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NewsFebruary 1, 1996

Pipes are freezing, car batteries are dying and there's very little red stuff visible on the thermometer. It's darn cold out there, and forecasters don't expect a warm-up anytime soon. Low temperatures and stiff winds from the west and northwest are combining to put the region in the deep freeze...

Pipes are freezing, car batteries are dying and there's very little red stuff visible on the thermometer.

It's darn cold out there, and forecasters don't expect a warm-up anytime soon.

Low temperatures and stiff winds from the west and northwest are combining to put the region in the deep freeze.

The low temperature Wednesday was a bone-chilling 8 degrees, with wind chills making it feel like 25 to 30 below zero.

"Wind chill is what your skin feels," said Dr. Al Robertson, a climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University.

Wind chill measures the combined effects of temperature and wind speeds.

Today's forecast called for very cold temperatures, with highs of 10 to 15 degrees and light winds.

The National Weather Service was calling for an 80 percent chance of snow today, with accumulations of 1 to 3 inches by this afternoon and lows tonight of 5 to 10 degrees.

Friday's forecast called for a 90 percent chance of snow and highs around 10 degrees.

The current frigid temperatures are "absolutely not" normal for January in Southeast Missouri, Robertson said.

"There's no way this is typical for this area, with the wind chills at 15, 20 below zero and temperatures in the single digits," he said. "Low temperatures this time of year are 20, 21 degrees for the average."

Now that January's wrapped up, Robertson said, it might be a good idea for the winter-weary to start focusing on spring.

"We're finishing another month, and hopefully it's going to start getting warmer," he said. "I've always said winter in Cape Girardeau is from the middle of January to the middle of February, that six-week period in there."

About 2,200 Union Electric Company customers in Charleston, East Prairie and Anniston were without electricity early Wednesday morning after a power line went down in Charleston, said Susan Gallagher, spokeswoman for the utility company.

"It went out at 2:51 a.m. and we got everybody back up at 6:01 a.m., so they were without power for approximately three hours," she said.

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The line went out after someone -- U.E. officials assume it was a hunter -- "shot some of our insulators around our line and moisture got in," Gallagher said.

Union Electric recorded an unofficial all-time winter peak demand for electricity Tuesday at around 6 p.m. of approximately 6,397,000 kilowatts, Gallagher said.

The previous winter peak demand was set in December 1989 at 6.38 million kilowatts. The company serves 1.2 million customers in Missouri and Illinois.

No one's calling about water pipes bursting yet, but it'll be a while before that's a problem, said Bo Shantz, a Cape Girardeau agent for State Farm Insurance.

"The majority of those are going to happen when it warms up," Shantz said. "When it freezes, it's not a problem. It's when it thaws. When the water freezes, it expands, and when it expands it cracks the line, but it acts like a plug when it freezes. When it thaws, that's when you've got the problem."

He doesn't think it'll be much longer before customers start calling to make claims about the damage.

"I would say next week sometime when it starts to thaw out, we'll start getting claims," Shantz said.

Dead batteries and flat tires are common cold-weather woes for motorists, said Wayne Young, a spokesman for AAA Auto Club.

"The bulk of our calls this time of year are jump starts. Flat tires aren't uncommon when it's this cold," Young said.

Vehicles that haven't been properly maintained are at particular risk in extreme weather, he said.

In very cold temperatures, "dirty, thick oil" won't warm up and lubricate the engine.

Although many motorists are tempted to try to shield their cars from the wind, "Wind doesn't have any effect on cars," he said.

Several heating devices are marketed to be plugged into the engine to keep the oil warm or to keep engine coolant circulating.

Motorists who are mechanically inclined can remove the batteries from their cars or trucks and bring them inside where it's warmer, but batteries are combustible because of the chemicals they contain, Young said.

It's not a good idea to plug a light in over the battery either, he said, because of the risk of fire.

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