Though under an official drought alert until April, Missouri is now under record-setting snow in areas of the state, thanks to the weekend’s major winter storm that stretched on to the eastern seaboard.
Schools and government offices were closed Monday in many areas of Kansas and Missouri, after the Kansas Department of Transportation closed all state highways and interstates Sunday and told residents “please do not drive on Kansas roads. It is very dangerous for you and for our emergency services employees. Stay home. Stay safe.”
The Kansas City Chiefs football team barely escaped the storm Saturday to fly to its game in Denver, while arrivals at Kansas City International Airport were canceled at least until Sunday evening. Even Amtrak trains were halted Sunday.
By early Monday the National Weather Service had issued winter storm warnings or advisories for 23 states, impacting tens of millions besieged by ice and blizzard conditions followed by killer arctic cold.
After the chilling forecast last week, Americans in the path of the storm emptied grocery store shelves, clearly expecting to hunker down for several days at home.
Snow totals in eastern Kansas and western Missouri ranged from 10 to 13 inches, setting records in some instances. “It is only the eighth time since 1888 that Kansas City has received at least 10 inches of snow in a single day,” reported KMBC-TV.”
“This is going to be one of the most historic, significant storms that Kansas City has ever seen,” Kansas City Manager Brian Platt told NBC News – which noted the last 10-inch snow to blanket the city was 32 years ago.
“We started pretreating our roads Friday, 36 hours in advance of any snowfall or ice, just to make sure that we were as prepared as we possibly could,” Platt told the network.
The St. Louis region seems to have recorded slightly less snow than Kansas City, with National Weather Service stations in the area reporting amounts generally from 5 to 10 inches – though tiny Eolia, northeast of St. Louis, recording 14.7 inches.
It was only in October that Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order declaring a drought alert until March 31 for “all or portions of at least 88 Missouri counties are experiencing moderate, severe, or extreme drought conditions.”
One storm does not a drought wipe out, but a foot of snow is a passable start.
