Happy Saturday evening everyone. As our system moves out of the plains this evening and through Sunday, we are still dealing with a first alert weather day for our Sunday. Regardless of whether you have a winter weather advisory, ice storm warning, or winter storm warning in effect until 6 a.m. Monday, most of us will have to deal with the system throughout Sunday.

After seeing a few periods of drizzle, freezing drizzle and light sleet this afternoon, our approaching storm system will continue to increase our chance of precipitation starting late tonight and continuing into Sunday morning. On the FutureCast maps, rain areas are shown in green, freezing rain in pink, sweet and purple, and snow in shades of blue. Note how much of the far southern Ozarks, including Springfield, will be dealing with mostly rain through Sunday morning, while the freezing weather will affect areas north and east of the city.

A dry spell will occur across portions of the Ozarks by midday or early Sunday afternoon, halting some of the rain and winter weather chances during this time. However, the back side of the storm system will roll in late Sunday afternoon and stay with us through Sunday night. That means a brief mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet at the beginning before snow quickly develops on Sunday evening. While there may be some light to sometimes moderate snow, this should no longer be the case before 6 a.m. Monday morning.

As far as expected amounts are concerned, our expectations have not changed. Areas in the light shade of blue, which include areas such as Springfield, Joplin, Ava, West Plains and Alton, should only see a glaze of about a tenth of an inch of ice. Areas in the pink shade, including much of the northern and eastern Ozarks, should expect ice amounts between a quarter and half an inch, with isolated higher ice amounts possible near the Ice Storm Warning. Snow totals under 3 inches are preferred along a line from Osceola, Camdenton and Rolla to the south, with snow totals decreasing the farther south you go. Areas in the far northern Ozarks could see 3 to possibly 5 inches of snow.

After temperatures stay in the low to mid 30s through the night, we will have our warmest numbers in the early afternoon. Before a returning north and northwest wind can bring much colder air our way, high temperatures between 30 and 35 degrees are preferred north and east of Springfield. The rest of the Missouri Ozarks should see highs in the mid 30s to around 40° and northern Arkansas in the lower to mid 40s.

Heading into Monday, we are keeping Monday as the first weather warning day as roads remain messy for some, power outages are possible and colder air awaits. Monday morning low temperatures will fall into the low to mid teens for many, with wind chills in the single digits (some even below 0°). Although there will be partly sunny skies again on Monday, high temperatures will be in the low to mid 20s for many, with wind chills between 7° and 20° during the day.

Aside from a few possible snow showers next Friday, things look mostly calm next week and the sun is eager to return.

However, it will be quite cold through early next week, with lows in the single digits and highs in the mid 20s. Although we won’t be able to climb back above freezing until Thursday, temperatures are expected to remain cold for next weekend as we head into the middle of January.

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