Overnight snow, sleet predicted for Cape Girardeau and surrounding area

One to three inches of snow and sleet are expected to fall overnight, according to Jayson Wilson, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Paducah, Ky.

With temperatures hovering around 19 degrees and streets slick, Wilson cautioned against driving "unless absolutely necessary."

Cape Girardeau police received over 50 calls for help starting at 2:15 p.m. Monday, according to Sgt. Barry Hovis, department spokesman. He said at least 18 traffic accidents were reported, including two separate incidents in which squad cars were damaged. Police officers were not injured in either case, he said.

Police were able to quell a fight that broke out on a school bus, which in turn tied up traffic at the intersection of William Street and Kingshighway, Hovis said.

The weather caused classes to be dismissed early.

Snow and ice began falling quickly just after 2 p.m. and continued intermittently through the afternoon. By 3:30 p.m. a spate of accidents had been reported on U.S. 60, in the southern part of Scott County, which seemed the hardest hit area by freezing rain, according to emergency operations manager Joel Evans.

Police radio traffic indicated several instances of accidents, traffic backups and stalled cars, including along Bloomfield Road, Broadway, William Street, Mt. Auburn Road and Kingshighway.

At 3:15 p.m., Patrolman Freddie Hill of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said he alone fielded 15 calls since 2 p.m.

"So many cars are getting stuck on the roadway that it's too numerous to run down an exact list," Hill said. "It's been pretty bad today."

Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties remained under a winter weather advisory until 6 p.m. and were placed under a winter storm warning at 6 p.m., ending at 6 a.m. Tuesday..

"What we're concerned about tonight is roads could become hazardous," said weather service meteorologist Robin Smith. "Later tonight the snow and sleet will build up on the power lines but we're expecting only a small amount of outages because the wind is expected to be light."

City and county crews spend Monday preparing to attack icy main roadways, secondary roads, elevated surfaces, bridges and overpasses. Motorists should be prepared for slippery roads and limited visibilities and use caution while driving, according to the weather service.

Accumulations should be small, with a steady temperature around 22 degrees for the rest of the afternoon in Cape Girardeau.

Tonight a 90 percent chance of snow and sleet is likely in the Cape Girardeau area, with a low around 21 and northeast winds between 13 and 16 miles per hour. An additional accumulation of one to three inches of snow and sleet is possible.

Tuesday's forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of snow, freezing rain and sleet. The high is expected to reach 31.

"We expect a number of area schools will be closed on Tuesday because of the hazardous road conditions," Smith said. "But for those schools that are open, motorists needed to be very careful, allow for extra time and be mindful of buses that will be picking up kids up at their stops on the streets."

AmerenUE reported that one customer in Scott County was without power as of 3:20 p.m. All customers in Cape Girardeau, Alexander and Union had electricity. Of AmerenUE's 1,179,864 customers, 55 were without power.

Cape Girardeau city officials met this morning to discuss plans for potential hazardous winter weather.

In Jackson, public works director Rodney Bollinger said roadways with the highest volume of traffic such as Main Street will be cleared first and receive continuous treatment throughout a storm. Collector streets - roads which provide for traffic movement between arterial and local roadways and provide direct access to abutting property - are given second priority. The final roads cleared are local routes, which are streets which provide access to immediately adjacent property, including cul-de-sacs and other dead-end roads.

Jackson's street department uses a crew of eight workers, six plow trucks, four cinder trucks, a wheel loader with a 12 foot pow and a motor grader during the process. Bollinger estimates the entire process to clear all of the city's 100 miles of streets with plows and cinders takes 18 hours.

Look for any additional information throughout the day at semissourian.com and a full report in Tuesday's Southeast Missourian.