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Friday, November 15, 2019

Meteor fireball and significant icy road event in St. Louis - November 11, 2019

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

On Monday, November 11, an overperforming light snow event caught DOT crews in the St. Louis are off guard, resulting in a significant road icing event that caused gridlock in the metro. The worst conditions were on the northwestern side of the metro in and around St. Charles County, where untreated roads became impassable for many vehicles as traffic packed the snow into a smooth glaze of ice.

While this was ongoing, a large meteor fireball exploded in the skies overhead, making international headlines.

I started my coverage of the winter weather at 8:00 AM Monday, and did not finish until 7 AM the following morning (a 23-hour day). I fortunately had my camera rolling in St. Charles when the meteor fireball happened. Although I wasn't pointing directly at it, the blue flash in the sky is visible, and the reflection of the meteor itself can be seen in the windows of a pickup truck I was filming in the foreground:

My car was parked underneath of an overpass at the time, so the view of the meteor on my dashcams was completely blocked.

The icy road event resulted in a few compelling video sequences covered by these two clips I posted on Youtube. Vehicles repeatedly spun out on the eastbound I-70 Blanchette Bridge in St. Charles, and later vehicles struggled on the treacherous roads into the night. I-70 was blocked by cars and trucks unable to climb the hill east of Zumbehl Road. The chaos resembled that of winter precipitation events I've documented in the southern US states, where salt trucks are few and far between. Many roads in St. Charles County were not clear of ice until late Tuesday morning.