MORE LIGHT SNOW IS FORECAST

As the area dug out Wednesday from the year's first winter storm, forecasters already were calling for more light snow today and Friday.

The National Weather Service in St. Louis said light snow is expected over Missouri and Illinois and sub-freezing temperatures will prevent much melting. The forecast called for 4 inches of snow across northern Missouri and 1 to 3 inches in the central and southern parts of the state.

The winter storm that dumped a mixture of rain, sleet and snow across the region ended before people headed for work Wednesday morning. Local snow depths of 2, 3 and 4 inches were reported. Heavier amounts fell north and west of the Cape Girardeau area.

Life Wednesday was inching back to normal in Rolla, which got socked with 12 inches of snow before the storm crept off to spread its misery in the eastern United States.

In its wake, the storm left slushy and icy roads and hundreds of schools still closed across southern and eastern Missouri.

Snowfall totals ranged from 11 inches in Mansfield in southwest Missouri to 5 in Troy, just north of St. Louis. St. Louis got 8 inches.

Two traffic fatalities were blamed on Tuesday's storm. Lowell Pinson, 57, and his wife, Sharon Pinson, 54, of Macomb, Ill., were killed in a crash on a snowy road Tuesday near Mexico, Mo.

And in O'Fallon, just west of St. Louis, snowy conditions reportedly slowed fire trucks, including one that slid into a ditch en route to a house fire Tuesday afternoon that killed Andrea Scheulen, 15, and her brother, Jesse, 2.

On Wednesday, delays at Lambert Airport in St. Louis lingered, partly due to bad weather on the East Coast. Trans World Airlines canceled 40 flights in and out of Lambert Wednesday morning, far better than the 200 scrubbed the day before.

The Missouri Weather Co-op at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport reported only a trace of snow after midnight Tuesday. The storm clouds then were replaced by colder air from the north.

Slick conditions were blamed for many area accidents Tuesday night, including a four-car accident on Highway 25 south of Jackson and a jack-knifed tractor-trailer at the 92-mile marker of Interstate 55.

A head-on accident reported Tuesday about 5:40 p.m. sent three people to the hospital with serious injuries.

Letitia Stevenson, 20, of Cape Girardeau was in fair condition Wednesday at Southeast Missouri Hospital with a compound fracture to her leg. Her son, Christopher, 3, was treated for a head injury and released.

David Lee Richbourgh was admitted to St. Francis Medical Center for severe chest injuries. He was in the intensive care unit and was listed Wednesday in stable condition.

Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau police said 15 weather-related accident reports were received Tuesday evening. Officers weren't responding to every accident because of the number of calls, he said.

(Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.)