http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/winterweat_1943.mp3
A winter storm is pelting the Ozarks today with freezing rain, sleet and rain. Michele Skalicky has more.
Expect a mix of wintry weather today. Southern MO is under a winter storm warning until midnight tonight. Northwest AR is under a winter storm warning until 4 this afternoon. Brian Barjenbrook is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Springfield.
"As far as winter precipitation, early this morning we will be seeing a significant amount of freezing rain possibly mixed with some sleet, maybe even some thunder and lightning at times. This will be going on thru the majority of the morning hours. On the backside of this area of precipitation, we do expect to have further as the day goes on and the upper level storm system moves into the area. This could actually produce pretty significant ice accumulation throughout the duration of the day."
By the time the storm moves out, the Ozarks could be covered with a 1/4" of ice. Some area could get as much as a half inch of ice accumulation. As you might expect, Barjenbrook says it's unusual to have thunder and lightning with freezing rain.
"It's definitely not typical to have thunder and lightning, but, at the same time, but it all depends on your environment, and today we happen to have an environment in which thunderstorms are possible and, at the same time, we've got very cold air at the surface. Those thunderstorms are actually feeding off some quite warm air that's about two to three thousand feet off the ground."
Barjenbrook says temperatures are expected to stay below freezing tomorrow but will rise to the 40s Wednesday and start to melt the ice.
Another winter storm could be headed our way later in the week. Barjenbrook says we might see more rain, snow or freezing rain Friday and Saturday.