Sikeston area received 7-12 inches of snow from winter storms

Sun and warmer temperatures continued melting roadways Friday after two large winter storms brought heavy amounts of snow and frigid temperatures this week.

According to the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky, the first winter storm dropped 5-9 inches of snow in the Sikeston area on Monday. Due to extensive blowing and drifting, accurate snowfall amounts were difficult to obtain. In some cases, narrow bands of heavy snow resulted in sharp differences in storm-total snowfall across a small area.

A second winter storm then came through the area during the overnight and early morning hours Wednesday.

After a lull, snow spread northeastward from Tennessee and Arkansas during the late afternoon and early evening hours. The most concentrated area of snow occurred across western Kentucky, the Missouri Bootheel, extreme southeast Illinois, and southwest Indiana during the evening and overnight hours.

The last snow band pivoted across the region during Thursday morning.

Snowfall totals ranged from 1 to 4 inches across much of the region for this event. Highest totals were primarily focused across areas of west Kentucky closer to the Tennessee border. With temperatures well below freezing, snow quickly accumulated on roads and created treacherous travel conditions from Wednesday evening through Thursday morning.

The Sikeston area received 2-3 inches of additional snow from Wednesday to Thursday morning.

Between Monday and Thursday afternoon, the Missouri Highway Patrol for Troop E responded to 458 calls for service. Of those 303 were stranded motorists while 47 were accidents. One person was injured in the accidents and they were not wearing their seat belts, according to Patrol.

Temperatures are expected to rise into next week with the highs on Tuesday and Wednesday expected to be near 50.