Winter Storm — Lawrence, Missouri

2022-12-22 · Lawrence, Missouri

Event narrative

A light glaze of freezing drizzle began in the early morning hours of December 22nd and lasted approximately one to two hours before transitioning to snow. The CoCoRaHS observer MO-LW-9 approximately 9 miles northwest of Miller reported 2.5 inches of snowfall. Roads became completely covered and slick, with reduced visibility during the snowfall due to wind gusts upwards of 33 mph across the county resulting in periodic blowing snow. Impacts were further magnified by occurring during the morning rush hour and being the first significant snow of the season. Four separate accidents occurred as a result of the slick conditions, one of which included a tractor trailer overturning on Interstate 44 that resulted in a three hour delay. A total of 6 vehicles were damaged and 8 injuries were reported across the four separate accidents.

Wider weather episode

A storm system initially brought one to two hours of freezing drizzle during the early morning hours of December 22nd before precipitation changed over to light snow. A brief band of moderate to heavy snow then moved southeast across the area during the mid morning into afternoon hours, leading to visibilities as low as one quarter of a mile or less along with very gusty winds and blowing snow at times. Light snow lingered for another hour or two behind the heavier snow band before coming to an end. The light glaze of ice became covered by generally 1 to 3 inches of snow, leading to slick roads, numerous vehicle crashes and slide offs across the area, and power outages across portions of the area. Numerous schools that weren't already off for the Christmas Holiday cancelled school for both December 22nd and December 23rd.

Brutally cold temperatures and wind chills also settled into the area with and behind the snowfall. Record to near record low temperatures were common on the morning of December 23rd with subzero lows, highs in the single digits above zero, and minimum wind chills as low as -20 to -37 degrees. Cold low temperatures in the single digits above zero and wind chills in the single digits to teens below zero continued into the morning of December 24th, as well.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1078679. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.