Heavy Snow in Missouri, February 6 to 7, 2002

Name: Heavy Snow in Missouri, February 6 to 7, 2002
Start: 2002-02-06T22:00
End: 2002-02-07T07:00
Location: Missouri

February 6 to 7, 2002 · NWS PAH · 11 events in 11 counties and zones

Around an inch of snow fell across much of southeast Missouri. An isolated heavy snowburst produced 5 inches at Doniphan in Ripley County.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 11 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 11

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.

Around an inch of snow fell across much of southeast Missouri. An isolated heavy snowburst produced 5 inches at Doniphan in Ripley County. Very slick road conditions resulted in a couple of major accidents. A tractor trailer rig overturned on U.S. Highway 60 near Dexter. In Scott County, a fatal vehicle accident occurred two miles south of Oran on Highway 77. Icy roads were a factor in the accident, which involved three cars. A five-month old baby was killed, and another person was seriously injured.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 6, 1:38 PM CST, 8 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 6, 1:38 PM CST, 8 hours 22 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
138 PM CST WED FEB 6 2002

SNOW CHANCES AND AMOUNTS FOR TONIGHT ARE MAIN FORECAST QUESTIONS.

LATEST WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS UPPER LOW SPINNING OVER SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA...WITH A DRY SLOT PUSHING ACROSS THE PAH FORECAST AREA.
LATEST KPAH RADAR SHOWS SNOW QUICKLY DIMINISHING FROM THE
SOUTHWEST.  WITH SNOW ENDED AND A FEW PEEKS OF SUN LATE THIS
MORNING...PAH TEMP HIT 40 DEGREES.  TEMPS BY 1 PM ACROSS THE REST OF
THE AREA WERE IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 30S.

UPPER SYSTEM IS WEAKENING AND LIFTING OUT...AND MODELS ARE NOT
INDICATING MUCH LIFT ACROSS THE REGION FOR TONIGHT.  HOWEVER...WITH
SOME DECENT UPPER DIVERGENCE AND A NARROW DEFORMATION ZONE...STILL
EXPECT LIGHT SNOW TO REDEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON
AND TONIGHT.  BY DAYBREAK...DO NOT EXPECT TO SEE ANYTHING BUT MINOR
ACCUMULATIONS IN NORTHERN HALF...MAYBE AROUND AN INCH FOR THE
SOUTH.  TEMPS OVER SOUTHEAST COUNTIES MAY STILL BRING A MIX OF RAIN
AND SNOW...AND WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO KEEP A LOW CHANCE POP THU
MORNING FOR THOSE COUNTIES.

DRY CONDITIONS AND A WARM UP ARE EXPECTED INTO THE EARLY PART OF THE
WEEKEND.  NEXT IMPRESSIVE SYSTEM MOVES INTO THE AREA LATE SATURDAY
INTO SUNDAY.  TEMPS AND NUMERICAL GUIDANCE INDICATE AN ALL RAIN
EVENT...ALTHOUGH AVN SHOWS SOME MINOR SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OVER THE
AREA.  FOR NOW WILL INCLUDE A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SEE HOW TEMPS LOOK
ON THE NEXT COUPLE OF MODEL RUNS.

MRF THEN SHOWS A SYSTEM MOVING THROUGH NEXT WEDNESDAY.  THIS FAR OUT
IN THE FORECAST WILL NOT INCLUDE ANY PRECIP CHANCE BUT WILL INCLUDE
MORE CLOUD COVER.

FOR NEAR TERM TEMPS WILL STICK CLOSER TO WARMER FWC NUMBERS FOR
FIRST TWO PERIODS...THEN FWC/MAV ARE VERY SIMILAR AND WILL STICK TO
THESE VALUES.  FMR/MEX VALUES CLOSE THROUGH THE WEEKEND...THEN WILL
LEAN TOWARD WARMER FMR TEMPS FROM MONDAY ON.

.PAH...NONE.

RSU

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

11 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Bollinger

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Bollinger forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.322, -90.026 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Butler

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Butler forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.716, -90.407 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Cape Girardeau

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Cape Girardeau forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.384, -89.684 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Carter

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Carter forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.941, -90.962 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Mississippi

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Mississippi forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.828, -89.291 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, New Madrid

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: New Madrid forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.595, -89.652 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Perry

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Perry forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.707, -89.824 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Ripley

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Ripley forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.653, -90.864 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Scott

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Scott forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.053, -89.568 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Stoddard

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Stoddard forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.856, -89.944 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Wayne

When: February 6, 10:00 PM CST to February 7, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Wayne forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.113, -90.461 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Missouri in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Missouri, February 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5282771, 5282772, 5282773, 5282774, 5282775, 5282776, 5282777, 5282778, 5282779, 5282780, 5282781.