Winter Weather in Missouri, December 15, 2010

Name: Winter Weather in Missouri, December 15, 2010
Start: 2010-12-15T11:00
End: 2010-12-15T23:00
Location: Missouri

December 15, 2010 · NWS PAH · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

A low pressure system tracked eastward across western Tennessee. A warm front lifted northward ahead of this system, causing freezing rain.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 10 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: 8
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 10

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.

A low pressure system tracked eastward across western Tennessee. A warm front lifted northward ahead of this system, causing freezing rain. Less than one-tenth inch of glaze formed on most surfaces, including trees and power lines. The main impact was on travel. Roads became extremely hazardous due to ice. Many schools were closed. The greatest impact was along and south of a line from Sikeston (Scott County) to Van Buren (Carter County), where light freezing rain during the midday hours immediately coated roads with ice. In Stoddard County, one person was injured when her vehicle crashed and overturned on U.S. Highway 60 about a mile east of Dexter. Three other accidents in Stoddard County resulted in one injury apiece. Two of the accidents were on U.S. Highway 60, and the other was on Missouri Highway 25. One of the injuries was serious. In Butler County, one person was injured in a wreck on a bridge on Highway B. Highway PP was closed west of Poplar Bluff when more than a dozen vehicles ended up in ditches, including a state salt truck. Vehicles could not make it up a hill on Highway PP. A police cruiser slid into a ditch on Highway PP. Near Canalou in New Madrid County, there were roll-over accidents due to ice on Highway H. Dozens of cars slid off U.S. Highway 60 between Poplar Bluff and Ellsinore. Perry County sheriff dispatchers reported a very high number of accidents. From Cape Girardeau to Marble Hill, temperatures rose to around freezing about the time the precipitation began. This resulted in less serious travel problems from Cape Girardeau to Marble Hill.

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 Dec 15, 3:14 AM CST, 7 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 15, 3:14 AM CST, 7 hours 46 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 15, 4:41 AM CST, 6 hours 19 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

10 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Butler

When: December 15, 11:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Butler forecast zone
Injuries: 0 direct, 1 indirect
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 36.716, -90.407 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Carter

When: December 15, 11:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Carter forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 36.941, -90.962 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Ripley

When: December 15, 11:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Ripley forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 36.653, -90.864 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Wayne

When: December 15, 11:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Wayne forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 37.113, -90.461 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Stoddard

When: December 15, 11:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Stoddard forecast zone
Injuries: 0 direct, 4 indirect
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 36.856, -89.944 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, New Madrid

When: December 15, 11:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: New Madrid forecast zone
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 36.595, -89.652 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Scott

When: December 15, 12:00 PM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: Scott forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 37.053, -89.568 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Cape Girardeau

When: December 15, 6:00 PM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Cape Girardeau forecast zone
Injuries: 0 direct, 3 indirect
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 37.384, -89.684 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Bollinger

When: December 15, 6:00 PM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Bollinger forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 37.322, -90.026 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Perry

When: December 15, 7:00 PM CST to 11:00 PM CST
Where: Perry forecast zone
Reported by: ASOS
Coordinates: 37.707, -89.824 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Missouri in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in Missouri, December 2010

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 267795, 267796, 267797, 267798, 267799, 267821, 267822, 267792, 267794, 267800.