ST. LOUIS (AP) — The National Weather Service says a storm stretching from the nation’s capital to Colorado could bring the highest snow totals in several years to sections of Missouri and Illinois.
The storm is expected to drop 8-12 inches of snow in the St. Louis metropolitan area into eastern Illinois between Friday and early Sunday.
Large sections of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana are under winter weather advisories, and hazardous travel conditions are expected through most of the weekend.
Sally Johnson, a meteorologist in St. Louis, said the storm has the potential to drop the most snow in five or six years. Missouri received 10.8 inches on Jan. 5-6, 2014, and 12.4 inches on March 23-24, 2013.
The University of Missouri’s flagship campus in Missouri and St. Louis University shutdown Friday afternoon, along with numerous public schools. Johnson said the heaviest amounts are expected along the Interstate 70 corridor from Columbia to St. Louis.
St. Louis Lambert International Airport spokesman Jeff Lea said airlines are canceling dozens of flights through this morning. Jefferson City officials also announced plans to close city offices early.
In Illinois, the weather service snow would begin in southwestern Illinois and spread northeast throughout the evening, reaching the Chicago area by this morning. Snow totals are to taper to the northeast with parts of southwestern Illinois forecast to receive up to 9 inches. The Chicago area is expected to get between 1-4 inches and much of central Illinois was expected to receive 6-8 inches.
And in Indiana, snow accumulations of 5-7 inches are expected between midnight Friday and 7 a.m. Sunday in portions of central, south central, southeastern, southwestern and west central Indiana. It says locally higher amounts of snowfall are possible.