Winter Weather — Jefferson, Illinois

2016-01-19 to 2016-01-20 · Jefferson, Illinois

Wider weather episode

From one to three inches of snow fell across southern Illinois. The one-inch amounts were confined mainly along the Mississippi River. Amounts increased toward the northeast. Snowfall amounts averaged about two inches in the Mount Vernon and Marion-Carbondale areas, and they averaged near three inches from Harrisburg to the Wabash Valley. In the Wabash Valley region, a burst of heavy snow occurred for an hour or two. During this burst, the visibility dropped to around one-quarter mile. The snow readily bonded to paved surfaces due to the sub-freezing ground temperatures. A fatal vehicle accident occurred on Interstate 57 in southern Jefferson County shortly after the snow ended. The driver of a prisoner transport van lost control on the slick road and crossed the median into the path of a tractor-trailer rig. The semi driver was not injured. The van driver was killed, and a teenage passenger in the transport van was injured. Southbound Interstate 57 was closed between the Interstate 64 split and the Ina exit (near the Franklin County line) for about six hours. The synoptic situation was favorable for a winter weather event. A 500 mb shortwave trough lifted northeast from the southern high Plains to the mid and upper Mississippi Valley. At the surface, a weak low pressure system moved eastward into southern Arkansas. The burst of heavy snow was the result of strong warm air advection around 850 mb, which provided strong ascent.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 611231. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.