ARCTIC COLD MAINTAINS GRIP; WARMING TREND SHOULD SEND TEMPERATUES TO NEAR 60 BY THURSDAY

It's been a long time coming, but winter may finally relax its icy grip on the area today.

After four days of sub-zero, bone-chilling cold, today's forecast calls for a high temperature in the teens. And by mid-week it will be sandal weather by comparison when temperatures are expected to reach into the 50s.

The Artic cold front that dumped snow and near-record-breaking cold on the region leaves behind frozen pipes, dead car batteries, overworked furnaces, downed power lines and closed schools.

Near record lows were recorded here early Saturday, and more of the same was expected Saturday night.

Temperatures dropped within 3 degrees of the record low for the date at 5 a.m. Saturday when it hit 5 degrees below zero, The record for the date was established in 1985, when a cold blast sent the thermometer plunging to 8 below in Cape Girardeau..

The Missouri Weather Cooperative at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport said wind chills hit a dangerous 49 below at 3 a.m. Saturday. Winds were steady at about 20 mph, with the strongest gust at 24 mph, enough to knock down municipal power lines in Jackson. It left electricity customers on the west side of town shivering from 1:30-4:30 a.m.

"One of our police officers found the lines across the road," Jackson City Administrator Steve Wilson said. "He called the power plant and the crews were notified. We had about eight people working out there for three hours."

Wilson said he wasn't sure how many homes were affected by the outage.

Most Cape Girardeau residents seem to be surviving fairly well through the cold snap. Even though the Salvation Army opened its doors to the homeless and people with no heat, the organization hasn't had many takers.

Capt. Robert Gauthier said a couple people asked for help in getting their utility bills paid. He said that Monday may be busier if people are waiting for the utility office to open so they can pay bills and get their power back.

A break in a water main forced workers from the Cape Girardeau Publics Works Department out into the bitter cold Friday night.

"A 6-inch main broke on Broadway," said Doug Leslie, public works director. "It was repaired overnight."

Frozen water pipe reports were frequent in the area.

A spokesman for Alliance Water Resources, 120 N. Broadview, said a number of water customers reported freezing of both inside and outside pipes.

The Alliance urged customers to insulate piping exposed to air or in unheated basements, crawl spaces, beneath mobile homes and even under kitchen sinks.

If exposed pipes are frozen, they may be best thawed by use of a hair dryer. Officials warn against the use of torches, especially on water meters or plastic pipe, and urged people not to open outside meter lids.

"We tell people to allow a small, continuous stream of water to run at inside faucets," said Leslie. "The stream should be faster than a drip, but smaller than a pencil in diameter."

Plumbers and heating-and-cooling companies have been busy.

"We've had some calls to check carbon monoxide," said Ricky Renfro of Renfro's Heating and Cooling. "And a lot of people have complained that their furnaces appear to be making noises."

Steve Golightly of S&G Heating and Air said the majority of their calls were also for carbon monoxide checks.

"A lot of people just wanted to make sure everything was OK," he said.

One of Golightly's calls, however, was to restart a furnace that had been shut down by a bird.

"Animals are looking for warmth, too," he said. "A bird flew down one family's chimney to the furnace and managed to shut it down."

Traffic accidents have been frequent on ice-covered streets. More than 20 accidents were reported inside the city during the first two days of February and a number of accidents were reported Saturday.

Elsewhere in Missouri, about 3,400 home customers in Raytown lost power Saturday morning when a power cable broke, leaving people without power for two hours. Another 800 homes in Independence were without power Friday night and Saturday morning when power-circuit connections failed because of extreme cold.

Missouri temperatures fell to record lows in some areas. The minus-12 reading in St. Louis broke the old mark for Feb. of 8 below. Record 12-below readings were also recorded in Kansas City and Columbia.

The readings would be considered mild in Minnesota, where temperatures plunged to 60 below on Friday. Other temperature lows included 34-below in LaCrosse, Wis. and minus 22 in Moline, Ill.