FRIGID COLD TO MOVE IN; SNOW TOTAL MAY REACH 3-6 INCHES

The snow that began Thursday is expected to end today but the accompanying frigid temperatures should last through the weekend, the National Weather Service says.

High temperatures were expected to range from 5 to 10 degrees today, with lows dipping to 5 below tonight.

Over the weekend, highs of 10 to 15 degrees are called for on Saturday and highs into the teens are expected Sunday.

By Monday, things should start to warm up, with temperatures climbing into the 20s and possibly 30s.

Snow and frigid temperatures made for a bleak start to February Thursday, slicking up roads and forcing area schools to close early.

About an inch of the white stuff was recorded at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Thursday afternoon. The snow was forecast to end today with an accumulation of 3 to 6 inches.

The bitter cold is threatening some natural gas customers' heat sources as gas lines in Texas and Oklahoma freeze up.

Cities throughout the Midwest have been asked to conserve natural gas, among them Perryville.

"Our supplier (Natural Gas Pipeline of America) told us they'd be able to find us another supplier, so we'll be able to lift the order by 8 a.m. (today), said Marilyn Dobbelare, Perryville's city clerk.

The city-owned utility company serves about 3,100 natural gas customers.

So far, pipeline problems haven't affected Union Electric Co.'s natural gas customers, said Mike Cleary, supervisor of corporate communications for the utility company.

Supplies are usually tight this time of year, particularly when it is so cold, but "we don't have a supply problem as such," he said.

Some large institutional or industrial customers have voluntarily been designated as having interruptible service, meaning those customers have a backup heat source, and UE can divert supplies from them.

Cleary said UE has approximately 116,000 natural gas customers in Missouri and Illinois, mostly in mid- and Southeast Missouri.

The Mississippi River is expected to rise over the next few days.

The river was at 13.4 feet on the Cape Girardeau gauge Thursday morning, a drop of 0.8 of a foot,, said Butch Dye of the National Weather Service. It was expected to drop to 13.2 before rising again to 14.2 in the next three days.

Dye said rain in southern Missouri that occurred "before the snow event" contributed to the rise. Some ice fluctuations were reported, he said, but not enough to account for the higher river stages.