Southeast Missouri will indeed have a white Christmas, and an exceptionally cold one.
Rachel Trevino with the National Weather Service Paducah said wind chills Thursday night into Friday morning dropped to the negative 20- to 30-degree range, as Butler and the surrounding counties received a uniform blanket of snow 1-3 inches deep. She noted isolated pockets with more snow were likely, but had not been reported.
Wind chills were expected to get slightly milder Friday afternoon as winds died back, bringing the chill up to minus 10 degrees or higher.
“The winds drop off but we will still see wind chills down around negative 10 overnight tonight, and that’s with the low around 6 degrees,” she said. “And then highs (Saturday) of mid 20s.”
Christmas Day will see similar temperatures.
“Next week, we’re gonna get back up to normal temperatures,” Trevino explained.
According to NWS, “By Wednesday, we’re already back up around 50 degrees. So people just got to get through today and through the holiday weekend, and then we will see a warm up next week.”
Power outages
Ozark Border experienced pop-up outages throughout the night in Butler, Wayne, Ripley, Dunklin and New Madrid counties, affecting about 37,000 customers. These were quickly resolved.
Municipal Utilities in Butler County dealt with multiple weather-related issues overnight, but as of Friday morning had only one outage still under repairs, according to Director Bill Bach.
One utility broke for an unknown reason, causing a loss of power to around 200 residents for an hour. In another case, a vehicle struck a utility pole overnight but caused no outages. Repairs were made.
Utility crews were able to make most repairs quickly, according to information from the company.
Road conditions
According to traveler.modot.org, most roads between Highway 51 in Stoddard County and the borders of Carter, Wayne and Reynolds counties were still covered in snow as of 10 a.m. Friday.
Trevino urged people to stay home and exercise caution if they travel was necessary, since car trouble and accidents are especially dangerous in severe weather.
“Be careful ... if you have to drive anywhere and just hold out because next week is going to be much better,” she said.
Troop E saw six people injured in vehicle accidents after severe weather moved into the area Thursday afternoon. This included one person who was killed, and two who were seriously injured.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, a 2009 Kia Spectra ran off the road on Interstate 55 southbound in Pemiscot County, striking a cable barrier and was then struck by a 2023 Volvo Tractor Trailer. The driver of the first vehicle, a 66-year-old Hayti, Missouri, man was killed. Two passengers in the vehicle, residents of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were seriously injured.
Stanley Smith was the 70th fatality in Troop E in 2022.
Nine people were hurt in accidents in Troop G from Thursday afternoon through Friday morning, with two people seriously injured.
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