St. Louis regional officials are preparing for snow and sleet this week.
National Weather Service meteorologist Melissa Delia said snow is expected to pass through southeast Missouri and southern Illinois on Tuesday. She said a narrow band is forecast to drop one to two inches in that area, with three inches possible in isolated pockets.
鈥淎nd areas to the north are going to see little to no snow,鈥� Delia said. 鈥淲e could see a dusting up to maybe half an inch of snow as far north as the I-70 corridor. But as we get further and further away from southeast Missouri, the chances of seeing snow go down.鈥�
Wednesday, though, is expected to bring wintry weather to places like St. Louis and St. Louis County. Delia said the scope and impact have not fully formulated yet.
Delia said the system in question will mainly affect northern, central and northeast Missouri and western Illinois.
鈥淔or Wednesday, we're going to see wintry precipitation across the St Louis metro, but exactly how much and where still remains uncertain,鈥� Delia said. 鈥淲e could see one to four inches of snow across the metro, with sleet mixed in. The highest amounts are most likely to be across the northern Metro, with the southern Metro seeing less. But as we refine our forecast, we could see some changes in the exact amounts.鈥�
St. Louis officials say they鈥檙e pretreating roads with salt and chemicals to try to prevent whatever falls on Wednesday from sticking as much as possible. The Missouri and Illinois transportation departments are also making plans to deal with the storm.
Conner Kerrigan, a spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, said that the city again won鈥檛 plow residential streets 鈥� as has been the case in recent history.
鈥淭he reason for this is because our snowplow trucks are really large, and we run the risk of knocking off mirrors and burying cars,鈥� Kerrigan said. 鈥淚f you look back, we did try plowing the residential streets in 2014, and that caused a lot of problems. We knocked off a lot of mirrors. We buried a lot of cars. People were pretty upset.鈥�
Last month, a storm that dumped as much as 10 inches of snow and sleet left many city residents frustrated as they were stuck in their homes as roads remained snow covered and icy for days.
Kerrigan said Jones鈥� office is working with Alderman Shane Cohn of the 3rd Ward to potentially change the city鈥檚 ordinances to better prepare for snowstorms. That could include a restriction saying someone can only park their car on one side of the street, which would allow better access for plows.
He also said the city ordered smaller plow trucks 鈥渂etter equipped to go down those residential streets without causing all of those issues.鈥�
鈥淭hose have been ordered. However, we expect them to get here sometime in the spring or summer, so those smaller plow trucks will be ready for next season,鈥� he said.
City officials are asking people not to park if possible. If they can鈥檛 move their cars, they鈥檙e asked to park no more than 12 inches from the curb. Any cars that are more than 12 inches from the curb will be towed.
Residents and businesses are responsible for shoveling their driveways, while city officials are also asking people on to park on the odd-numbered side of the street.
