The National Weather Service (NWS) is urging most Missourians to avoid traveling most of New Year’s Day, as a major winter storm approaches from the south.
NWS Pleasant Hill meteorologist Pamela Pietrycha says Kansas City, Columbia, Jefferson City, Chillicothe, Moberly and Marshall will be under a winter storm warning starting at midnight, January 1st.
“Generally along that Butler to Sedalia to Moberly line, including Columbia, Jefferson City and some areas south of there … could see a quarter-of-an-inch all the way up to perhaps a half-an-inch of ice accumulation,” Pietrycha says.
Mid-Missouri’s Boonville and northeast Missouri’s Hannibal are also included in the warning area.
“If you don’t need to travel, please don’t. Conditions are going to deteriorate very rapidly tomorrow (New Year’s Day) morning especially,” says Pietrycha.
Many other parts of Missouri will be under a winter weather advisory. Northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph and Trenton are in the advisory area.
“We’re looking at about one to three inches (of snow), possibly some people on the south side of St. Joe (St. Joseph), down towards the Kansas City area would see a little bit higher snowfall,” Pietrycha says.
Meantime, the NWS Springfield office says southwest Missouri’s Lebanon and Bolivar could see up to a half-inch of ice. Waynesville, which is near Fort Leonard Wood, could get a quarter-of-an-inch of ice.
Those areas are all under a winter storm warning, along with Osage Beach.
The NWS Springfield office is urging residents across the Ozarks to be prepared for the loss of power.
Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and National Weather Service (NWS) Pleasant Hill meteorologist Pamela Pietrycha, which was recorded on December 31, 2020:
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