Snow hits California

A good time was had by all Jan. 11, 2019, for the Wemerson children. Snow hit California in the mid-afternoon hours on that Friday, which made for the first time Isabella, Lucas and Max Wemerson have ever seen or touched snow. Sara Blecke Ferreria, left, shows Isabella, 3, how to make a snowball. Behind them, Max crouches to follow suite while Lucas looks on.
A good time was had by all Jan. 11, 2019, for the Wemerson children. Snow hit California in the mid-afternoon hours on that Friday, which made for the first time Isabella, Lucas and Max Wemerson have ever seen or touched snow. Sara Blecke Ferreria, left, shows Isabella, 3, how to make a snowball. Behind them, Max crouches to follow suite while Lucas looks on.

Jack Frost took his time visiting California during this winter season. Realizing this, he made up for the wait Jan. 11 with heavy snowflakes that began falling just before noon.

Come Jan. 12, nearly 6 inches of snow had accumulated in the local area. This was a new development in the lives of the Wemerson children. Just as the snow began to gather, Isabella, 3, Lucas, 10, and Max, 13, ran outside with their parents to see what the fuss was about.

"This is their first time seeing snow," their mother, Sara Blecke-Ferreria said. "They're from Brazil and have never seen this before."

The trio, like many Californians, had fun together making snow angels and snowmen around town.

The City of California Street Department Supervisor Vic Mauer said his department ran four trucks with plows and salt spreaders all over town to keep up with the snow.

"We ran the trucks for twenty-four hours until about Sunday afternoon," Mauer said. "We split shifts with the Parks department on our runs. Now we're working on hauling snow where people were parked, just to gear up for this weekend, apparently."

While the frost collected, however, the snow rendered the roadways dangerous for travelers in the entire state. As of Jan. 13, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 4,000 calls, 1,800 stranded drivers, 878 crashes, 57 injuries and four fatalities as Missourians made their way from one point to another.

Power was lost to thousands of homes within the state, but California did not suffer as much as most, according to California Electric Supervisor Tyler Dicus.

"There was just one outage, it was nice," Dicus said. "There was just one limb that came down and knocked a circuit down on the north side of town. So not much excitement."

However, a large amount of rural homes were affected by electrical outages. With the difficult conditions, Sunday church services and various weekend events were cancelled to ensure the safety of congregations.

As far as accumulation, Moniteau County saw a fairly wide range of depth within the county line. The National Weather Service-Saint Louis Meteorologist-in-charge Sally Johnson said the southern portion of Moniteau County gathered 6-8 inches of snow, while in the northern region of the county, 8-12 inches of snow was measured. This approximation could be changed for future snowstorms, Johnson said.

"We just want everyone to know that we always appreciate reports from people," Johnson said. "Anyone can measure the snow and call the numbers in to us, or just tweet it. That would help the estimation considerably."

In order to file a weather report to the National Weather Service, send them a message on Facebook via "U.S. National Weather Service," on Twitter at @NWSStLouis, or give them a call at 1-636-441-8467.