Seneca, McDonald County roll on opening night of Seneca tournament

SENECA, Mo. – (WATCH) Seneca and McDonald County roll to blowout wins Monday night in the opening night of the Seneca girls tournament.

McDonald County beats Purdy 64-14 in the first game of the evening, with Samara Smith leading the way with 21 points.

Aliya Grotjohn scores 26 for Seneca in the second game of the night, leading the Indians to a 66-32 win over Monett.

#6 Carl Junction cruises by Neosho for 4th straight win

CARL JUNCTION, Mo. – (WATCH) Carl Junction tops Neosho 53-28 Monday night for their 4th straight win.

The Bulldogs are now 15-5 on the season, ranked #6 in the state in Class 5.

Explainer: What was in the sky tonight? Space X Falcon 9 lift off from Cape Canaveral

JOPLIN, Mo. – Many people saw above the sky this evening an odd looking, swirling cloud.  It was the trail of a SpaceX Falcon 9 COSMO SkyMed FM2 Mission that took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

This Falcon 9 rocket will launch an Italian observer satellite.

People across the Midwest were able to view it including here in the Joplin area.

Mountain Grove Fire Dept release details so people in their district know what was going on, “Exhaust left from the Space X launch in the atmosphere. If you have some photos fill free to share. These are from various places but it’s been seen across the US.”

You can watch it below on the Livestream of the launch from Space X.  The amazing thing to watch is not only lift off but also touchdown of the booster rockets.  They return to earth and land upright on the launch pad.

 

Rain picking up Tuesday before our winter storm gets going – Nick

Good Monday evening, everyone. Mother Nature sure knows how to tease us, doesn’t she? After a cold start around 30 this morning, our south wind on the warm side of our incoming storm system and mostly sunny skies really warmed us up for today. Not only was Joplin Regional’s high of 68 much warmer than our normal high of 46, it wasn’t too far off from the record high of 75 set back in 1989. Looking at the map down below, our next big change in the weather at the surface is coming out of the Central Plains and the Rockies in the form of a cold front.

As the cold front starts working in on Tuesday and starts to pick up Gulf moisture while the upper levels start coming into play as well, we’ll have that result in increasing clouds through the night and rain chances picking up for late Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon. While the cloudy skies and increasing rain chances won’t leave much wiggle room for temperatures, we’ll still have lows around 51 and push into the middle to upper 50s for the afternoon.

Beyond Tuesday afternoon, the focus will be on the dropping temperatures as the cold front works through and the moisture plans on sticking around. Most areas may start early Wednesday morning out with rain chances. However, we’ll switch to a mix of freezing rain, sleet and rain for much of Wednesday morning. After a little lull with light freezing rain and sleet to start the afternoon, temperatures at the surface and upstairs will turn cold enough to switch us mainly over to snow from Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday. Because of this projected setup, we have winter storm watches across the entire area that will go into effect late Tuesday evening and won’t expire until late Thursday night.

Let’s use the Future Track to break this system down. Tuesday evening below shows how much of the area will deal with mainly moderate rain showers before the colder air starts to work in from the northwest.

Heading to the midnight hour on Wednesday, you can see how the freezing line will want to quickly work toward the US 400 and 160 corridors. Areas north of that freezing line will start to see the rain switch over to a mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet while areas closer to the I-44 corridor and south of there will still hold on to just rain chances. It certainly is possible for some of our far northern communities to start switching over to snow as the colder air at the surface and aloft start to work in.

By 7 AM Wednesday, the southern half of the area will see a mix of freezing rain and sleet while the northern half will see temperatures cold enough to switch things over to snow. If you have to get to work Wednesday morning, be sure you keep this in mind and allow some extra time for the commute.

By late Wednesday morning and early Wednesday afternoon, we’ll get into a lighter lull with some areas of light freezing drizzle, light sleet and a few areas of light snow flurries. Even with that being the case, temperatures will continue to drop into the middle and lower 20s throughout the course of the afternoon. By late afternoon, another upper-level push of energy and another wave along the cold front will start to bring another push of moisture our way. You can see how that will allow additional snow and sleet to start working in by 4 o’clock Wednesday afternoon.

For Wednesday evening and heading into early Thursday morning, everyone will deal with moderate to heavy snow. In fact, some of the heavier bands of snow could be capable of dropping snow at a rate of 1 to 2 inches an hour. With temperatures dropping into the upper teens by midnight Thursday and into the middle teens by sunrise Thursday, this will absolutely be snow that will stick. Once we get past 8 AM Thursday, we’ll back things down to some scattered light snow showers on Thursday with highs topping out around 20.

In terms of how much ice (freezing rain in this case) we could see, most of the area will see at least a tenth of an inch of ice. With some spots pushing close to a quarter of an inch of ice may not cause a big concern with power, this will cause some issues on the road as we’ll start to see the wintry mix begin late Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

In terms of snow, sleet being thrown into the mix will have an impact on totals across the area. For our southern counties, we’re expecting a range of 5 to 8 inches of snow due to a bit of a prolonged period of sleet. Much of the area in the blue will see snow totals range between 5 and 10 inches with some sleet mixed in. For areas around Nevada, Uniontown, Fort Scott, Mound City Butler, the Harry Truman Reservoir and up into central and eastern Missouri, the snow amounts look to range between 9 and 13 inches.

