elkins and Lewisburg to 12 degrees in Bluefield.
 
     Below-zero temperatures on Tuesday broke records in Wheeling, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Huntington and Charleston. Beckley’s minus 9 degrees on Tuesday morning broke a mark that had stood since 1912.
 
     While temperatures are inching up, public schools remain closed in many areas and utilities continue to grapple with power outages.
 
     The Department of Education’s website shows 39 of the state’s 55 county school systems have cancelled all classes today.
 
     About 6,200 Appalachian Power customers in western and southern West Virginia were without power Wednesday morning. FirstEnergy reports about two dozen outages in northern counties.