Winter Weather — Maries, Missouri

2023-01-24 to 2023-01-25 · Maries, Missouri

Event narrative

Precipitation started as rain during the afternoon of January 24th before changing over to snow during the late afternoon, with the snow then continuing into the morning of January 25th. An estimated 1 to 2 inches of snow fell across the county. Roads became partly snow covered and slippery. Around 25 power outages also occurred across the county due to the snow. Some schools had early release on January 24th, with several closed on January 25th.

Wider weather episode

A potent storm system lifted northeast from Oklahoma through Arkansas and Missouri on January 24th and 25th, bringing widespread precipitation across the Missouri Ozarks beginning as rain during the late morning and afternoon on January 24th before changing over to snow during the afternoon and evening. This snow continued into the morning hours of January 25th before coming to an end as the storm system exited the region.

Snowfall amounts generally ranged from 1 to 3 inches for areas along and northwest of a Joplin to Stockton to Lake of the Ozarks line. There was a sharp cutoff in heavy snow near Interstate 44, with many locations seeing 6 to 8 inches south of Interstate 44 and up to 12 inches near West Plains. Roads became completely covered and slick across the region for the evening commute of January 24th and also into the morning commute on January 25th due to the ongoing snow. Several slide offs and vehicle accidents occurred as a result of the slick road conditions. Numerous schools were closed across the region on January 25th, with some even doing early dismissals on January 24th. Some schools also remain closed into January 26th in the areas that received higher snow amounts across south central Missouri. Total power outages reached over 50 thousand across southern and south central Missouri from the heavy snow, with numerous power outages continuing in Howell, Shannon and Oregon Counties into January 27th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1076439. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.