Winter storm fizzles; some schools close

A mild winter storm that was expected to dump as much as 3 inches of snow on parts of Southeast Missouri on Monday didn't cause as many problems as expected.

However, some schools still called off classes Tuesday.

A small layer of snow accumulated in the Cape Girardeau area, but began melting almost as fast as it fell. By midnight, the temperature at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport had already gone above the freezing mark, according to National Weather Service observations.

By early morning, paved roads were primarily just damp.

Several rural schools in the area, including Scott City, Kelso, Leopold and Perryville, canceled classes for the day.