Butler County is thorough iced in.
After an afternoon of light freezing rain Wednesday, Thursday morning saw sleet begin burying streets and sidewalks. MoDOT listed all roads in Southeast Missouri as covered in ice.
Poplar Bluff schools and city offices, including the courthouse, are closed all day, and the VA primary care clinics are changing appointments to virtual or rescheduling them. VA clinics in Farmington, Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, West Plains, Pocahontas and Paragould are all closed.
David Blanchard of National Weather Service Paducah said the morning’s total accumulation numbers were 1.5 inches in Scott County as of 9:22 a.m., 1.1 inches in Ripley and 0.5 inches in Stoddard at 10:07 a.m. An unofficial measurement taken in Poplar Bluff revealed just over an inch of ice pellets.
Blanchard advised that snow is coming this afternoon, and Butler County should expect “a slow transition as time goes on.” The precipitation will likely be completely snow by mid-afternoon. Forecasts said total accumulation may reach three inches. The snow should end late afternoon or overnight.
Michael York with NWS said the density of sleet makes it real danger on the road.
“If you melt it down, one inch of liquid is equal to about three inches of sleet, whereas one inch of liquid is equal to 12 inches of snow...That’s a lot of sleet and that’s pretty tough going. It’s ice pellets and it gets compacted, and it will be very, very hazardous travel to say the least,” he explained.
More information is available at weather.gov and traveler.modot.org.