Snow, sleet and freezing rain expected to cause travel headaches Friday
Snow, sleet and freezing rain are forecast to hit the metro-east over the next 24 hours that could cause hazardous conditions Friday morning.
According to the National Weather Service’s St. Louis branch, snow will develop late Thursday night over central Missouri before spreading east across the greater St. Louis area. The area was put under a Winter Weather Advisory that goes into effect 9 a.m. Friday.
The metro-east area will most likely will see precipitation begin between noon and 3 p.m. Friday, when the storm moves in from the southwest and northeast. Weather service meteorologist Jared Maples said snow will likely lead off the storm and, when warmer air moves in, will turn to sleet and freezing rain.
That snow will mix with sleet and eventually become freezing rain expected to last throughout the day.
An expected 1/2 of an inch of snow and sleet is expected to fall in the St. Louis area, however that can change depending on where you live. Different parts of the metro area are forecast to receive anywhere from .01 to .10 inches of ice. Up to a quarter-inch is possible to the north and west, including downtown St. Louis and parts of Madison County, according to the NWS weather maps.
Maples said the forecast could change depending on how long the cold air holds out in the area.
“Obviously these ice and snow mix cases have a very fine line, you move a degree or two and you can get a completely different scenario,” Maples said. “It depends on the cold air and how long it will hold out before the warm air moves in and takes over.”
Maples said hazardous road conditions are likely and that travelers should adjust their travel plans for the afternoon and evening.
“Likely at some point, it will be all freezing rain,” he said. “Between noon and 6 p.m., give or take an hour or so, you’ll probably see some hazardous travel for that period especially.”
In St. Clair County, County Engineer Norman Etling said his department at the county Emergency Management Agency are keeping an eye on the weather and pretreating some areas.
“We’re pretreating as much as we can,” he said. “But no matter what we do to pretreat if the rain comes first it washes it off. So we’re keeping an eye on it.”
Etling said currently the pavement in the county is still warm, even though it’s colder today. That could help the roads stay clear on Friday, he said.
“We’re in our winter mode so the salt is out there and the trucks are ready to go,” he said.
After Friday, according to the NWS forecast, nonfreezing rain will continue through Saturday.
The storm was originally supposed to being Friday evening in St. Louis, Maples said, but because of a “slower progression” has been moved back. He said as the storm gets closer, more details will be clear.
“We’re pretty well entrenched in the potential for freezing rain at this point, it looks like pretty good likelihood,” he said.
Maples aid Central and Northeast Missouri and western parts of Illinois are expected to see the worst of the storm.
Reporter Hana Muslic contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 11:17 AM.