The intensity of the snowstorm that hit parts of eastern Missouri on December 1 caught lots of experts and decision makers by surprise, so says Becky Allmeroth, MoDOT’s Chief Safety and Operations Officer.
She told the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission last week that weather forecasts were calling for a minor storm that day.
“So, the forecast for the St. Louis region, it was between half an inch and an inch,” she said.
Allmeroth also said the highways were already salted, due to an earlier snow event on November 29.
“Remember, with any residual salt that’s out there or treatment ahead of the storm, a half an inch, we probably wouldn’t even drop flaps,” she said.
But when the data started indicating a stronger snowstorm than forecasted, Allmeroth said MoDOT immediately adjusted its response. She told the commission that as of 9:00 a.m. on Dec. 1, National Weather Service data had not significantly changed.
“It was about 9:45 and for about an hour after that, all of our forecasters, all the bells and whistles, were going off,” she said. “This is coming in faster than we thought it would, and we are seeing some of those snow bursts that could have been in there and we were really, really getting inundated.”
Some areas along the I-70 corridor on December 1 saw 2.5 to nearly 4 inches of snow, on top of snow from two days prior.
The storm was also expensive.
“For that December 1st storm alone, we had almost 700,000 miles driven, over 56,000 labor hours, almost 25,000 tons of salt, and we spent almost $7.8 million,” Allmeroth said. “Winter storms are very costly.”
Meanwhile, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said there were 358 crashes on December 1, 214 stranded drivers, 41 injuries, and one death.
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