WEATHER ALERT DAY: Tracking our first real taste of winter waiting until 2022
Sunday Morning Update: Icy and slick roads remain a concern this morning with temperatures in the teens and wind chills plummeting below 0 degrees. Expect poor travel conditions for the rest of the weekend and try to stay home as much as possible. Current road conditions for Mid-MO can be found here.
Brutal Cold
Temperatures have continued to drop all weekend, bottoming out in the single digits Sunday morning. With wind gusts around 20 mph, feels-like temperatures will be near or below 0 degrees all day. Frostbite can set in in as little as 30 minutes in these conditions so stay bundled up and reduce time outdoors if you have to head out.
Travel will remain hazardous likely through Monday morning before temperatures can rebound above freezing.
SETUP
A powerful storm system is set to develop, bringing us into 2022 with a bang. An arctic front will settle in overnight Friday into Saturday morning. A disturbance will ripple along it, triggering more showers and a few thunderstorms south of it. We'll be north of it, where we could pick up our first meaningful accumulations of the young winter season.
WHAT TO EXPECT
8:00 AM Sunday Update: Light snow may still be lingering in the area but will fizzle out quickly during the morning. Freezing conditions will continue all day so any precipitation that makes it to the roads will be stuck until crews can clear it.
Frigid cold will also linger through the end of the weekend as our New Year's system pulls in bitter northerly winds. Wind chills are looking to remain in the single digits with actual air temperatures stuck in the upper teens today. If possible, stay home today while this bitter cold remains.
WHAT TO PLAN ON
Tricky Travel-
Between the threat of accumulating snow or quickly falling temperatures, it won't take much moisture on the roads to lead to some slick spots. The questions surround when they'll start to deteriorate--we expect to see some issues by Saturday night, possibly sooner.
HOW TO PREPARE
It's always a good time to make sure the winter supplies are good to go at the beginning of the season. We haven't had to break them out since the end of April. If you're braving the elements on the roads Saturday, be sure to have things like blankets, a scraper, phone charger and things to eat in the event you become stranded.