The National Weather Service says major travel impacts were seen on Interstate 70 in central Missouri on Wednesday, and as moderate to heavy snow moves into the Ozarks Wednesday night, along with blowing snow, road conditions are expected to be as bad or worse across southwest Missouri.
Forecasters say roads will become significantly worse Wednesday evening as snowfall starts to accumulate.
Get updated road conditions here with the MoDOT Traveler Information Map.
The Springfield R-12 School Board has voted unamimously to extend Superintendent Grenita Lathan’s contract by an extra year.
Lathan, who is in her first year as the district’s superintendent, has a contract that now runs through the middle of 2025.
The contract extension, which followed the board’s first evaluation of Lathan, was signed on Monday.
Lathan previously served as interim superintendent of the Houston Independent School District.
Lathan, who also previously held the superintendent’s position in Peoria, Illinois, was the subject of questions raised in various news articles dealing with her leadership.
Lathan visited with KWTO’s Bonnie Bell shortly after starting in her new position in 2021:
Lathan’s salary for the 2021-22 school year is $300,000.
We expect another long list of school closings and cancelations for Thursday as accumulating snow falls Wednesday night and Thursday morning in much of the Ozarks.
Here’s the list of public schools and colleges and universities in southwest Missouri closing on Thursday:
Evangel University (closed through 2/3)
Licking
Mansfield (AMI Day on Thursday)
Summersville (AMI Day #3)
Verona
Two crashes on icy I-44 shut down westbound traffic for more than an hour Wednesday morning.
One of those wrecks happened just after 10 a.m. on the interstate just past the West Bypass exit in Springfield (75.2 mile marker).
The crash shut down all westbound lanes, with backups at least a mile.
Those lanes were re-opened by 11:15 a.m., although a stalled vehicle in that same area may cause slowdowns.
In the Joplin area, a wreck closed westbound traffic at the Range Line Road exit (8.6 mile marker), with backups about a mile. By 11:00 a.m., the interstate had re-opened.
The National Weather Service says as of 10:00 a.m., sub-freezing road temperatures exist along and north of a line from Anderson to Cassville, Highlandville, Ava, Houston and Salem.
MoDOT says crews are treating those roadways.
Check road conditions in the Ozarks and around the state with the MoDOT Traveler https://traveler.modot.org/map/index.htmlInformation Map.
The Springfield-Greene County Health Department is holding a virtual media briefing at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Leaders from the Health Department, CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield are providing an update on the ongoing response to COVID-19.
Watch live streaming video of the virtual news conference here:
A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for all of southwest Missouri through Thursday evening.
Freezing rain, sleet and snow has fallen Wednesday morning, with road conditions worsening, especially along and north of I-44.
We’ve had mainly freezing rain in the Springfield area through the morning commute.
By 9 a.m., we had reports of three inches of snow south of El Dorado Springs, with reports of five inches in Warsaw, four inches in Cole Camp, 0.5 inches in Rolla, and 1.5 inches in Nevada.
The National Weather Service says we’ll have a break in the wintry weather from early Wednesday afternoon through the evening commute before the snow begins in earnest Wednesday night and continues through Thursday.
The National Weather Service says storm total accumulations of 5-7 inches of snow are expected in the Springfield area through Thursday, with 6-8 inches from Lebanon to Lake of the Ozarks, 4-8 inches in the Branson area, and 3-6 inches toward West Plains.
The forecast for ice has been reduced. We’re expecting up to one tenth of an inch south of I-44, with up to a quarter of an inch in south central Missouri.
We’ll keep you up to date with the latest on the winter storm on 93-3 and AM 560 KWTO and at 933 KWTO.com.
Donald Kauerauf has resigned as director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, just days before a deadline to be confirmed to the post.
Governor Mike Parson said Tuesday afternoon that he accepted Kauerauf’s resignation.
Afterward, the governor took to Twitter to call the Senate confirmation hearings shameful and disgraceful.
The governor accused members of the state senate thinking only about their own political gain.
With the impending winter weather event set to hit the Ozarks overnight, Springfield Public Schools has announced that all classes will be cancelled on Wednesday.
The cancellation includes all in-person and remote learning, but some SPS employees will still be conducting work virtually as the National Weather Service calls for six or more inches of snow in parts of Southwest Missouri.
No indication has been made as to the status of classes for the remainder of this week.
For school cancellations throughout the Ozarks, click on the link to see the complete list.
Missouri Governor — Michael L. Parson
Office of Communications
_____________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2022
Governor Parson Signs Executive Order 22-02 Declaring State of Emergency and Activating National Guard in Preparation for Severe Winter Storm
(JEFFERSON CITY, MO) – Today, Governor Mike Parson signed Executive Order 22-02 declaring a State of Emergency in Missouri and activating the Missouri National Guard in preparation for the severe winter storm forecasted to affect most of the state over the next two days, including significant accumulations of snow, sleet, and ice.
“Severe winter weather isn’t something we are strangers to here in the State of Missouri, but we must be prepared for the worst,” Governor Parson said. “By signing this Order, we enable our emergency management professionals to have every tool and resource available to aid Missourians, protect lives, and respond to this winter storm. We encourage all Missourians to be vigilant and take precautions to avoid hazardous road conditions and keep themselves and their families safe.”
Executive Order 22-02 activates the State Emergency Operations Plan, which allows state agencies to assist local jurisdictions with emergency preparation and response. In anticipation of potential travel disruptions, members of the Missouri National Guard are activated to be positioned around the state and assist the Missouri State Highway Patrol with stranded motorists if the need arises.
More than half of the state is currently under a Winter Storm Warning. Wintry precipitation is forecasted to begin in northern Missouri by early Tuesday evening and spread southeastward through the night and into early Wednesday. The National Weather Service is forecasting central Missouri could see localized amounts of 8-15 inches in accumulation.
The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency continues to work closely with the National Weather Service (NWS), the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to coordinate response as well as plan for potential resource requests. The State Emergency Operations Center will activate at a Level 3 at 5 p.m. tonight, with key personnel on duty overnight, including an embedded NWS meteorologist.
A list of precautionary measures Missourians should take to stay safe during extreme winter weather is below:
Missourians can learn more winter weather safety tips at www.mo.gov/winter-weather-safety. To stay up to date on changing roads conditions, visit MoDOT’s Traveler Map at traveler.modot.org/map/.
Executive Order 22-02 will terminate on March 3, 2022, unless otherwise extended. For more information and to view Executive Order 22-02, click here.
Even before a major winter storm bears down on the Ozarks, a number of schools have called off classes for Wednesday.
These southwest Missouri public schools and universities are not in session Wednesday:
Alton
Avilla
Bunker
Cabool (AMI Day)
Golden City (will make up on February 21)
Miller
Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla (switching to remote operations)
Newburg
Osceola (AMI Day #3)
Ozark
Plato (daycare closed)
Richland
Skyline
Southwest Baptist University-Springfield (all class/clinical 9am start, watch for updates)
Waynesville