A cold front moving in from the Midwest later this week is expected to cause significant temperature drops in Richmond County and surrounding areas.

The National Weather Service in Raleigh has advised that an arctic weather front will move through Central North Carolina starting Thursday night, bringing chilly daytime highs in the 30s and nighttime lows between 15 and 20 degrees for Richmond County. Normal highs for the county are usually in the 50s this time of year.

“Temperatures Friday night could get as low as 10 degrees,” said Darin Figurskey, a Meteorologist with NWS in Raleigh. “The coldest morning will be Saturday morning, and then temperatures should become more moderate toward the end of the weekend.”

Figurskey predicts it will be a dry cold due to relatively low humidity but could be slightly accentuated by wind chill factors in the single digits.

“Watch out for anything that is cold-sensitive, like animals, and be careful if you are working outside,” said Figurskey.

According to Jacqueline Adkins of Richmond County Aging Services, unusually cold weather can be especially hard for local senior citizens.

“There are a lot of seniors without heat, and they have to be careful not to develop hypothermia. We advise them to use box heaters, wear extra layers of clothing, use extra blankets and stay indoors if they can.”

While Aging Services receives some funding to help seniors cool their homes in the summer, Adkins says it doesn’t have enough space heaters to donate to the many local seniors who need them in the winter.

“A lot of seniors don’t have any family here, and people forget about them,” said Adkins. “If you have an elderly neighbor, you might want to just go knock on their door and ask them how they’re keeping warm.”

To keep cold weather’s effect on your power bill to a minimum, Progress Energy recommends the following:

Set your thermostat between 68 and 70 degrees, or the lowest comfortable temperature. Every degree above 70 increases you energy costs by three to five percent. In addition, setting the thermostat back 10 degrees at night or when no one’s home during the day (eight to 10 hours) can save as much as 10 to 20 percent in heating costs.

Set the fan on your central heating unit to the “auto” position; Leaving the fan on all the time can add $25 a month to your electricity bill. Also, remember to clean or replace filters every month, as dirty filters can increase operating costs by 20 percent by making the system work harder to move air.