A powerful storm system moving toward the Ozarks will have several impacts for New Year’s Day.
The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch from Friday evening into Saturday morning for parts of southern Missouri, including Taney, Douglas, Ozark and Howell Counties.
Forecasters say rainfall amounts of one to three inches are expected through Saturday morning.
This rainfall, combined with saturated soils, may lead to localized flooding.
The rain is expected to increase in coverage and intensity during the overnight hours.
Heavy rainfall looks to develop over southern Missouri early Saturday morning, potentially leading to flash flooding in some locations.
Rain will transition to a light wintry mix from northwest to southeast as temps drop below freezing from Saturday morning into the afternoon.
A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect from 6 a.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday for areas along and north of Interstate 44.
The weather service says temps will quickly drop into the 20’s by late afternoon in the Springfield metro area, and flash freezing on area roadways is a concern.
Winter travel impacts are likely Saturday into early Sunday, especially for areas along and north of I-44.
A mixture of freezing rain, sleet and snow is expected.
Here’s what the National Weather Service says in its forecast discussion on the wintry weather:
The speed and depth of the cold air will also have a significant
impact on the precipitation type. Initially rain will change to
freezing rain as the cold air undercuts the warm air in place over
the area. With temperatures falling rapidly, a change over to
sleet and snow is expected. The cold air is expected to move far
enough and become deep enough relatively quickly allowing for the
freezing rain to change to sleet fairly quickly by the evening
for areas north of I-44.
The challenge in the forecast is the timing of the cold air, when
ice crystals, diminish, the strength of the elevated warm layer,
and when a dry slot moves into the region. Overall, the forecast
for the next 24 hours is complicated. Despite this, a Winter
Weather Advisory has been issued for areas north of I-44, for
Saturday morning through Sunday morning, where the best potential
for accumulating wintry precipitation to occur and produce travel
impacts. expectations are for from 1-2 inches of sleet/snow and a
10th to Quarter in of ice for locations north of Highway 54 and
for a dusting to an inch of sleet/snow and a glaze to a 10th of an
inch of ice for areas between I-44 and Highway 54.
Finally, dangerously cold air filters into the Ozarks late on New Year’s Night, with low temps of 5 to 15 degrees combined with wind gusts up to 25 miles per hour creating very cold conditions Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Sub freezing temps wil remain over the area through Sunday.