The science behind potholes
With a streak of warmer temperatures, more and more potholes will be seen across Mid-Missouri.
The reasoning behind this lies within the changing of the seasons.
The process in pothole formation begins whenever high volumes of traffic forms cracks in the roads surface.
Rain or melting snow then seeps through these cracks causing pooling water just below the surface.
As the temperatures drop, this water then freezes increasing the volume of the pool causing the expansion underneath the road surface.
Whenever the ice underneath the roadway melts as the air temperature increases, the volume of the water in the original shrinks from that of when it was frozen. This then causes a empty concave area underneath the roadway. Once cars ride over this patch of weaker concrete/ asphalt, the road will then crash in causing this pothole.
John Ogan from the City of Columbia Public Works, mentions that mutliple days of dry weather is needed for pothole repair. The upcoming weather looks include rainfall Thursday and saturday making for not ideal days to tackle these repairs according to ABC 17 Stormtrack meteorologist Chance Gotsch.
