Areas and Timing for Snow Saturday

The track of this storm system has been shifting west and back east over the past couple of forecast model runs. In fact, there is one forecast model that keeps our areas from Columbia and further west completely dry. This could happen! This creates a tricky scenario for precipitation type and timing. The consensus on the model runs however show areas east of HWY 54 have the best chance and therefore higher accumulation. Depending on how tightly wound this storm system will get and how far southeast it will track, precipitation may begin as early as 3AM over I-44, or as late as 6-7AM. The small chance for sleet will occur as the colder air is moving in by 9AM, before precipitation chances over to snow late morning. If the colder air moves in earlier, this will change the precipitation type earlier. Blending these models brings areas southeast towards I-44 and up through St. Louis, the best chance for accumulation. Columbia will have a chance at some light snow, but it looks to be around 1″, the further east will be greater near 2-3″ with pockets of 4″. We will be updating our Insider Blog as more information comes in. For additional weather updates follow @ABC17Stormtrack on twitter.