Arctic air turns region into winter wasteland

It takes construction worker Rick Hecht about two hours, and a warm bath, to thaw out in the evening when it gets as cold as it did Thursday.

Hecht may have a repeat performance tonight, as the low temperature is forecast to rise slightly above the single digits. The drop in the mercury was part of the reason most of area schools closed Thursday. An inch of snowfall didn't help matters either.

Hecht was one of the unfortunate few who had to be outdoors Thursday morning when temperatures dipped to 3 degrees and wind chills plummeted to the negative teens.

A construction worker for Dutch Enterprises, he and two co-workers were digging and filling holes at the future site of O'Charley's, a chain restaurant to be located at the corner of Mount Auburn and William.

"It's cold, but it's mind over matter," Hecht said. "If you keep moving, it's not bad."

Hecht was bundled up from head to toe, only parts of his face exposed.

Staying inside

The snowfall, coupled with arctic air and stinging wind turned Southeast Missouri into a winter wasteland. The dangerous conditions forced most schools to close and made people everywhere think twice about stepping outdoors.

The temperature was at 4 degrees with a wind chill of minus 13 at about 8 a.m., the same time children would have been going to school.

The roads were slick Thursday after about an inch of snow fell Wednesday afternoon and evening, but travel was not as bad as in previous snowstorms this winter.

Cape Girardeau schools superintendent Mark Bowles said the temperature and the snowfall both played into his decision to cancel school.

"I called public works and they said they weren't going to be able to do any of the side roads," Bowles said. "On top of that, temperatures had already been a concern. The snow would've made certain buses run slow, and with kids being at the bus stops for longer periods of time we thought it would be best to not have school."

Meadow Heights and Perryville schools had both decided by mid-afternoon Thursday to not have school today.

Officials with Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Delta, Oak Ridge, Scott City and Chaffee also said Thursday afternoon that they planned to be in session today.

Chaffee was the only area public school in session Thursday. Chaffee students have already missed five days of classes this school year due to snow and two because of a flu epidemic.

Chaffee schools superintendent Dr. Arnold Bell said the roads were clear. He said he was worried about the wind chills, but the school took extra precautions like warming up the buses earlier and making more stops at homes instead of bus stops. He said children were not penalized for being tardy and that the schools were open early in case parents wanted to drop off their children before work.

"It didn't affect attendance at all and we had no major problems," Bell said. "The buses and buildings were good and warm and the buses ran on time even."

Cold danger

Temperatures reached dangerous levels, however.

Mike York, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., said skin that is exposed to a wind-chill temperature of minus 15 will develop frostbite within 30 minutes.

Rick Flinn, director of emergency services at Southeast Missouri Hospital, said outdoor workers should take frequent breaks to get out of the cold.

"Right now, we're getting into those temperatures where prolonged exposure could lead to hypothermia and frostbite," he said.

Flinn said people lose heat at their extremities first, so it's important to keep those areas covered. He also said it is important to change out of wet clothes and avoid consuming alcohol.

The first sign of frostbite, Flinn said, is extreme coldness and pain to the affected areas. That is followed by a prickly, tingling sensation, followed by the loss of feeling all together. The skin changes colors from pink to pale white to blue.

If it gets to that point, a person should seek medical attention, Flinn said.

Dennis Sleighter, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the temperature would dip as low as minus 6 this morning -- which would tie the lowest low of the month on Jan. 18.

The winds that blew Thursday were in advance of a very cold, Canadian high-pressure system that dipped into the southern United States. The region experienced the coldest of that system overnight, but the winds were not expected to be as brisk today as they were Thursday.

Today should mark the beginning of a warming trend, but temperatures will still be below freezing until the early part of Saturday. There will be a chance for snow Saturday night and early Sunday.

By Wednesday, the weather service is predicting highs in the lower 50s.

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127