Bags of sand, rather than ice melt may be the appropriate item to have on hand in advance of a large winter storm that will be sweeping through the central part of the U.S. this week.
“It does look primarily like a rain event,” said Mark Fuchs, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service (NWS).
According to a special weather statement from the NWS Monday afternoon, rainfall accumulations in excess of 2 inches are possible with the storm with locally higher amounts.
According to Fuchs, that much rainfall during the winter months can create a flood threat.
“Any time you have frozen ground or some snow cover to deal with as a system comes in you have to concern yourself with that possibility,” he said. “The snow with the frozen ground translates into a quick runoff. Most of the rain that falls does not go into the ground, but runs off into streams and brings the streams up that much faster. What commonly takes 2.5 to 3 inches of rain to get some significant runoff may only take an inch (when the ground is frozen).
For additional details, see the Tuesday, Dec. 22, edition of the Hannibal Courier-Post.
