Elected leaders take lots of blame, so we won’t lay this winter’s weather on them.

They shouldn’t take heat about the cold.

Experts say that over winter’s first month, the cold in Greater Port Arthur has not been highly unusual, but it’s been “at least in the upper half of colder winters.” That comes by way of Jared Rackley, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.

Frigid weather that visited us for more than one spell this winter has lent its widespread mischief. Roads and bridges have iced over, pipes cracked and burst.

It’s the latter problem that troubles us, though, and most recently became apparent in Port Arthur. While neighboring Mid County municipalities tended to deal with small pipe problems and affected services during last week’s freeze, Port Arthur seemed to go down for the count.

From the time they turned on their showers in the morning last week, Port Arthur residential customers knew they faced a world of water-service hurt. Water pressure was shot in many neighborhoods.

Business customers, too, suffered. Some restaurants closed; others were forced to take huge steps to meet health standards.

It was jarring to see some well-established restaurants closed at midday, or businesses with portable toilets outside. The bottom line is affected.

Port Arthur’s water problems were widespread and serious, and in many cases involved ancient, decaying city pipes. Bear in mind, while our weather was colder than usual, temperatures didn’t sink beneath the high teens. What if we had had freakishly cold weather?

We appreciate the yeoman efforts of some restaurants to remain open and of service to their customers. To do so, they had to serve meals on disposable paper plates with plastic spoons and forks. They had to serve drinks from cans and water bottles while closing down fountain drink machines. They had to meet health standards, and without hot water struggled. Thus, the city and its people faced a “boil-water” advisory to protect our health.

Rackley, our forecaster friend in Lake Charles, said the federal Climate Prediction Center says we should expect, on average, warmer, drier weather for the rest of winter. That’s not a guarantee, but it’s at least a strong suggestion.

But even that doesn’t mean we won’t face occasional cold — as bitter as we have seen, or moreso — before seasons change. That means we should be thinking about the “what ifs” about the weather and how our community can prepare for them.

For starters, we need to upgrade city services, as one former City Council member suggested on these pages. That means replace the infrastructure that governs our water and sewer systems.

We’re talking new pipes and progress. If city leaders are talking about that, we want to hear more.