Winter storm watch issued for region

Union County could be experiencing another round of wintry weather today.

The National Weather Service, NWS, forecast office in Paducah issued a winter storm watch for the region Tuesday afternoon.

The watch area included the southern tip of Illinois,  and much of Southeast Missouri and Western Kentucky.

An upper level storm system is forecast to move across the area by tonight and Friday.

A cold front was expected to move through the area Wednesday night, bringing with it precipitation starting out as rain and then possibly mixing briefly with light sleet or snow.

Round two is expected tonight and into Friday.

Snow is expected to develop across Southeast Missouri by this evening and then spread east across the southern tip of Illinois and Western Kentucky.

The snow is expected to continue into Friday morning before tapering off in the afternoon.

Initital forecasts indicated that snowfall amounts could reach 4 to 6 inches or more in some areas affected by the storm.

Travel conditions may deteriorate rapidly tonight and could remain extremely hazardous into the day Friday. Temperatures will be in the 20s.

The possibility of bad weather follows a period which brought milder temperatures to the area.

The high temperature for the past week in Union County was 58 degrees. The low for the week was 26.

Precipitation for the period included .67 of an inch Jan. 20, .84 of an inch Jan. 21, .45 of an inch Jan. 24 and .06 of an inch Jan. 25.

Following are temperatures for the week as recorded by official weather observer Dana Cross in Anna:

                                  H   L

Wednesday, Jan. 20  58  45

Thursday, Jan. 21     58  52

Friday, Jan. 22          54  35

Saturday, Jan. 23      55  41

Sunday, Jan. 24        56  47

Monday, Jan. 25       47  32

Tuesday, Jan. 26       36  26