Spire asks customers to turn down thermostats as bitter cold continues across KC
Natural gas company Spire is urging customers to lower their thermostats to conserve energy as a bitter cold snap continues across the Kansas City area.
The weather has caused “unusually high demand for natural gas and significant disruptions to the natural gas supply across the Midwest,” the utility said in a news release.
On Friday night, Spire asked customers to reduce the temperature in residences to 65 to 68 degrees for the following two days to maintain the pipeline system.
The company also suggested turning down thermostats while traveling, limiting the use of natural gas fireplaces and hot water heating, and opening south facing curtains during the day.
The high on Christmas Eve was expected to reach 18 degrees while the low was 6. Wind chills were expected to vary throughout the day from around minus 12 degrees to about zero when the Chiefs kick off at noon, said Brad Temeyer, a forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Kansas City office.
The winter storm prompted cancellations across the metro and led to deadly car crashes. Wind chills hit minus 32 degrees late Thursday night and into Friday morning in Lee’s Summit and Olathe. The wind chill in downtown Kansas City hit minus 29, Temeyer said.
The forecast for Christmas is looking slightly warmer with a high of 24 and a low of 23. Temperatures will continue to rise going into Monday.
