Month: January 2023

Snow totals across the Ozarks range from two inches to 12 from a winter storm that hit Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, knocking out power to 38-thousand customers in southern Missouri.

The hardest hit counties are in south central Missouri around Carter, Oregon, Shannon and Reynolds County.

There are also outages from near Lebanon southwest to Stone County, with major outages reported in Arkansas.

As of 6:00 a.m., many highways in southwest Missouri, especially those south of I-44, remain snow covered and hazardous.

Get updated road conditions here with the MoDOT Traveler Information Map.

Main roads in the Springfield area that have been plowed are mainly just wet.

We’ve had several wrecks around the Springfield area, including a couple of crashes along Interstate 44.

You will need to take some time to brush snow off your vehicles parked outside, but it’s mainly a wet, fluffy snow that comes off easily.

We’ve had reports of around six inches of snow in the Springfield metro area.

Here are snowfall totals from across the Ozarks reported to the National Weather Service:

Osage Beach: 2.0 inches

Highlandville: 4.0 inches

Mansfield: 4.0 inches

Rolla: 4.0 inches

Ava: 4.5 inches

Strafford: 5.0 inches

Rockbridge: 5.5 inches

Lebanon: 7.0 inches

Willow Springs: 6.0 inches

Nixa: 8.0 inches

Lanton (Howell County): 12.0 inches

Governor Mike Parson has activated the Missouri National Guard to assist local authorities in responding to severe winter weather striking Missouri.

The activation will end on February 28, unless otherwise terminated or extended.

A number of public schools and colleges/universities have called off classes on Wednesday because of the winter storm.

Here’s the list of cancellations for southwest Missouri public schools and colleges:

Alton

Bakersfield (AMI Day #1)

Bolivar

Cabool

Dallas County R-1

Dent-Phelps

Dora

Eminence (AMI Day)

Fair Play

Gainesville

Gasconade C-4 (AMI Day #1)

Green Forest (MO) R-2

Halfway

Koshkonong

Laclede County (Joel E. Barber)

Lebanon R-3 (AMI Day)

Licking

Lutie

Manes (AMI Day)

Marion C. Early (Morrisville) (AMI Day)

Mark Twain—Taney County

Miller

Missouri State University—West Plains (Classes canceled, offices closed)

Missouri University of Science & Technology (remote operations)

Mountain View–Birch Tree Liberty

Mt. Vernon

Niangua

North Wood R-4

Norwood

Oak Hill R-1

Phelps County R-3

Plato (Daycare also closed)

Richland

Salem (MO)

Seymour

Skyline R-2 (Norwood)

Southwest Baptist University (Delayed until 9:30 a.m.)

Success

Summersville (AMI Day #1)

Swedeborg

Thayer

Thornfield

Verona (AMI Day)

West Plains

Willow Springs

Winona

With an impending winter storm warning set to hit southwest Missouri later today, several school districts and government buildings are closing their doors early on Tuesday.

This story will be updated periodically as more closures and cancellations come in.

A complete list of closures can be found below:

• Branson- Dismissing 1 hour early
• Clever- 3:00 p.m. dismissal
• Forsyth- 2:00 p.m. dismissal
• Gainesville- 1:00 p.m. dismissal
• Taneyville- 2:00 p.m. dismissal
• Thornfield- 1:00 p.m. dismissal

Other closures:

• Branson City offices- 2:00 p.m. closure

A winter storm will bear down on much of southwest Missouri starting late Tuesday afternoon, with snowfall rates overnight into Wednesday morning approaching one inch per hour.

The National Weather Service says a Winter Storm Warning is in effect from 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through 9 a.m. Wednesday for areas along and south of a line from Joplin to Bolivar to Lebanon.

Five to ten inches of snow are possible in the warned area, with two to five inches of snow expected in the northern Ozarks, which are under a Winter Weather Advisory.

The heaviest snowfall should occur south of a Cassville to Springfield to Rolla line.

Snow will overspread the region from southwest to northeast late Tuesday afternoon and evening.

The heaviest snow will end by dawn on Wednesday, but light snow showers and flurries will persist into Wednesday night.

Hazardous driving conditions are expected along and south of I-44. Use extra caution while driving as moderate travel impacts are expected from this winter storm, with areas south and east of Springfield expected to have major travel impacts, with dangerous or impossible driving conditions.

Get updated statewide road conditions here with the MoDOT Traveler Information Map.

You can also call 888-ASK-MODOT and speak with a customer service representative for road conditions.

Two juveniles are behind bars after police say they tried to steal guns from a gun show at the Ozark Empire Fair Grounds in Springfield over the weekend.

Officers say the two tried to take two guns Saturday, but were detained by staff and taken into juvenile custody.

The weapons were recovered.

Springfield Police cracked down on drunk driving over the weekend, conducting a DWI saturation patol.

Over 80 traffic stops were made, with drivers being stopped for behaviors commonly associated with intoxicated driving.

Out of those 88 stops, there were 57 citations, 64 Warnings, 7 DWI arrests, and 4 misdemeanor warrant arrests.

According to the SPD and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, both departments plan to periodically conduct joint operations to ensure the motoring public’s safety.