Sandy responsible for extended stretch of fair weather in Northeast Mo.

Superstorm Sandy, which was punishing a large portion of the U.S.’s northeast corner for much of Monday, is actually responsible for an extended period of cool, dry and mostly sunny weather that is being seen in northeast Missouri.

According to Butch Dye, a meteorological technician with the National Weather Service, the hurricane is actually blocking a large high pressure system that was responsible for last weekend’s fair weather and days of sunny and dry conditions this week.

Although Sandy’s wind field extends for several hundred miles from its eye, Tuesday’s anticipated winds of from 15 to 25 mph in Hannibal will not be due to the storm.

“We’ve got a high pressure system over the upper midwest and a low out to the west, so basically you’re going to get winds from those two systems and not from the hurricane yet,” said Dye.

While forecasters warned of 20-foot waves along the Chicago lake front, that’s about as close as the storm’s direct impact will come to Hannibal, according to Dye.

“If it was coming up through the Gulf (of Mexico) or something, maybe... The high pressure over us is basically blocking anything coming from Sandy now. Maybe we’ll get some spill off clouds or something like that (from Sandy), but I don’t see it indicated in the forecast for Hannibal as of yet,” said Dye. “As of now we’re talking about lows in the mid 30s and highs in the lower 50s. It should be a few degrees warmer toward the weekend.”

In addition to pounding waves along the Great Lakes, the storm is expected to dump up to 3 feet of snow in West Virginia.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)