Wintry mix glazes metro-east in ice, impacting commute. Any other surprises in forecast?

Metro-east residents woke up to an unpleasant surprise of winter weather Monday morning.

Late Sunday evening and throughout the overnight hours, a mix of sleet, ice and snow hit the area, causing school cancellations and hazardous driving conditions for the morning commute.

Alex Elmore, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service of St. Louis, said Monday morning his agency suspected something was forthcoming, but could not gauge what or when exactly with high confidence.

“These light wintry precipitation events are very subtle to pick up in model data. They can get sneaky,” Elmore said. “It looked like there was some potential for us to see some wintry precipitation across the St. Louis area, but our confidence was not the greatest on when and where.

“Once confidence increased that certain areas were going to get at the very least some freezing drizzle and light snow and sleet and that it would impact that morning commute, that’s why we issued the advisory for the evening into the morning commute.”

The NWS first issued a winter weather advisory late Sunday afternoon. It expired at 9 a.m. Monday.

For the rest of today, Elmore does not expect any significant precipitation outside of some flurries. But, with temperatures staying well below freezing — the projected high is 23 degrees — road conditions will remain dicey.

“We can’t rule out some flurries, but as far as accumulating snowfall, we’re done with this event,” Elmore said. “However, with the cold temperatures, what has accumulated isn’t going to go away anytime soon. Impacts on the roads will continue today — especially secondary roads where crews have not had time to treat them.”

Overall, Elmore said ice accumulations basically were a glazing with no measurable amounts, while noting portions of the area still could see very light snow this evening.

“The best chances for the snowfall will remain well south of the metro-east this evening,” he said. “There’s maybe a 20% chance for some snowfall in southwestern St. Clair or Monroe counties (between 5-9 p.m.). If that snowfall does occur, it looks like just a dusting on top of this morning.”

Elmore recommended people remain at home this morning and avoid the roads. If people must travel, he stressed caution.

“If you can afford to delay any travel until the road crews have a better chance of clearing primary and secondary roads, please do so,” he said. “And try to avoid any travel at all if possible. If you have to go out, just be very careful. With temperatures below freezing, there still could be some slick spots here and there.

“Take your time, leave plenty of room between yourself and other vehicles and give road crews plenty of room to do what they need to.”

Outlook appears dry rest of the week

Other than Monday night’s possible dusting, Elmore did not expect any additional precipitation for the metro-east the rest of the week. Temperatures will remain cold Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs of 25 and 36, respectively, with lows in the teens both days.

However, temperatures will continue to improve later in the week into the weekend, with highs in the 40s.

“It does look like the precipitation chances will stay well south of the area the rest of the week,” he said. “It will be quite cold Tuesday. It won’t be until Wednesday we start to see temperatures for portions of the metro-east start climbing. After that, it looks like warmer and dry weather through the end of the work week and weekend.”

Overall, this weather event comes on the heels of last week’s forecast projecting 4-8 inches of snow for the metro-east but that generally only produced a couple inches.

The National Weather Service recommends keeping plugged into the forecast as it develops, www.weather.gov.

This story was originally published January 30, 2023 at 9:28 AM.