Jan. 17--David Pollard told his nieces on Thanksgiving Day that he would make sure that their Winston-Salem home would have snow if it got cold enough this winter.

Pollard fulfilled that promise yesterday, when nature provided the wintry weather, if not the moisture.

He and his brother, Mike, used a snow-making machine to make snow for seven hours, as the temperature hovered around 22 degrees.

The gizmo, which David Pollard built at his house in Charlotte using plans from the Internet, deposited a couple of inches of snow on the front yard of Mike Pollard's house on Surtees Road in southwestern Winston-Salem.

The brothers used 960 gallons of water.

Mike Pollard said he was unsure of the cost, but he considered it worthwhile.

"How often do you get to make snow?" he asked. "We have had kids coming over after school all afternoon long. They are making and throwing snowballs at each other and dragging each on plastic discs."

The brothers will likely crank up their snow-maker again at some point, but they plan to use it at night to avoid sunshine and wind, Pollard said. They figure that they will use less water, and they hope that the snow will accumulate faster.

The Pollards' project was one of the more entertaining ways people coped with the bone-chilling weather that hit North Carolina this week.

But the temperatures are still not expected to break records, forecasters said.

"It's cold, but it's not that cold," said meteorologist Doug Outlaw of the National Weather Service. "I don't think we're going to hit records with this cold snap."

The low at Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem was 12 degrees yesterday morning. The low was 13 at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro.

The Triad's record low for yesterday's date is minus 1, recorded at PTI in 1972. For today's date, the record is minus 2, set at PTI in 1977.

The arctic air will remain over North Carolina through today, with this morning's low expected to be 7 degrees, forecasters said. The high will be in the low 30s today and in the low 40s Sunday.

Yesterday's cold caused few school delays in Forsyth County. Buses mostly ran on time in Winston-Salem, and the school system had mechanics on hand in case buses wouldn't start, said Theo Helm, a spokesman for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.

There were scattered reports to the City-County Utilities Division from people who said they didn't have water, said James Harris, the utilities supervisor. Many of those situations were likely caused by frozen pipes or meters, he said.

A water connection to a vacant lot froze and burst, causing ice to build up at 14th Street and University Parkway, Harris said.

Several homeless shelters in Winston-Salem were expected to be full, and some people may have to sleep on mats.

"Whatever comes up, we'll open up the doors to make sure everybody has a place to come to," said Willis Miller, the assistant director of Samaritan Ministries.

An overflow shelter is open at First Baptist Church, on Fifth Street. It requires people to check in with the Bethesda Center on North Patterson Avenue and then buses them to the church.

John Hinton can be reached at 727-7302 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.

Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.

------

Morning chills

Many people in Northwest North Carolina awoke to frigid weather yesterday, with some areas in the mountains hitting single-digit readings.

Location -- Low temp

Jefferson -- 0

Boone -- 1

Lexington -- 10

Danbury -- 11

Winston-Salem -- 12

Mount Airy -- 12

North Wilkesboro -- 12

Source: National Weather Service

-----

To see more of the Winston-Salem Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.journalnow.com/.

Copyright (c) 2009, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.