Weather update

The Cape Girardeau area is getting a temporary break from the ice falling from the sky, but it won't last long.

National Weather Service meteorologist Pat Spoden, based in Paducah, Ky., said just after 11 a.m. today that the winter storm is regrouping in southwest Missouri and Arkansas, and another large batch of winter precipitation in the form of freezing rain should hit Southeast Missouri early this afternoon. The freezing rain should last until possibly after midnight, then turn into rain as the air warms.

Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area is already covered in significant ice accumulation from the storm that began early this morning. A weather spotter in Jackson reported trees and power lines were ice covered, as well as roads and cars, said Spoden.

The icing of power lines and trees could be especially problematic, as many trees were weakened by last week's ice storm and may be more likely to break under the weight today.

But as of 11:10 a.m., only three customers were without power in the 63701 Cape Girardeau ZIP code.

Jackson public utilities is reporting no outages associated with this storm as of 11:15 a.m.

Most if not all schools, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson, have canceled classes.

Jackson Public Works started cindering roads at 5 a.m. In Cape Girardeau, crews began salting and plowing roads at 4 a.m. As of 7:35 a.m., they were still focusing on priority streets. Officials warned all roads are slick, and urged drivers to go slow or stay home if possible.

This morning the National Weather Service issued an ice storm warning for the Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois areas.

From the National Weather Service:

... ICE STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM CST FRIDAY...

FREEZING RAIN IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP EARLY THIS MORNING AND

CONTINUE OFF AND ON THROUGH THE COURSE OF THE DAY AND INTO

TONIGHT. THERE MAY BE SLEET AND A BRIEF PERIOD OF SNOW

INITIALLY... BUT THE PREDOMINANT PRECIPITATION TYPE SHOULD BE

FREEZING RAIN. ICE ACCUMULATION MAY REACH ONE QUARTER OF AN

INCH... ESPECIALLY ON ELEVATED SURFACES. EVEN THOUGH MANY ROAD

SURFACES MAY HAVE BEEN TREATED... DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS

COULD STILL DEVELOP.

THE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO TRANSITION OVER TO MAINLY LIGHT

FREEZING RAIN OR FREEZING DRIZZLE VERY LATE THURSDAY NIGHT AS

TEMPERATURES APPROACH 32 DEGREES.

AN ICE STORM WARNING MEANS AT LEAST ONE QUARTER INCH OF ICE IS

EXPECTED TO GLAZE EXPOSED SURFACES. ICE ACCUMULATIONS ON TREES

AND POWER LINES ALREADY STRESSED FROM THE LAST ICE... SLEET AND

SNOW STORM COULD QUICKLY LEAD TO POWER OUTAGES AND FALLING TREE

BRANCHES. TRAVEL COULD BECOME VERY HAZARDOUS ACROSS THE REGION.