Feb 20-21, 2015 snow and ice MO and IL

February 20th-21st, 2015
Snow, Sleet, &
Freezing Rain Event

A wintry mix rapidly developed simultaneously across many locations in the bi-state region during the early evening hours of Friday, February 20^th.  The precipitation initially started off as freezing rain with some sleet for most of the area, except in the far northern sections of Missouri and into central Illinois, where it began as snow.  

During the course of the evening, two main areas of precipitation developed.  The first was oriented west to east and stretched across much of northern Missouri and into central Illinois.  This band of mixed wintry precipitation gradually became all snow during the course of the evening and continued through the late night hours before ending Saturday morning.  While minor accumulations of sleet and a glazing of ice from freezing rain came from this band, the big story was the heavy snow accumulations that occurred, where up to 7 inches of snow fell in parts of northeast Missouri and west-central Illinois.  Still even heavier amounts of snow were realized in parts of central Illinois around Springfield (in excess of 8 inches).  

The other main area of precipitation was setup over southern Missouri and far southern Illinois.  The precipitation here began as freezing rain, but as thunderstorms developed the icy precipitation switched to heavy sleet.   Heavy accumulations of pure sleet of near one inch occurred here as well as thick layer of ice of nearly one-quarter inch.  This wintry mix continued throughout the night and into Saturday morning before finally winding down briefly as snow, adding a light dusting to the ice that had already fallen.

In-between these two areas, covering much of the I-70 corridor between Saint Louis and Columbia, precipitation was lighter but just as persistent, resulting in ice accumulations that resulted in numerous accidents during the evening, and then adding light snow accumulations of up to two inches during the overnight hours and early morning hours of Saturday.  

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
308 PM CST SAT FEB 21 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...        ...CITY LOCATION...          ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0530 AM     HEAVY SLEET      4 SW POTOSI              37.90N  90.83W
02/21/2015  M0.8 INCH            WASHINGTON  MO      CO-OP OBSERVER 
       MIX OF SNOW AND SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN...MOSTLY SLEET
       WITH A GLAZE AROUND 0.1

0600 AM     HEAVY SLEET      4 SE BELLEVIEW          37.64N  90.70W
02/21/2015  M1.5 INCH             IRON  MO                     CO-OP OBSERVER 
       MIX OF SNOW AND SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN...MOSTLY
       SLEET...LIGHTNING AND THUNDER AND A GLAZE AROUND 0.2

0600 AM     HEAVY SLEET      FARMINGTON              37.78N  90.43W
02/21/2015  M1.0 INCH            ST. FRANCOIS MO       CO-OP OBSERVER 
       MIX OF SNOW AND SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN...MOSTLY
       SLEET...LIGHTNING AND THUNDER WITH A GLAZE NEAR 0.1

0700 AM     SNOW             3 N GRAFTON                     39.02N  90.43W
02/21/2015  M1.8 INCH      JERSEY IL                          TRAINED SPOTTER
       MIX OF SNOW...SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN WITH A LIGHT GLAZE

0715 AM     SNOW             HANNIBAL                           39.71N  91.38W
02/21/2015  M5.5 INCH      MARION  MO                      TRAINED SPOTTER
       STORM TOTAL

0730 AM     SNOW             NOKOMIS                            39.30N  89.29W
02/21/2015  M5.0 INCH      MONTGOMERY IL              EMERGENCY MNGR 

0730 AM     SNOW             PITTSFIELD                        39.61N  90.81W
02/21/2015  M5.0 INCH      PIKE IL                                PUBLIC         
       STORM TOTAL...RELAYED VIA WGEM

0730 AM     HVY SNOW     PAYSON                              39.82N  91.24W
02/21/2015  M7.0 INCH      ADAMS IL                            PUBLIC         
       STORM TOTAL...RELAYED VIA WGEM

0730 AM     HVY SNOW       LOUISIANA                        39.44N  91.06W
02/21/2015  M6.5 INCH        PIKE  MO                          PUBLIC         
       STORM TOTAL...RELAYED VIA WGEM

0800 AM     HVY SNOW       NOKOMIS                          39.30N  89.29W
02/21/2015  M6.2 INCH        MONTGOMERY IL            TRAINED SPOTTER

0800 AM     HVY SLEET     15 WSW STE GENEVIEVE   37.89N  90.30W
02/21/2015  M1.0 INCH        STE. GENEVIEVE   MO      CO-OP OBSERVER 
       MIX OF SNOW...SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN...MOSTLY
       SLEET...WITH A LIGHT GLAZE

0851 AM     SNOW             KIRKWOOD                          38.58N  90.42W
02/21/2015  E1.2 INCH       ST. LOUIS MO                    TRAINED SPOTTER
       STORM TOTAL OF 1.2 INCES OF SNOW AND SLEET...ALSO A
       LIGHT GLAZING OF ICE

1000 AM     SNOW             3 SSW SAVERTON              39.60N  91.29W
02/21/2015  M4.5 INCH      RALLS MO                           TRAINED SPOTTER
       STORM TOTAL

1000 AM     SLEET            1 SW NEW HANDOVER        38.38N  90.24W
02/21/2015  M0.4 INCH      MONROE   IL                        TRAINED SPOTTER
       STORM TOTAL...SLEET SNOW MIX

1030 AM     SLEET            3 N UNION                            38.49N  91.01W
02/21/2015  M0.4 INCH      FRANKLIN  MO                    TRAINED SPOTTER
       STORM TOTAL...SLEET SNOW MIX

1030 AM     HVY SNOW       NOKOMIS                          39.30N  89.29W
02/21/2015  M6.7 INCH        MONTGOMERY  IL           TRAINED SPOTTER
       STORM TOTAL

1110 AM     SNOW             CARLINVILLE                      39.28N  89.88W
02/21/2015  M5.5 INCH      MACOUPIN IL                     TRAINED SPOTTER
        STORM TOTAL

1159 AM     HVY SNOW       2 S CENTER                       39.48N  91.53W
02/21/2015  M7.0 INCH        RALLS  MO                        TRAINED SPOTTER
        STORM TOTAL

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