Wind may knock down more tree limbs, cause more outages today, forecasters say

A windy night Tuesday was threatening to keep utility crews scurrying to restore power before another round of winter weather later in the week presented the potential for undoing their work.

National Weather Service forecaster Kevin Smith said skies would clear sometime today, leading to a warming day Thursday.

"We won't see sunny skies until late afternoon," he said. "The highest we are looking at is 31 degrees."

Before those warm temperatures arrive Thursday, winds bringing a southerly flow will rise to as much as 25 miles per hour Thursday morning, Smith said. That could again cause headaches for electric customers.

"Any trees that still have any ice, or that are weakened, will suffer," Smith said. "It will knock down more branches."

Temperatures will struggle to climb above freezing today before reaching the mid-40s Thursday. Then a developing system could bring another round of winter weather to the region Friday and Saturday. A system is also threatening to hit the region with winter weather Sunday.

Those new storms, however, are unlikely to repeat the heavy weather of Monday and Tuesday, Smith said. "This is going to be a relatively light event. The Sunday system, that one particularly, we are looking at mainly with it coming up from the south to be really brief. There will be a chance of snow, maybe some rain, and Sunday evening it is gone."

Overnight temperatures into this morning will have made life difficult for the thousands without power across the region. Temperatures by daybreak were expected to be in the midteens throughout the region.

The thaw later in the week could fill area streams and cause minor flooding, Smith said.

The Mississippi River was sitting at about 22 feet at Cape Girardeau on Tuesday, while the Ohio River was nearing flood stage at Cairo, Ill. Forecasters aren't predicting any major flooding, but the rivers should rise several feet over coming days as melt water and any addition precipitation add to the stream load.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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