Winter Storm — Greene, Missouri

2023-01-29 to 2023-01-30 · Greene, Missouri

Event narrative

Two rounds of wintry precipitation fell across the county. The first round began during the very early morning hours of January 29th as freezing drizzle and lingered into the early morning of January 30th. The second round fell during the mid morning through afternoon of January 30th and was mainly sleet mixed with some light snow. A CoCoRaHS report 1 mile southeast of Republic measured 0.4 inches of sleet and snow accumulation, mainly in the form of sleet. The NWS Springfield observation reported 0.33 inches of flat ice accretion from the 28 hours of freezing drizzle and 0.3 inches of sleet. Roads became covered and slick with numerous schools closed on January 30th and January 31st. Multiple crashes and slide offs occurred across the county, mainly occurring prior to the second round of precipitation. 17 separate crashes were reported across the county, involving 17 total vehicles and 10 total injuries.

Wider weather episode

A storm system brought a prolonged 24 to 30 hour period of freezing drizzle across the area, beginning during the early overnight hours of January 29th and continuing throughout the day on January 29th before ending in the early morning hours of January 30th. An additional wintry mix of mainly heavy sleet as well as light snow and light freezing rain impacted areas mainly along and south of the Interstate 44 corridor, starting in the mid to late morning and ending from west to east across the area during the afternoon into early evening.

Ice accretions were a widespread glaze, with ASOS measured flat ice accumulations ranging from 0.05 inches in West Plains to a max of 0.33 inches in Springfield. Sleet and snow accumulations, which were mainly in the form of sleet, ranged from around 0.25 inches in locations near Interstate 44 to between 1.0 to 1.5 inches near the southern Missouri border.

There were numerous crashes and slide offs across the area on January 29th and 30th, with the Missouri Department of Transportation showing covered and slick roadways throughout the event. One of the crashes in Morgan County also resulted in a fatality. Some roads south of Interstate 44 even remained covered into the day on January 31st. Numerous schools and businesses across the area were closed on January 30th due to the winter road impacts, with numerous schools remaining closed on January 31st along and south of Interstate 44 where roads remained covered and slick.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1078747. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.