MASON CITY – Reports of frozen residential and business water service lines have increased this week. Frozen service lines are being experienced throughout Mason City and the surrounding area. These occurrences are caused by unusually deep frost lines which are in part a result of the prolonged extreme temperatures experienced this winter.
As a precaution, the city continues urge residents to monitor the temperature of the water from an inside cold faucet nearest to the water meter. If the measured temperature is below 40 degrees you should open a cold water faucet to a slow stream. By keeping the water moving you should prevent the service line from freezing. This information should be used only as a guideline with additional judgment exercised for each individual situation.
It is very important to understand that even as air temperatures continue to improve, the frost line also continues to advance deeper into the ground. This will occur until there is enough spring thaw to stop the frost line from advancing. While difficult to predict, this could take between six and eight weeks depending on the weather conditions for the remainder of the winter season.
your in northern iowa ANNIE. learn to live with it
I love northern Iowa. At least we aren’t living under the threat of when is the big one going to happen if we lived in California. TG for something. Iowa is the best.
@Annie-I hate to burst your bubble but we ARE in a earthquake area. It is called the New Madrid fault and is one of the most dangerous in the U.S. We are on the Northern Edge but the last one in the 1800’s caused a lot of damage and would have been worse except the population was small beck then. They say we are overdue for another quake.
Gee LVS, are you the bearer of good tidings? Lol. I know, I know…Calif has been under the big threat also but it just never happens. Hopefully not in our lifetime.
@Annie-every once in awhile we have them here. Mostly people don’t know what they are and just think something blew up. So far they are small, around 3.0 or less. I lived in California for a year and they have a lot where we lived. Mostly you don’t even notice them after awhile. It takes a 5.0 or bigger to really feel them. There are two kinds, the most common is a big boom and it is over. The ones that do the real damage are the rolling ones. That is the kind that makes the ground roll like waves. Those are scary.
Oh my. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I hate the summer tornado threats and now its the winter freeze ups.