Extreme cold in the Elkhart County, Ind., area was forcing local businesses, schools and local governments to close their doors this week to keep patrons and residents safe.
This story originally appeared in The Elkhart Truth.
The National Weather Service was calling for more snow and strong winds through Tuesday night in the Elkhart area with new accumulations of less than an inch.
The high Wednesday was expected to be near minus 13 with wind gusts as high as 30 mph and wind-chill values near minus 55 degrees. The low Wednesday night was expected to hit minus 20, but winds were expected to ease with wind-chill values as low as minus 40, the weather service said. The forecast for Thursday called for less wind and mostly sunny skies with a high near 2 below zero and a low Thursday night of around 5 below zero.
Companies all over Elkhart County and across the area have shut down, citing extreme cold.
“We’re manufacturing motor coaches and it’s too difficult,” said Keith Weirich with human resources at Newmar Corp. in Nappanee.
Newmar is among many companies eliminating production on both Wednesday and Thursday as production staff often have to move between buildings.
“With those extreme temperatures, any time above 10 minutes, they could suffer frostbite,’’ Weirich said.
Other factories including Thor Motorcoach, Genesis Products, Kik Custom Products, Coachmen RV and Heartland RV reported closures to local news outlets, while others issued emails, texts and Facebook notifications to their employees and clientele.
