Another winter storm brings ice, sleet, snow to Missouri

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A little over a week after an ice storm hammered parts of Missouri, another winter storm on Thursday brought more sleet and ice to the Show-Me State.

By Thursday morning, most of the state was getting something -- snow, sleet, ice, all of the above. Dozens of accidents were reported around Missouri. Schools were closed, pavers and salt spreaders were busy and utility workers -- still weary from dealing with thousands of outages last week -- were preparing for another round.

The winter storm hit first in southwest Missouri and moved quickly. The National Weather Service issued an ice storm warning for parts of southern Missouri and a winter storm warning for much of central and eastern Missouri.

Worse yet: The storm is far from over, said Mark Britt, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in suburban St. Louis. Several waves of freezing rain, sleet and snow are expected through Friday.

By the time the storm moves out, the weather service is predicting a half-inch of ice and sleet mix in much of southern and central Missouri; the St. Louis area is expected to get a couple of inches of a snow/sleet mix, along with about a quarter of an inch of ice; most of northern Missouri should get 2 to 4 inches of a mix of sleet and snow; far northwest Missouri may be spared completely.

Snow is the least of the worries, weather watchers said. More concerning is the so-called black ice -- clear frozen precipitation that gives drivers the false impression that roadways are clear.

"You'd rather just have snow," Britt said. "The (road) crews seem to be able to handle that better. The ice and sleet become very dangerous for travel."

That was evident Thursday. Capt. Tim Hull of the Missouri State Highway Patrol's office in Jefferson City said several accidents were blamed on slick roads. No fatalities were reported. The only serious injury occurred about 1 a.m. near Nevada in southwest Missouri when a driver lost control on an icy road and overturned.

"A lot of slide-offs," Hull said. "When you get the ice on the bottom and the sleet on top of that, it's like little marbles that you're driving on -- very treacherous."

The morning rush hour commute was a nightmare in St. Louis and Springfield. Interstates 64, 70 and 270 in St. Louis were at a virtual standstill at mid-morning. The Highway Patrol said a wave of ice hit just as Springfield drivers were heading to work, resulting in numerous fender-benders.

Only scattered power outages were reported early Thursday, but that could change if heavy ice accumulates on power lines and limbs near those lines.

On Feb. 11, a winter storm brought up to 1 inch of ice and 2 inches of sleet to parts of southern Missouri. Some utility customers were without power for nearly a week, prompting Gov. Matt Blunt to send the Missouri National Guard to go door-to-door and make sure residents were OK.

---

On the Net:

National Weather Service office in suburban St. Louis: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/