ST. LOUIS, Mo (KMOX) - Mixed precipitation is expected across the St. Louis area on Friday.
The storm system will bring snow, sleet and freezing rain in the late morning hours lasting through the afternoon.
The sleet and freezing rain could make travel in the afternoon and evening commute hazardous.
Following the quick-hitting round of snow and a blast of cold Canadian air at midweek, a potent storm system will take aim at the central United States before the week concludes.
The storm system first tracked into the West Coast, bringing snowfall to places like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, as well as rain and mountain snow to California.
Bitterly cold air settling in across the Plains and Great Lakes will lay the groundwork for accumulating snowfall across the northern tier of the United States late week.
Moisture was already gathering over the southern Plains and Rockies on Thursday. rain was falling on portions of central Texas and southern Arizona, while ice and snow began to occur farther north over the southern High Plains. Overnight Thursday, an icy mixture of precipitation was observed across a wide swath of the southern Plains.
As moisture from the Gulf of Mexico continued to fuel the storm system, a wintry mixture of precipitation spanned the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles into Kansas and Missouri before the Friday morning commute.
Where enough cold air remains in place, accumulating snow will spread across the northern tier on Friday. Snow is expected to pile up across a wide swath of the northern Plains and Midwest during the daytime hours.
Wintry weather will continue to track eastward into the western Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley Friday night. After starting out as snow late in the day on Friday in Chicago, warmer air creeping into the area could bring a brief window of freezing rain, then plain rain by Saturday morning before drying out later in the day.
A similar scenario could be possible for Grand Rapids and Detroit, Michigan, Friday night into Saturday. Precipitation will likely fall as all snow Friday night, then could mix in with some rain or ice during the day on Saturday.
Like snow over the northern tier, a glaze of ice is forecast over a broad area of the Central states with this storm.
"Areas from northeastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle to northern and central Indiana and northwestern Ohio can expect a thin glaze of ice that will make driving and walking slippery and hazardous," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
"Not all paved surfaces in this swath may become icy, but it is that uneven and spotty nature of the glaze that makes the situation more dangerous," Sosnowski said.
Some surfaces may appear wet, when in fact they may have a thin sheen of ice, known as black ice.
"Parts of northwestern Texas, western Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas, as well as portions of Missouri, southeastern Iowa and central Illinois may have enough ice on trees to raise the risk of power outages as well," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Courtney Travis.