Title: Stormy Weather Ahead for the Ozarks: Snow, Rain, and Potential Wintry Mix on the Horizon
Good Saturday evening, everyone. We stayed cloudy and cold again across the Ozarks with temperatures stuck in the 30s for today. Plus, we’ve had areas of fog, mist, and drizzle during the day before snow showers worked into the northern Ozarks this evening.
That activity should stay mainly north of Lebanon and fade away around midnight. It shouldn’t do anything more than leave behind accumulations under an inch. Still, that could lead to accumulations on grassy/elevated surfaces and leave a few roads a little slick.
The focus over the next few days will be the departing upper-level low from the Upper Midwest and the incoming storm system from the Pacific Northwest. Now that both the surface low and upper-level low are over land, weather sensors and weather balloons are getting great observations of this system. That’s giving us a more concrete idea as to how our weather will unfold on Monday and Tuesday.
For tonight, the departing upper-level wave will leave us dry overnight with mostly cloudy skies giving away to some clearing. That clearing, however, could yield some areas of fog by sunrise Sunday morning. Otherwise, that morning fog will give way to mostly sunny skies for Sunday to wrap up the weekend.
We’ll see an improvement in temperatures as well. After morning lows for many near 30°, we’ll see highs climb back into the middle to upper 40s for many Sunday afternoon. Even with some lower 40s possible in the northern Ozarks, that’s an improvement from today and back near normal.
Sunday night and into Monday by sunrise, clouds will thicken up fairly fast as the next storm system approaches. While the morning drive looks dry, we’ll see rain chances increase through the middle of the morning and hold for Monday afternoon. Even if a couple of colder pockets aloft allow for a little snow to mix in for some, most of us should be dealing with mainly rain on Monday.
Going into Monday night and Tuesday morning, the system comes out of the Plains and into the area. However, current indications have shown a northward shift in the storm track. Nonetheless, this will still lead us into a First Alert Weather Day for Tuesday with accumulating snow likely. Plus, wind gusts on Tuesday between 30 and 40 mph could drive that snow around and reduce visibilities during the day and create travel headaches for some of you.
While that may delay the onset of the rain switching to snow a little bit for us, we’re still expecting that switch from rain to snow for Tuesday morning. There are still indications that bands of moderate to heavy snow will pass through much of the Ozarks through Tuesday afternoon and early Tuesday evening.
After 9 o’clock Tuesday night, our snow chances will wind on down and give way to partly to mostly sunny skies and calm weather for Wednesday.
Since the track of the system has shifted northward, the snow amounts have been adjusted northward as well. It looks as though areas from Huntsville to Berryville, Branson, Douglas County, West Plains and Oregon County southeastward should see the least amount of snow between a dusting and an inch.
Areas in the blue, including Springfield, should receive 1 to 3 inches of snow in total by Tuesday night. Areas in the darker shading along and north of US 54, MO Highway 64 and MO Highway 32 should see 3 to 6 inches of snow. With this track, any amounts over 6 inches should stay north of us near the I-70 corridor in eastern Kansas and central/northern Missouri. If there are ANY changes to the track over the next few days, this will shift the expected amounts around. We’ll keep you updated on that.
Beyond Tuesday’s snow and quiet weather for Wednesday and Thursday, the article looks at the potential for another storm system by next Friday, bringing more wintry weather to the region. After temperatures trend quickly back near normal on Sunday, we’ll have the numbers drop into the lower to middle 30s Monday morning and only in the upper 30s for Monday afternoon.
Then, look at the numbers trending below normal through next week. Tuesday will start with early morning highs around 37° and dropping down to 30° by late Tuesday afternoon. After morning lows in the upper teens and lower 20s Wednesday morning, we’ll have highs back in the lower to middle 40s on Wednesday. Thursday starts cold before going back into the lower 40s for highs. By Friday and Saturday, that potential storm system could leave us cold with early highs in the 20s on Friday and dropping to about 18° by Friday evening. Next Saturday could have lows around 10° and highs in the middle to upper 20s. Even though there’s quite a bit to track through next week, we’ll stay on top of everything and keep you updated.
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