Last week saw the first day of spring and the Runge Center's native plant sale. This week started with another blast of winter that left about 1,000 people without power for part of the afternoon, canceled some church services, and saw area residents digging out of their driveways.
Welcome to Mid-Missouri.
"I tell everyone it might say spring, but you're in Missouri," said Vernell Ferguson Sr. as he shoveled snow from behind his car to ensure he'd get to work this morning. "We have the funniest weather ever."
The storm wasn't so bothersome to his son, Vernell Jr., who played in it and threw snowballs at Dad when he wasn't looking.
On Sunday afternoon, Three Rivers Electric reported 988 customers in the Jefferson City area lost power at around noon. In Miller County, 63 lost power, and 46 were out in Franklin County. Six reported outages in Osage County.
All had been restored by early evening, the company reported.
Ameren Missouri reported various outages in Mid-Missouri, including 63 in the Eldon area.
By mid-afternoon, many Jefferson City streets were fairly clear of snow, which had tapered off but was still falling. Area reports varied from 4 to 7 inches of snow.
Traffic around town was more sparse than usual for a Sunday. Some local businesses closed, and some Missouri Boulevard restaurants remained open but saw few customers.
At 5:30 p.m., Jefferson City police Sgt. Carla Niekamp said police hadn't worked any wrecks since at least early afternoon. At the time, Jefferson City road crews were taking a few hours off, with plans to return to the job Sunday night.
Today's forecast calls for light snow, with accumulation around 1 inch. Jefferson City could get 5-8 inches in total by the time it's done. With temperatures hovering around freezing on Sunday, the snow was slushy and heavy.
The heavy snow and high winds caused a scare at KOMU operations south of Columbia on U.S. 63.
KOMU was evacuated before 10 a.m. Sunday due to concern over the safety of its broadcast tower. It allowed workers to return to the building after engineers secured the tower.
Temperatures on Tuesday are expected to be in the mid 30s, then rise throughout the week until they get to around 60 by Saturday. A 30 percent chance of rain exists for Wednesday and Thursday.
Missouri's wacky weather better shape up quickly - University of Missouri Extension advises the spring planting window for some vegetables has already begun for our area. The planting window for others, such as asparagus, starts on Easter Sunday.