Happy Sunday!

Arctic air continues to build south setting up much of the Southern Plains for a round of icy weather. Temperatures in Springfield were in the mid-40s at midnight Saturday night. By sunrise, readings had dipped into the upper 20s and by Sunday night they had further dropped into the low 20s.

It’s a shallow layer of cold air with warmer air above the surface making for a wintry mix of precipitation types for the Ozarks. The wintry weather will come in waves with the first wave tonight prompting a Winter Weather Advisory through mid-morning Monday.

Freezing drizzle Sunday contributed to slick spots on area roads, particularly the bridges. Road conditions will continue to worsen overnight with freezing drizzle expected to continue much of the night. Some very light sleet may try to mix in at times as well. Ice accumulations overnight won’t be much more than a light glaze, but it will be enough to make for slow and icy travel overnight through sunrise Monday.

There will be a brief lull in the wintry weather Monday morning followed by a wave of wintry precipitation late Monday morning into the afternoon. Much of the precipitation will fall as a mix of light sleet and freezing rain, but there may be some snow on the northern edge closer to I-44. Temperatures will remain well below freezing with highs in the 20s after morning lows in the teens.

We’ll see another lull in the wintry weather Monday night. Another round of sleet, freezing rain, and snow will move through the area late Tuesday morning into the afternoon. Once again it will mainly be a mix of light sleet and freezing rain to the south with some light snow possible on the northern edge closer to I-44.

Ice accumulations over the 2-day stretch will be heaviest to the south with a glaze up to a quarter of an inch possible over Northern Arkansas into Southeast Missouri. This shouldn’t cause too many power outages, but isolated outages can’t be ruled out. Areas to the north will have more of a light glaze with accumulations generally under a tenth of an inch.

Snow and sleet totals are a bit trickier to pin down. There will be a stripe near and south of the interstate into Northernmost Arkansas where light accumulations of snow and sleet might total up to as much as an inch, with most locations seeing less than that. There may be a narrow stripe or two within that general area where totals could top 1″.

Temperatures will remain very cold through Tuesday with morning lows in the teens and highs in the 20s.

The main impact of this multiday winter weather event will be felt by motorists on roads, especially overnight into the early morning hours or while wintry precipitation is occurring. Also, be careful walking across parking lots or along sidewalks.

The icy pattern will finally thaw Wednesday with highs in the 40s to end the week, warming into the low 50s this coming weekend.