Mid-South Meteorology: Winter Storm Beginning

We're under a Winter Storm WARNING this evening through Friday, expecting a quarter inch to a half inch of ice, and snowfall, varying greatly depending on your location. Freezing rain, in fact, is moving through faster than forcast yesterday as the system has sped up.

Temperatures are dropping and we're seeing a changeover from rain to sleet and freezing rain already this morning in Southern Illinois and SEMO.

Snowfall projections, right now, should be around 4-5 inches right along the Ohio River, and then less for most of the region southeast of the Ohio River. North of the Ohio could see more, perhaps 6 plus inches. It won't be melting anytime soon as temperatures continue falling today and Friday, bottoming out with lows in the low teens Friday night, and highs Saturday only in the 20s.

Ice accumulations still look like they will be in the 1/4" to 1/2" range for most of the region south of the Ohio. In fact the most troublesome looking part of our area right now is east of a line from Fulton to Princeton, KY wihch could see ice totals higher than a half inch. That could cause some power outages and trees to come down. Even so, his storm WILL NOT be as severe as the Ice Storm of 2009. In the 2009 ice storm, we had a swath of ice accumulation in the 1.5" to 2" range. That gives you an idea of just how bad 2009 was!

This round of winter precipitation should end Friday night before another round of winter mix comes in Saturday night through Monday, but right now it doesn't look as significant as this first round.