United States

SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES CAUSES CHAOS

January 21, 1985; 10:32 AM

FROM THE AUTHOR: I've always enjoyed publishing weather news to the masses, even when it was on paper my audience was only Mom & Dad. This is the first "newspaper" that I wrote in 1985 (at age 11), reporting on the Cold Outbreak of 1985 in the foothills of North Carolina (that's right, the extreme weather spurred me to start publishing). Little did I know, ten years later I would write my first weather report (complete with photos) on the Internet, for the world to see.

The first "front page" was done on a Commodore 64 dot matrix printer. The "Emergency Edition" was printed on an ancient typewriter (yes, one you had to jam the keys down on) -- ironically I must have found this quicker than loading the word processing program (from cassette tape) on to the computer and composing it there.

NOTES: D.E.R./ DOWN_ERE_RES. means "Down 'Ere Restaurant," a fictitious business that I ran when I was 10 years old. Shanberg & Pink Island were designations for certain areas of the 50-acre forest where I lived as a child. WWX & WWXY (Channel 5) were a fictitious radio and television station to which I "broadcast" local news & weather (to cassette tape).

TRANSCRIPT:

DOWN-ERE-RESTAURANT NEWSPAPER JAN. 21, 1985 NO. 1234146 10¢ SECTION A

SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES CAUSES CHAOS

WITH A LOW OF -5 IN BOOMER LAST NIGHT THE D.E.R. CATS HAD TO BE TUCKED AWAY TIGHTLY. OTHER PARTS OF WILKES CO. HAD TEMPERATURES AS LOW AS -11. THE COLD TEMPERATURES CAUSED THE FOLLOWING SCHOOLS TO BE CLOSED.

WILKES CO.
ALEXANDER CO.
ALLEGHANY CO.
ASHE CO.
BURKE CO.
WATAUGA CO.
AVERY CO.
YANCEY CO.
ANSON CO.

DOWN-ERE CLOSED

THE FIVE INCHES OF SNOW BOOMER GOT LAST WEEK HAS FROZEN ON THE D.E.R. DRIVEWAY. THE D.E.R. PATHS TO BE OPEN HOWEVER DETOURS WILL BE SET UP SO YOU WON'T HAVE WALK ON THE DRIVE-WAY. PINK ISLAND WILL RE-OPEN FEB. 1. MEAN-WHILE, THE D.E.R. AND ITS BUSINESSES ARE CLOSED. THE D.E.R. WILL RE-OPEN WHEN THE ICE MELTS.

Emergency Edition DOWN-ERE.RES. NEWSPAPER 5¢

Jan.21,1985 No.1648149

ONCE AGAIN

These Schools will

be closed again

tomorrow.

Wilkes County
Alexander County
Avery County
Watagua County
Ashe County
Mecklenburg Co.

These schools will be one hour late tomorrow.

Caldwell County
McDowell County
Burke County
Rutherford Co.
Lincoln Co.
Gaston County
Union County
Stanly County
Anson County

Two hours late:

Surry County
Yadkin County

Other information will be passed a-long to you by WWX and WWXY.

PHONE NUMBERS

For information on the weather,call (9l9) Weather.
For information on weter pipes,cell (919) 921-PIPE.
For information on the D.E.R. woods (paths), call (9l9) 921-3902
For information on the D.E.R.. call (919) DER-1234

JESSE FERRELL WALKED ACROSS THE CREEK

The sub-zero temperatures last night caused the D.E.R. creeks and water - falls to freeze. Jesse went down to Shanberg and practiced breakdancing in the middle of the creek! Most parts of the creeks had 1/4 to 1 inch of ice.However, there were a few rare cases such as Shanberg where there were up to 2-1/2 inches. D.E.R. paths were closed so no one would hurt themselves.

RE_OPENINGS

The Down-ere-Restaurant will re-open upon further notice.
Pink Island will re-open upon further notice.
The Down-ere-Res. Paths will re-open upon further notice.

5 FORECAST

Tonight:

Very Cold, Winds decreasing.
Low: 4

Tomorrow:
Warming slowly.
High: 29

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com