MELTING OF SNOW, ICE COULD CREATE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures should be on the rise for Southeast Missouri over the next few days. That means that much of the ice that turned streets and driveways into hazards will melt off.

But it's not all good news.

The National Weather Service is predicting a high near 50 degrees today and rising to the mid-50s by Wednesday. On Thursday a cold front may move through the area and there is a chance for snow. Thursday's high probably will be in the 30s.

Nighttime temperatures, which will be in the mid 20s to low 30s, will still be cold enough to refreeze whatever thaws during the day, causing problems of a different kind.

"It's always good to remind motorists to drive cautiously. Even with freezing and thawing there's going to be slick places," Cape Girardeau County Road Engineer Scott Bechtold said.

As the water thaws it might pool in different locations and freeze again. "A spot that might not have been slick one day might be the next day because of refreezing."

Potholes are another side effect of thawing and refreezing.

"As moisture enters existing cracks in the pavement and then expands when it freezes it tends to pry the pavement apart," Bechtold said. "That chips out places and then the action of the traffic continues to loosen it and you have potholes form."

Water that runs under the asphalt and sidewalks can cause significant cracks to form when it refreezes. Despite the warmer weather, winter isn't over, Southeast Missouri State University climatologist Alfred Robertson said.

"We've got a month called February still ahead of us," Robertson said. "I can still remember '79. That's when we had that two feet of snow overnight when they were forecasting one to three inches."

Robertson said he isn't convinced the temperature will climb high enough or that the relative warmth will be around long enough this week to melt all the ice and snow.

"It'll get most of it," he said. "But I'm not a fan of it getting into the 50s. I think it'll stay in the mid-40s. The snow cover is going to retard the temperature. Snow also reflects a lot of incoming insulation from the sun.

"I'm suggesting that the lower part might melt due to the contact with the land and the icy crust will be a little slower in melting."

Many people made it outside to enjoy Sunday's warm reprieve from last week's bitter cold.

Among them were Southeast Missouri State student Sara Collier of Arnold and Justyce Jedlicka of Chesterfield, who took advantage of the weather to wash their cars.

The first thing Collier thought about doing Sunday was cleaning the car. "Definitely," she said. "It had black marks all over it from scraping the ice off."

Jedlicka's efforts were more practical, she said.

"My parents told me to get the car washed so it wouldn't rust," she said. "I also wanted to so the brakes won't freeze."