Weather Alert Day: Tracking snow showers moving in early Tuesday

TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE: Some issues cropped up briefly north of Kansas City earlier this morning on the roadways. However, they also picked up 4.5" in some spots-that seems to be the number to get to that would lead to problems. That seems less likely at this point and helps that we're heading into the afternoon hours. You'll still want to slow down and give the car in front a little extra pad to stop with visibility problems. Focus will shift south of I-70 into the early afternoon hours, where a Winter Weather Advisory is still in effect.

The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team has issued a Weather Alert Day with the threat of snow returning to Mid-Missouri this morning.

SYNOPSIS

Accumulating snow now looks probable for parts of the viewing area, which would tie the record for the latest measurable snow if we manage to record any in Columbia. A cold front will advance through the area this evening, but an upper-level disturbance will lag behind the surface boundary, as temperatures cool into the low to middle 30s. That disturbance will be lag behind long enough that wet snow will be a precipitation type long enough to possibly impact roadways.

TIMING

Our northwestern counties are seeing snowfall first in the early morning hours between 4-6 AM. Precipitation slides southeast through the morning, moving into the I-70 corridor between 6-8 AM. Our eastern counties will see this system last, around mid-late morning. The system is expected to clear out by the late afternoon. We could see that snow transition into a rainy mix as temperatures warm past freezing, especially south of Highway 50. This would most likely occur later in the day as the system pushes out of mid-Missouri.

IMPACTS

As snow moves in during the morning commute, roadways could become slushy. Snowfall rates suggest that we could see upwards of 2-3" of snow falling for areas north of Highway 24. With snowfall rates on the higher side, we could out-snow a road's ability to melt, leading to some isolated slick spots.

That being said, we could still see decent accumulations on grassy and elevated surfaces with this system. Incorporate extra time into your commute this morning.

You can download our ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather App for free on the Apple and Google Play stores, and you'll get weather notifications right to your phone.