It snowed less than two inches in the St. Louis area today, but as any local knows: That’s plenty deep to mess up traffic all over town. The National Weather Service says that it was a record-setting snowfall and that it hasn’t snowed this much in the area since this time of year in 1911.
St. Louis was, appropriately, wigged out by the sudden assault from this polar vortex and the chaos was reflected in the angry red lines all over the traffic map. We knew it was coming, but we didn’t know just how much it was going to suck. Temperatures reached 68 degrees yesterday while we played outside and ignored the warnings from local meteorologists saying that is going to get all the way down to twelve degrees tonight.
We were shocked and annoyed at the sudden disappearance of fall weather, but some of us thought that the snow wouldn’t cause too much trouble on the road because the ground would be warm. We were very, very wrong.
Police stations have reported hundreds of calls for help, crashes, injuries and lots of cars sliding off the road. The magnitude of the disasters witnessed today can’t even be calculated until tomorrow because many people are still not home yet tonight. Commutes that usually take 30 minutes are stretching into two hours or more.
Stay safe, St. Louis. Stay home if you can. If you can't stay home, pack a blanket in your car just in case. And see below for tweets about what’s going on out there on the road.
2 new snowfall records set today! 1.3" so far at KSTL breaks previous record of 1.0" set in 1911. At KCOU, 1.1" breaks record of 0.4" set in 1911 as well. #stlwx #mowx #midmowx
— NWS St. Louis (@NWSStLouis) November 11, 2019
MoDOT reporting 270 NB drivers cannot currently get onto 64 WB @FOX2now #STLTraffic #STLWX
— Molly Rose (@MollyRoseTV) November 11, 2019
Multiple accidents on 367 near Redman and Dunn road. Tow trucks are doing to be busy. We do see several @MoDOT_StLouis plows out. #stlwx @KMOV pic.twitter.com/Bsf9OWoj2p
— Alexis Zotos (@alexiszotos) November 11, 2019
TRAFFIC ALERT: 70 EB CLOSED past T/W in Foristell, accident involving semi truck @FOX2now #STLTraffic #STLWx pic.twitter.com/CqhwOq99AC
— Molly Rose (@MollyRoseTV) November 11, 2019
Accident westbound 70 at 79...only the right lane is getting by. #stltraffic #stlwx pic.twitter.com/rR2NvTRg9m
— Sue Thomas (@susan6768) November 11, 2019
RIGHT NOW: 5 arrivals to @flystl
— Molly Rose (@MollyRoseTV) November 11, 2019
cancelled and 68 arrivals are delayed
2 departures cancelled & 62 departures delayed @FOX2now #STLWX #STLTraffic
RT MollyRoseTV: CLOSED: MoDOT reporting 44 WB is CLOSED past Antire Rd FOX2now #STLTraffic #STLWX pic.twitter.com/HGT5mgmNoH
— All things St. Louis (@WeLoveSTL) November 11, 2019
Latest snowfall totals as of 5PM. Please continue to send us storm total snow amounts (location/amounts/pictures)! #stlwx #mowx #ilwx pic.twitter.com/zfMax180QD
— NWS St. Louis (@NWSStLouis) November 11, 2019
Lots of taillights on the drive home tonight. Snow appears to have stopped falling in STL metro but many traffic problems persist. #stlwx pic.twitter.com/FeZCY2U0XS
— Jeff Bernthal (@JeffBernthal) November 11, 2019
And then there was this, our favorite tweet. Congratulations on your new deck, John. May it see many decades of snows.
Now that I got a deck, I can take deck photos when it snows. #stlwx #deckphoto pic.twitter.com/3seS9gw268
— John (@Guppy2019) November 11, 2019
