SNOW: FLURRIES HELP CHILL THE REGION

Light snow blanketed parts of Southeast Missouri Monday, prompting some schools that had not closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to dismiss early.

By late Monday, .4 inches of snow had accumulated at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport. However, heavier amounts fell to the north of Cape Girardeau.

The National Weather Service at St. Charles said snow depths ranged from 1-4 inches in a band stretching from Poplin, Lake of the Ozarks to Ste. Genevieve, which received 3 inches. Heaviest snowfall was at Owensville, about 40 miles north of Rolla, where 4.5 inches fell.

Weather Service forecaster Joe Pedigo said the snow and freezing rain and sleet were caused by an upper air trough that moved across the state Monday morning. Pedigo said most of the precipitation had ended by late Monday afternoon.

The snow didn't begin in Cape Girardeau until late Monday morning, but Oak Ridge School Superintendent Roger Tatum decided to dismiss classes at 8:45 a.m., after getting reports of slick roads in nearby Perry County and watching the snow come down outside his window.

He said: "Our buses have to travel over some pretty rough terrain. Anytime you get snow or ice on them, it's pretty rough going. We didn't know how much snow we might actually get, so we decided to dismiss at 8:45 a.m. so the buses could get the kids back home."

After deciding to dismiss early, Tatum and other school staff started making phone calls to alert working parents that school was being dismissed early.

"Our main concern is the kindergarten and lower-elementary-age students," he said. "We want to make sure these children have a place to go. One parent who has a day care center volunteered to watch those children whose parents could not make other arrangements," Tatum said.

School had already started at Meadow Heights, near Patton, when the snow began. Fearing it might become heavier or change to freezing rain or sleet, officials decided to dismiss school at 9 a.m. so school buses could make their routes before roads worsened.

At Perryville schools were closed at 12:30 p.m. A spokesman said the students were kept in school until lunch so road crews could treat snow-covered bus routes. Cape Girardeau and Jackson schools were already closed for the King holiday.

The light snow caused numerous traffic accidents. Cape Girardeau police reported 10 vehicle accidents in the city from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Most occurred at snow-covered intersections, especially at the bottom of hills in north-side residential areas.

Assistant Cape Girardeau Public Works Director Kevin McMeel said street department crews, which had been off for the King holiday, were called in at 1 p.m. to begin treating the slick streets and hills. "It was about as bad as last week's ice, but this time we didn't have all of the extra traffic to contend with because the schools were closed for the holiday," he explained.

At 3 p.m. Monday, the Missouri Highway Patrol reported most highways north of Cape Girardeau were partially or fully-covered with snow, with heavier amounts to the north of Cape Girardeau County. South of here, freezing rain and sleet created problems from New Madrid south to the Arkansas line. Several semi-trucks were reported off I-55 in the Bootheel.

Pedigo said skies will remain cloudy today, with a chance of rain today and tonight. Highs will be in the mid-30s, rising to around 40 by Wednesday night.

Pedigo said another major winter storm now developing in the southern plains will bring more snow and ice to parts of Missouri today and tonight, but the precipitation in the Cape Girardeau area is expected to remain in the form of rain.

The outlook for Thursday through Saturday is for partly cloudy skies with near-seasonal temperatures. Lows will be in the upper 20s and low 30s, with highs around 40.

A number of schools announced they will be closed today, among them the R-2 schools, Immaculate Conception and St. Paul Lutheran in Jackson, and Nell Holcomb School and Cape Christian School.