With federal, state, county and city workers off for Veterans Day, light holiday traffic Monday yielded no reports of injury accidents in most of Mid-Missouri, despite the wintry precipitation, the Missouri Highway Patrol reported.
"Across the state, we saw anywhere from 1-3 inches of snow. But we got some isolated 4-inch reports, one of those in southern Cole County," said meteorologist Thomas Spriggs of the National Weather Service Office in St. Louis. "It's been a while since we had early measurable snow like this.
"I've been here 20 years, and I don't recall two to three measurable snows before Nov. 15," he said. "The last three years we really have been snow deprived. We have not issued a winter storm warning for three-plus years, which would be for a storm with the possibility of producing 6 inches or more of snow."
As the snow continued throughout Monday morning, schools across the area decided to cancel afternoon classes so there was plenty of time to get students back to their homes safely.
Just past the Callaway County line, Boone County authorities said they had several accidents Monday morning on U.S. 63. The Southern Boone County Fire Protection District sent out a Twitter message indicating the accidents involved drivers who were traveling too fast for the road conditions. As of Monday afternoon, the Highway Patrol listed no injury accidents from that area.
Late Monday afternoon, Jefferson City police reported bridges and overpasses were becoming ice-covered, leading to property damage accidents.
This was the first snow of the season where snow plows for Jefferson City and Cole County were called out.
"We had people checking throughout the day to make sure things were safe on the roads, and they stayed pretty clean," Cole County Public Works Director Larry Benz said. "We had our crews go out around 2 p.m. and start putting a light layer of salt down on the roads so they wouldn't ice up as the temperatures dropped heading into the evening."
Benz said they had 30 personnel - drivers, mechanics and supervisors - come in to work.
In Jefferson City, operations manager Britt Smith said they had 23 route drivers, plus support crews, come in to put around 4 p.m. salt on streets.
"We've been working to make sure the equipment is ready, but the first snowfall is a good opportunity to go over things again because sometimes you don't find problems until you do that first salting," Smith said.
Benz and Smith said they would have members of their departments checking the roads overnight. Depending how cold the temperatures get, road crews could be sent out again this morning.
"By Friday, we should be back into the more seasonable temperatures," meteorologist Spriggs said. "But over the next week or so, we will see the temperatures really fluctuating. One thing's for sure, the winter season has started, and while it doesn't necessarily mean we're going to have a harsh winter, these early snows make it easier to have such a winter."
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
MoDOT statewide traveler information map
Jefferson City street condition map
Columbia Regional Airport flight status