Lack of snow may hurt in spring

During a normal winter in Mid-Missouri, we should see around 13.6 inches of snow.

Last year, only 8 inches fell. Unless something radically changes, this season's total will be far below that.

According to the National Weather Service in St. Louis, which does the forecasts for this area, the official reporting station for Mid-Missouri, the Columbia Regional Airport, has only reported 1.6 inches of snow so far this winter.

"There have been snowstorms in March and some of the bigger snowfalls on record occurred in that month. So we like to use the phrase 'never say never,'" meteorologist Kevin Deitsch said.

This week's forecast, and the long-range forecast through the end of February, looks more like a springtime forecast than winter.

By the end of this week, we should be back around 70 degrees. Through the end of the month, temperatures are expected to stay milder than what we normally would see at this time of the year.

"Going into next week we see a wetter pattern possibly developing, so there maybe some better shots at least at some moisture," Deitsch said.

For most of this winter, Deitsch said, Missouri has seen major weather systems either go to the north or south of the state.

"Most of the cold air has stayed shut up to the north," he said. "We've had systems move through, but they haven't had the cold air to work with. They've just been dry and not much moisture to work with."

Looking at where we should be from Jan. 1 through now, Deitsch said the average precipitation amount would be nearly 3 inches. This year, just over an inch.

"That could hurt later, because you don't want to be dry heading into spring," he said. "If you are then, you get into drought concerns into the summer months."

Deitsch said much of Missouri would be classified as abnormally dry, but not in a drought yet. 

A portion of south central Missouri along the Arkansas border and an area around Hannibal along the Mississippi River are classified as having moderate drought conditions.

With major snowstorms hitting the west and east coasts in recent weeks, you might think a weather forecaster's job in Missouri has been boring, but Deitsch said that's not the case.

"If we don't get the precipitation, then we start thinking about fire dangers, and we have to be on alert for that," he said. "There's always something we have to be on the lookout for."