January 31st - February 2nd Winter Storm

Figure 1: Storm Total Sleet and Snow

Figure 2: Regional Storm Total Sleet and Snow

Figure 3: Surface Map/Radar Composite Loop

Figure 4: Montgomery County, Missouri - Blizzard Conditions

Figure 5: Quincy, Illinois - Blizzard Conditions

Figure 6: Liberty, Illinois - Snowplow stuck in the snow.

Figure 7: Mizzou Campus (Columbia, Missouri)- Rollins Street

Figure 8: Fulton, Missouri - Snow drifts covering cars.

St. Louis, Missouri	Historic Winter Storm January 31st-February 2nd 2011
A historic winter storm produced crippling winter weather including heavy snow and blizzard conditions over a large area from the southern Plains through the middle and upper Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes on February 1-2, 2011. Thundersnow was commonly observed during the storm from Oklahoma into Illinois. The intense snowfall and blizzard conditions completely overwhelmed the infrastructure across portions of the nation’s midsection, leading to airport closures and hundreds of cancelled air flights, as well as the closure of portions of Interstate 70 across Missouri and Interstate 44 across southwest Missouri. Across central and eastern Missouri and west-central and southwest Illinois, the storm actually came in two waves. The first wave came on Monday January 31st as several periods of sleet and freezing rain, occasionally accompanied by thunder, impacted the portions of the region. The precipitation tapered to freezing drizzle on Monday evening, as the second crippling portion of the storm began to evolve across the southern Plains. The second wave of the storm unleashed its fury on Tuesday and Tuesday night. A wintry mix of snow and sleet spread into central Missouri near daybreak Tuesday February 1st, and the wintry precipitation quickly overspread the area during the morning. This winter storm produced quite a range of hazardous winter weather conditions across the area serviced by the National Weather Service Office in St. Louis. Heavy snow fell across central and northeast Missouri into west-central Illinois with rates at times exceeding 2 inches per hour. These high snowfall rates combined with strong northwest winds gusting from 35-50 mph produced blizzard conditions with near zero visibility at times in white-outs and snow drifts of 3 to 5 feet deep. The University of Missouri in Columbia cancelled classes for 2 days due to the storm and its aftermath. Total snowfall accumulations along the corridor through Columbia and Jefferson City through Hannibal and Quincy ranged from 14-22 inches. A number of cooperative weather observations sites reported all-time record 2 day snowfall amounts. Across portions of east-central Missouri and southwest Illinois the precipitation type was highly variable and created headaches for forecasters. An elevated layer of warm air centered around 5000 feet above the earth’s surface was the complicating factor. Across far northwest sections of the St. Louis metro area this warm-layer eroded with snowfall totals approaching 7-8 inches along with an inch of sleet. Through the heart of metro St. Louis, the warm-layer eroded at times and then returned, leading to constantly changing precipitation types ranging from sleet to snow to even some freezing rain. The predominant precipitation type however was sleet, and sleet accumulations of 2-4 inches were common leading to very hazardous travel conditions. The precipitation finally changed to all snow on Tuesday night with some areas seeing an additional 1-3 inches of snow accumulation. From the eastern Ozarks into south-central Illinois little if any snow occurred, rather this area experienced freezing rain and some sleet. Ice accumulations of one-half to three-quarters of an inch were common. Some locations which experienced the ice storm portion of this crippling winter storm included Annapolis and Fredericktown, Missouri and Chester and Salem, Illinois. The ice accumulation on trees, tree limbs, and power lines created scattered power outages within this area. A bitterly cold arctic airmass settled into the area on Wednesday morning. The combination of it and the fresh snow cover led to temperatures falling below zero across a large area. Wind chill values of -15 to -25 were common from central Missouri to west central Illinois. The National Weather Service in St. Louis would like to thank our COOP observers, trained spotters, media and general public for the snowfall information and pictures.


Lowest Temperature Recorded After Storm 2/3 SLBM7 Shelbina -15F MNCM7 Monroe City -14F RSEM7 Rosebud -14F CDAM7 Mark Twain Lake -12F CALM7 California -11F FREM7 Freedom -11F VNDM7 Vandalia -11F KCOU Columbia -10F CANM7 Canton L/D 20 -10F FULM7 Fulton -10F PEYI2 Perry -10F SAVM7 Saverton L/D 22 -10F BWGM7 Bowling Green -9F KJEF Jefferson City -9F KUIN Quincy -9F WTNM7 Warrenton -9F PTTM7 Pittsfield -8F Lowest Hourly Wind Chill Values Observed 2/3 KUIN Quincy -25F KPPQ Pittsfields -24F KCOU Columbia -20F KHAE Hannibal -18F KJEF Jefferson City -17F KSET St. Charles -12F KALN Alton -10F KSTL St. Louis -9F KUUV Sullivan -8F KSUS Chesterfield -7F KCPS Cahokia -5F		Peak Wind Gusts Observed KUIN Quincy 47 MPH KHAE Hannibal 47 MPH KPPQ Pittsfield 40 MPH KSET St. Charles 39 MPH KCOU Columbia 38 MPH KALN Alton 36 MPH KSUS Chesterfield 33 MPH KSTL St. Louis 32 MPH New 24 Hour Snowfall Record QLDI2 Quincy L/D 21 22.0 INCHES PEYI2 Perry 6NW 20.0 INCHES PTTI2 Pittsfield 18.0 INCHES SVRM7 Saverton L/D 22 18.0 INCHES LUSM7 Louisiana 15.0 INCHES HNNM7 Hannibal 14.5 INCHES CANM7 Canton L/D 20 14.0 INCHES* MNCM7 Monroe City 13.0 INCHES** * Tied with 2/24/1975 ** Tied with 2/13/1978 Note: Observed record snow totals for some of these stations are based on an incomplete period of record data, and should be considered unofficial.

