Lisa Brown, city mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office at Cape Girardeau, is used to bundling up for her work.
"But, instead of big, bulky clothes, I wear lots of layers and insulated pants," said Brown, who was delivering the mail in seven-degree temperatures along snow-covered lawns Saturday morning.
"We stay on the move," said Sheila Blackwell, who was also making appointed mail rounds Saturday.
Brown and Blackwell were just two of a number of area people who can be described as "cold-weather" workers.
The postal carriers, like a number of Cape Girardeau city workers and and goose-hunting club operators, guides and hunters in Southern Illinois, are looking forward to next week and the forecast of a warming trend.
Some warming is expected to take place as early as Tuesday, but readings will still be well below freezing into the latter part of the week. The long-range forecast by the National Weather Service of St. Louis is for lows in the mid-teens Tuesday to a high in the 20s, with a chance of more snow.
The warming trend will continue Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures ranging from teens to the 20s and possibly the low 30s by Thursday.
The mail carriers in Cape Girardeau agreed that it "wasn't too bad" Saturday.
"But, Friday was something else," said Blackwell. In addition to the cold temperatures, 8 to 13 degrees, there were 15 mph winds to put the wind chill well below freezing.
"I enjoy working outside," said Blackwell. "This is my first year as a mail carrier. I previously worked at an inside job."
Brown has been delivering the mail the past three years.
"We see all kinds of weather," she said. "It's cold out there now, but about a year ago, it was worse."
That would have been during the first week of February in 1996, when minus-eight degree weather accompanied by 2 inches of snow during the first week of February.
"We keep on the move and stay busy," said Brown. "That helps."
Although the vehicles used by postal carriers have heaters, the vehicles are not used enough to keep them warn.
Letter carriers park the vehicles and deliver entire blocks by walking.
"A lot of people along the route offer us coffee or hot chocalate," said Blackwell. "That's nice of them to offer, but we pass and keep going on our route."
The carriers do take short breaks occasionally, stopping for a cup of coffee at a convenience store or restaurant.
"I deliver to a lot of businesses," said Brown. "So I'm in and out of a lot of stores. I'm just glad I don't live in some far north state where these kind of temperatures are around all winter."
"You never get used to the cold," said Harry Salazar, street superintendent for the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department.
"Some of our guys are out all night," he said. "We wear layers of clothing with insulated boots, coats and sock hats. And we keep plenty of coffee on hand."
Street crews started making their rounds early Wednesday, when the snow first started falling, and have been watching the streets ever since.
"Of course, we're normally driving trucks," said Salazar. "But you have to leave the truck to get refills on materials. We're out of the trucks quite a bit."
Tom Davis spends a lot of time outdoors in the goose-hunting country in Union County in Southern Illinois.
"Everybody dresses for the weather," said Davis. "Most of the hunters have small butane-like heaters for the pits, but it still gets cold."
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