Update: Storm could linger into late morning hours

Up to an inch of ice coated downtown Cape Girardeau by Monday afternoon and the winter storm shutting down businesses, schools and travel in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois could linger until 8 or 9 a.m. Tuesday, a National Weather Service forecaster said.

A winter storm warning will remain in effect for the area until noon Tuesday.

Heavier precipitation should continue at least until midnight, with lighter amounts afterward, said Pat Spoden with the weather service office in Paducah, Ky.

"It looks like it is going to continue through the night," Spoden said. "There could be some snow mixed in at the end and it might hold on until 8 or 9 in the morning."

Thunder rumbled through downtown Cape Girardeau shortly after 4 p.m. for the second time during the storm. The ice was falling in stony pellets ranging in size from bird seed to fish eggs.

The heaviest band of ice, according to the soundings from the weather service radar, fell from about Marble Hill, Mo., through Jackson and across the Mississippi River along the Illinois Highway 13 corridor. Significant precipitation remained on the radar out to the west as far as Springfield, Mo.

Most of the individual cells of precipitation were moving eastward along a stationary front that won't begin moving until the morning hours, Spoden said.

Over the course of the afternoon, alternating layers of freezing rain and sleet combined to create a thick crust. By 4 p.m., a total of 0.36 inches of melted ice had fallen at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport since the storm began in the mid-morning hours.

No major power outages were reported during the storm, but AmerenUE dispatched a 53-foot trailer equipped with materials ranging from wire and crossarms to computers to be stationed at the Osage Community Centre.

"The biggest concern here is you are going to be looking at a lot of ice accumulation," meteorologist Kevin Smith said. "And from Greenville, Mo., to Jackson northward, some of that may change to snow as a predominant feature."

With radar indicating significant precipitation extending to Springfield, Mo., and to the west, there should be little let up, Smith said. "The critical time is going to be today and especially through midnight."

The forecast models show a potential for a brief period when temperatures could rise above freezing in the early morning hours Tuesday, Smith said, but it shouldn't be a long enough time to cause any significant melting. And there should be additional ice and snow, albeit light, in the morning hours Tuesday through about noon, Smith said.

The area is experiencing an ice storm because there is a warm layer of moist air from the western Gulf of Mexico being pumped into the atmosphere about 5,000 feet, Smith said. Snow falling from above through that layer is melting, then refreezing as it reaches the ground.

The thunder is evidence of unstable air aloft and where thunder occurs, and Smith said the result will be a heavy burst of ice or snow.

Temperatures through the region were hovering in the upper teens to mid 20s. At 4 p.m., the temperature at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport was 25, and Smith said that should be near the high for the daylight hours. By 5 p.m., the temperature had risen to 28 degrees.

The U.S. Postal Service in Cape Girardeau said there had been no disruption of service and managers did not anticipate any cancellations of service, said Dan Strauss, manager of customer service.

"It has been about what you can imagine," Strauss said. "It has been pretty hectic."

The post office will not suspend service unless the city police or the Missouri State Highway Patrol announced it was not safe to be on the streets, Strauss said.

"We very seldom curtail deliveries," he said. "It is kind of ingrained with us."

For updates, check back at www.semissourian.com or read Tuesday's Southeast Missourian.