West Penn Power reported outages for hundreds of customers on the coldest day of winter thus far.

Around 900 customers in the Slippery Rock area were without power Wednesday, Jan. 22, which prompted the fire company to open a warming center.

The electric company had restored power to all but 10 customers in the borough and township by about 3 p.m. and was working to track the cause, according to West Penn Power spokesperson Todd Meyers.

He said the company believes a problem may have occurred in electric cables below the borough’s Main Street.

“Issues that occur on electric cables running through subsurface conduits or equipment housed in underground vaults are often more difficult to find and troubleshoot than on overhead lines where damage to equipment is readily visible,” Meyers said in an email.

He said Wednesday it is hard to know whether the outage was related to the severe cold, but the company’s priority is restoring power.

After the outage began at around 6:30 a.m., Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company Chief Ryan Hanchosky went to the station and cranked the heat in the bingo hall. He posted on Facebook around 7 a.m. informing people the fire station and Slippery Rock Township building were open for anyone needing warming.

Around 10 to 15 people used the station throughout the day before it closed around 4 p.m.

Hanchosky said the Slippery Rock fire hall and EMS stations operate from generators, which kept their power on through the outage.

Attempts to reach the township were unsuccessful.

First Energy Corporation’s website showed no more outages in the area around 4:45 p.m.

Forecasters said we are going to start seeing temperatures warm up a little bit Thursday, with the general Butler County area mainly around the mid 20s.

“We won’t see very dangerously cold wind chills. Wind chills will be around the mid-teens. It will still be cold but not what we’ve seen the past few days,” said Rich Redmond, of the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.

Redmond said snow showers will move into the area some time after 6 to 7 p.m., and that it will probably wrap up around dawn on Friday, with a very light accumulation. Areas around Butler might see anywhere from a dusting up to a half inch, with higher amounts over the northern parts of the county.

Friday morning will see temperatures in the single digits again, but will rise to around 20 degrees. The high on Saturday and Sunday should reach up to 30 degrees.

Butler Eagle reporter Zach Zimmerman and assignment editor Tracy Leturgey contributed to this report.