ST. LOUIS — Slow down and be cautious if you need to drive Thursday night. The Missouri Department of Transportation and Missouri State Highway Patrol stressed roads will be slick Thursday evening into Friday morning.
Snow, sleet and freezing rain have been moving through the St. Louis area, creating issues for travelers.
A winter weather advisory is in effect into Thursday night for many counties in the St. Louis area, including St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Jefferson County and St. Clair County, Illinois.
The first wave of wintry precipitation ended just before the Thursday morning rush hour with 1 inch or less of sleet/snow. A second wave is moving through Thursday afternoon, bringing mostly sleet in the metro area, creating slick roads for the evening rush.
The break between the two surges Thursday morning gave MoDOT crews time to clean up what fell overnight and put down a salt treatment for what was to come.
“Conditions did change pretty rapidly this afternoon,” said Michelle Forneris, an assistant district engineer with MoDOT. Transportation officials and a highway patrol spokesperson gave an update on road conditions at 2 p.m. Thursday.
“Those roads are slick; there are slick spots,” added Bob Becker, the maintenance engineer for MoDOT’s St. Louis district.
Watch the full briefing in the video below:
As of 1 p.m. Thursday, the St. Louis area highway patrol troop responded to the following calls:
- 172 calls for service
- 39 stranded drivers
- 87 non-injury crashes
- 6 injury crashes
The highway patrol and MoDOT pleaded with drivers to slow down and take their time on the roads and stay home if they can. The slippery conditions are expected to persist through the evening and into Friday morning.
“This is going to be here through the evening rush, so people need to watch out for that, take their time and give themselves plenty of room,” Becker said.
MoDOT road crews will be out all Thursday night, Becker said, pushing out the wintry mix and applying treatment before temperatures drop overnight.
“There will be some slick spots tomorrow morning,” he warned.
The National Weather Service has a winter storm warning continuing for part of Illinois, but has downgraded the warning to a winter weather advisory for much of the area, including the metro St. Louis area until midnight, but this may be canceled early.
Road conditions around St. Louis
Check real-time traffic conditions at KSDK.com/traffic.