Storm Total Snow and Sleet PAYSON 22.00 QUINCY LD21 22.00 HANNIBAL 21.00 3 E COLUMBIA 20.00 PERRY 6 W 20.00 NEW BLOOMFIELD 19.00 SAVERTON 19.00 SHELBINA 19.00 JEFFERSON CITY 2 NW 18.20 PAYSON COOP 18.00 ASHLAND 18.00 HANNIBAL DOWNTOWN 18.00 ASHLAND 0.7 WNW 18.00 MONTGOMERY CITY 18.00 PITTSFIELD 18.00 QUINCY 18.00 RIPLEY 18.00 ASHLAND KCOU 17.70 JEFFERSON CITY 3.1 W 17.20 MEXICO 17.00 FULTON 17.00 VANDALIA 17.00 NEW BLOOMFIELD 5.2 W 16.40 2 SSE FULTON 16.00 CALIFORNIA 16.00 JEFFERSON CITY 16.00 RHINELAND 16.00 TIPTON 16.00 HANNIBAL 0.4 ENE 15.60 JEFFERSON CITY 5.9 W 15.50 COLUMBIA 2.4 S 14.20 BOWLING GREEN 14.00 CANTON LD20 14.00 CENTRALIA 14.00 LOUISIANA 13.00 HERMANN 12.00 ELSBERRY 1 S 12.00 WINFIELD LD25 12.00 HAWK POINT 12.00 4 W MOUNT STERLING 10.00 OLD MONROE 10.00 BOWLING GREEN 1 E 9.30 FREEDOM 9.00 NEW LONDON 1.5 SW 8.60 GIRARD 8.50 FORISTELL 8.00 JERSEYVILLE 2 SW 8.00 TROY 8.00 WARRENTON 1 N 8.00 GREENFIELD 7.50 LAKE ST. LOUIS 6.50 NEW MELLE 6.50 O FALLON 2 SSW 6.50 1 NW DARDENNE PRAIRIE 6.20 CARLINVILLE 6.00 WATERLOO 1.9 SSE 5.50 WATERLOO 3.0 NNW 5.50		VIRDEN 5.00 3 N GRAFTON 5.00 ST. CHARLES 1.2 SW 5.00 ALTON LD26 5.00 ROSEBUD 5.00 ST. PETERS 4.80 6 SE NEW HAVEN 4.50 NEW MELLE 4.50 NWS WELDON SPRING 4.50 ELLISVILLE 4.30 ST. CHARLES 4.10 HARVESTER 1 4.10 2 W ST. PETERS 4.00 HAZELWOOD 4.00 ELSAH 4.00 BALLWIN 4.00 2 N UNION 4.00 CARLINVILLE 3.4 SW 4.00 GREENVILLE 2 NE 4.00 ST. PETERS 2 SSE 4.00 MEDORA 3.80 NEW ATHENS 3.80 3 ESE HILLSBORO 3.50 NOKOMIS 3.50 OATES 3.50 POTOSI 4 SW 3.40 SULLIVAN 3 SE 3.40 GODFREY 3.20 ST. LOUIS KSTL 3.10 HIGHLAND 3.00 ST. CHARLES 3.00 WASHINGTON 3.00 KIRKWOOD 1.6 S 2.90 RAMSEY 2.80 UNIVERSITY CITY 2.80 CRYSTAL CITY 2.70 2 NW FARMINGTON 2.60 STAUNTON 2.50 CARLYLE LAKE 2.50 GLEN CARBON 2.30 LEBANON 2.30 VIBURNUM 2.20 BISMARCK 2.00 2 NW FARMINGTON 2.00 FESTUS 1.80 BELLEVILLE 2.2 SE 1.70 BELLEVILLE 4.5 WNW 1.50 VANDALIA 1.50 SALEM 1.8 NW 1.40 2 W FESTUS 1.30 STEN GENEVIEVE 0.5 S 1.30 PATOKA 1.30 SMITHTON 1.10 PRAIRIE DU ROCHER 1.10 7 S STEELVILLE 1.00 ALBERS 1 W 1.00 ELLINGTON 1.00
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Historic Winter Storm January 31st-February 2nd 2011

Historic Winter Storm
January 31st-February 2nd 2011