Alaska-like temperatures forecast for Mid-Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mid-Missouri is likely to experience its first significant snowstorm of the season this week, and coming behind it will be sub-zero temperatures.
And while Mid-Missouri isn't a stranger to such brutal cold, it's not common that the mercury dips below zero here. One place with plenty of experience in bone-chilling cold is Fairbanks, Alaska.
Monte Pearson is a 46-year resident of Fairbanks, Alaska. Temperatures in Fairbanks on Tuesday were in the negative double digits. He said vehicles are the main thing impacted by the frigid tempers in Fairbanks.
"Winterizing your vehicle not just with a block heater, but we require block heaters, oil heaters, transmission pan heaters, triple charge on the battery so you can plug it in at night," he said.
Pearson says for people to get their vehicles running they need to thaw them out. He's been busy helping people in the Fairbanks to do so.
"I used a big old comforter to place over the engine with the hood up with jumper cables and jumper pats," Pearson said.
In Fairbanks, people go about as normal in the cold temperatures, Pearson said, but things in the area shut down when safety is a concern like ice fog.
"Ice fog is usually the biggest thing. It's super thick it's hard to see you can't see past the hood of your car it's that thick sometimes," Pearson said, "it's ice crystals so what it does it sticks to pavement it sticks to windshields of your vehicles its water vapor that is frozen."
The average high in the month of December for Columbia is 41 degrees with an average low of 24 degrees, according to U.S Climate Data.
This time of year, Fairbanks on average has a high of 5 degrees, with a low of minus 13.
The system coming in this week is expected to dump anywhere from 2 to 6 inches of snow on different parts of Mid-Missouri. That snow will combine with heavy winds. Afterward, temperatures will dip into the single digits for highs and below zero for lows.
U.S Climate Date reports -- on average -- Columbia sees 5 inches of snowfall in the month of December, while Fairbanks has an average of 12 inches.
