Winter Weather — Lafayette, Missouri
2019-02-05 · Lafayette, Missouri
Event narrative
Two fatalities occurred the evening of 2/5/19 on I-70, in Lafayette County when a vehicle skidded off the road due to ice. A semi trailing the vehicular accident then impacted the vehicle, killing two of the four occupants. The MHP police report is linked here: https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/HP68/AccidentDetailsAction?ACC_RPT_NUM=190068843 . Aside from those two accidents, there have been numerous injury accidents, mostly resulting in minor injuries, with a handful of moderate to serious injuries. Highway 7 just north of Pleasant Hill was closed for several hours on Tuesday evening because a MODoT salt truck among other vehicles impacted the guard rail just north of town. NWS employee tried to get home at 7:30 pm CST, and had to return to work due to impassible roads. The incoming midnight shift was able to report to work, but were delayed due to the icy roads.
Wider weather episode
A prolonged freezing drizzle and freezing rain event impacted all of eastern Kansas and western and central Missouri from February 5 until February 7. While the bulk of the precipitation fell overnight February 6, into the morning of February 7 the higher impacts appeared to come on February 5, when freezing drizzle caused roads to become slick. In some areas the roads were completely impassible, and numerous injury vehicle accidents occurred. At least two fatalities were caused by the icy roads on February 5, in Lafayette County when a vehicle skidded off the road due to ice. A semi trailing the vehicular accident then impacted the vehicle, killing two of the four occupants. The MHP police report is linked here: https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/HP68/AccidentDetailsAction?ACC_RPT_NUM=190068843 . Aside from those two accidents, there have been numerous injury accidents, mostly resulting in minor injuries, with a handful of moderate to serious injuries. Highway 7 just north of Pleasant Hill was closed for several hours on Tuesday evening because a MODoT salt truck among other vehicles impacted the guard rail just north of town.
Without any notable break in the freezing precipitation the ice continued to form on trees and power lines through Wednesday February 6, resulting in most locations seeing around 1/8 to 1/4 of ice through Wednesday afternoon. On Wednesday night heavy rain and sleet moved into the area, and added to the already robust ice amounts. With some modest instability in the atmosphere many of these storms produced lightning, a rare occurrence! One storm did produce some quarter-sized hail near Clinton, MO. By the end of the event almost all locations within the Ice Storm Warning (which was issued Wednesday afternoon - 2/6) received around 1/4 to 1/2, with some of the higher totals in Johnson County, MO approaching .60.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 795729. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.