From staff reports
news@joplinglobe.com
The winter that just keeps giving is about to give again.
In spades.
Better make that snow shovels.
“We are forecasting for the Joplin area up to 9 inches (of snow),” said Gene Hatch, meteorologist with the National Weather Service station in Springfield. “There will be a pretty good slug of cold Canadian air filter in behind this.”
Low temperatures this week are expected to drop back into the high single digits with high temperatures in the mid-20s to 30 degrees, but it may not push above freezing through the workweek.
Six inches of snow may be possible for much of the rest of Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri with today’s storm. The snow is expected to arrive today and stay through late Monday or early Tuesday.
The National Weather Service station in Tulsa, Okla., is forecasting 4 to 8 inches of snow for Northeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas.
“There is still some uncertainty as to where the exact track of the heaviest snow is going to fall,” Hatch said Saturday.
Although it has been a while since Joplin has seen this much snowfall, Hatch said this is pretty typical of winter for the region.
“We average 20 inches of snow a year, and over the last few years we’ve had trouble getting half of that,” Hatch said.
Since Dec. 1, the Joplin area has recorded 12 inches of snow, which means tonight’s and Monday’s accumulation could put the area near the norm.
Temperatures have been colder than normal, however. According to Hatch, January’s average temperature was 29 degrees — about 4 degrees below the long-term average of 33 degrees for the Joplin area.
Silver lining
If there is good news in the immediate forecast, it is that no ice is expected.
“It does look like the cold temperatures are going to get here about the same time as the moisture ... which means we are looking at snow,” said Gene Hatch, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield.
