Region may experience record cold this week

Southeast Missouri may experience near-record cold temperatures over the next few days and a bit more snow or wintry mix.

While it wasn't forecast to dip quite so low, the temperature at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport reached minus 2 degrees Tuesday morning, which set a daily record low. Cold that severe hasn't been felt since Feb. 10, 2011, according to Southeast Missourian archives, when the temperature was 3 degrees below zero.

The forecasts for today and Thursday hold no reprieve. Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service predicted today's high will reach only 17 degrees, and the temperature would bottom out at minus 5 degrees, but could go as low as minus 9 early Thursday morning, a weather service meteorologist said, with wind chill values in the negative teens. Winds tonight into Thursday morning may gust over 20 miles per hour. Blowing snow and hazardous travel are likely, according to the National Weather Service's forecast statements.

If Thursday morning's temperature fall as low as forecast, the cold will set a record for this week in February in Cape Girardeau, said Brittany Peterson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, and the temperature will mark the coldest it's been in Cape Girardeau this late in the winter. The record low set in Cape Girardeau for Feb. 19 was in 1978, when it was 4 degrees.

The low temperatures are the product of a cold front working its way through, followed by another arctic high pressure system, which recently has been responsible for the coldest days and nights, Peterson said.

"What's happening is we are continuing to get cold air from Canada, and it's not warming up as much as we'd like it to," she said.

In the past 30 years, Cape Girardeau has seen only a handful of days when the thermometer reached the 10-below-zero mark. On Jan. 20, 1985, the temperature at the airport was minus 15 degrees, a modern record. The high that day was just 2 degrees. Other years that saw a day during December and January with near-record-low temperatures were 1989, 1994 and 2004, according to Southeast Missourian archives.

Minus 10 and minus 9 degree temperatures also have been seen on a few other days since record keeping in Cape Girardeau began, according to a data-query tool used by the National Weather Service's field offices.

The tool, xmACIS, shows three days in January 1977 as having temperatures near or at 10 degrees below zero and one day where it got that cold in January 1963.

Until Tuesday morning, the coldest temperature felt this year in Cape Girardeau was 7 degrees Jan. 10, according to temperature recordings from the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

The coldest reading recorded in Missouri was minus-40 degrees, in Warsaw, on Feb. 13, 1905, The Associated Press reported in January.

The forecast calls for Thursday's temperature to hit 18 degrees for a high and a low of around 10 degrees.

A large amount of snow for the area -- between nine and 12 inches that fell Sunday night into midday Monday in most areas and a bit more Tuesday night -- doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon because of the cold. Though it is expected to warm up slightly Friday, there is a chance for another round of winter precipitation Friday morning into Saturday, according to current forecast models.

The extreme cold also may make for unsafe travel on roads in the meantime.

The Missouri Department of Transportation's road crews have worked around the clock to clear snow and ice from highways since Sunday night and were trying to finish plowing and treating secondary state routes Tuesday afternoon. But Southeast District engineer Mark Shelton said drivers need to be cautious on their morning commutes this week when temperatures are near or below zero because wet roads can refreeze.

The treatments MoDOT uses for ice on roads typically work best when temperatures climb into the 20s with some sunshine, Shelton said.

A special weather statement issued Tuesday by the National Weather Service also listed potential problems that can arise from such frigid temperatures, including freezing of water lines in homes and businesses; failure of vehicle batteries and fuel lines; and overworked furnaces that can cause issues at utility plants and force power outages. The statement additionally advised giving pets adequate shelter from the cold and providing fresh water, as outdoor water dishes can freeze and animals can become dehydrated.

Warming centers often open in the region during the most dangerously cold days of winter.

Cape Girardeau city public information manager Nicolette Brennan said community centers, including the Arena Building, Osage Centre and the Shawnee Park Center, will be open during regular business hours as public warming centers.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632