There is still a chance that these expected amounts of ice and snow could be further tweaked as we get a better handle of how temperatures and the track of this system will play out. With that said, just stick with us and you’ll know what to expect with this winter storm. Once we get this storm system behind us, we’ll dry our for the weekend and early next week. It will stay cold for a bit, though. Single digits for Friday and Saturday morning (especially 3 for Saturday morning) before we see highs back in the middle 20s on Friday and middle 30s on Saturday. Fortunately, we’ll hold in the middle 30s on Sunday before we head back near 40 on Monday. Doug has you covered with his long range forecast through early March down below. Have a great Monday!

Nick

Feb 8th-12th:  Staying cool Tuesday through Thursday.  We do warm up a bit by Friday with thunderstorms, then colder with rain or snow chances on Saturday.

Feb 13th-19th:  A cold start to the week with mild temperatures and rain chances returning by Tuesday.  Staying mild with thunderstorms possible on Thursday, then much colder with rain and snow chances on Friday and Saturday.

Feb 20th-26th:  The first half of the week cold but mild temps the second half of the week.  Slight chances for rain on Thursday and Friday.

Feb 27th-March 5th:  A mild start on Sunday and Monday, then cool the rest of the week.  Rain chances on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  Best chances on Wednesday and Friday.

March 6th-12th:  Cool all week with rain or snow chances on Sunday and Monday.  Much colder through the middle of the week with rain or snow chances returning by Friday.

College eSports org. sponsors game night

NEOSHO, Mo. – Roughrider eSports hosts game night featuring games like Super Smash Bro.’s and Mariokart.

Press Start Game night will feature games, drinks, and pizza.

The event is open to Crowder students and will begin at 4:30 p.m. today.

Information on eSports and Project Now scholarships will be available.

Beekeeper class helps students learn the basics

JOPLIN, Mo. – Interested in becoming a beekeeper? This class at the Joplin Greenhouse teaches new beekeepers the basics.

Hosted by Jill Carr and the Joplin Area Beekeepers Association, the class exposes yearning beekeepers to the following:

  • The real job of the queen
  • The proper clothing and tools available
  • How to check for problems/how to deal with them
  • The excitement of getting to know your bees
  • The benefits of bees.

Participants will even taste their own honey after cultivation.

The classes will be every Monday through the month of February. To learn more, click here.

Police search for drug-trafficking suspect following chase

PARSONS Kan. – Police officers in Parsons, Kansas search for a wanted man after he escapes a car chase on foot.

On January 30th around 2:00 a.m., Parson’s Police Officers noticed a car making multiple traffic violations while traveling north.

Police tried to stop the vehicle, but the suspect fled the scene.

Following a brief chase, police say the suspect exited his moving vehicle and continued on foot.

The suspect’s vehicle continued down the road until it crashed into a parking lot, damaging three other vehicles.

Previous warrants

Though the suspect escaped, officers identified him as Jason Anderson-Mosley, 36, of Parsons.

Police say they have warrants for his arrest in Labette County on drug charges and Allen County for drug charges with nationwide extradition.

Police statement

Anderson-Mosley has prior convictions for felony robbery and drug charges in SE Kansas, and he is listed on the KBI Offender Registry as a Violent Offender, according to police.

“Here is another example of the criminal justice system failing citizens,” said Robert Spinks Parsons Chief of Police. “A multi-time convicted felon working his illegal trade from Coffeyville to Pittsburg, to Parsons and beyond. A registered violent offender, who has a fistful of outstanding arrest warrants..”

As officers continue to follow up on the case, they say there is probable cause to arrest Anderson-Moseley. Authorities urge those who have information about Jason Anderson-Mosley to call 620-421-7060.

Police pursuit ends as pickup slams into utility pole

JOPLIN, Mo. — Just after 4:45 p.m. Monday reports of a pickup crashed into a utility pole at Zora and S Independence Ave. Neighbors said power was out.

On scene Ofc Josh Dykstra tells us it was the end of a police pursuit initiated minutes prior to the crash.

Male subject was wanted on a Felony Burglary Warrant and was spotted by officers. Officers attempted to perform a Felony Car Stop and the pickup fled beginning about N St Louis and Trenton Ave.

The pursuit weaved in and out of Royal Heights until crashing into the utility pole, knocking out power to the area.

Both occupants of the pickup were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The male driver will face additional charges

The female passenger has no pending charges.

Liberty Utilities on scene will have to replace at least one pole. Expect power to be restored later into the evening. 

This is a breaking news story. We anticipate more information from Joplin Police Tuesday. Stay with KOAM News Now for updates.

An updated look at our next winter storm (6 PM January 31st)

Our updated look at the incoming winter storm still shows accumulating wintry precipitation coming along for the ride. You can see on the timeline that the system will start as rain chances Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday evening. Once the temperatures start to drop after midnight Wednesday, we’ll start switching over to a mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet for our Wednesday morning. Once we get into Wednesday afternoon, our mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow will switch over to snow by late afternoon and Wednesday evening. After a period of heavy snow Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, the bulk of the system will back down to some periods of light snow for the rest of the day.

As far as expected ice amounts, let’s look at freezing rain potential. Much of the area can expect any freezing rain amounts to range between a tenth and a quarter of an inch. The heaviest of any expected freezing rain with this system will stay mainly just to the south and east of the region.

As for expected snow and sleet totals across the area, the entire region should expect to see the combined amounts range between 5 and 10 inches before the bulk of the snow clears out late Thursday.

If temperatures won’t allow for a quick switch to snow Wednesday and Thursday, the snow amounts could edge closer to 5 inches. If we see a faster transition to snow on Wednesday, we could see the snow amounts push closer to 10 inches. With some finer details not quite set in stone, some of these expected amounts could certainly change a bit over the next day or day and a half. We’ll keep you updated.