UPDATES throughout at 9 a.m. with snow ending; road conditions

Traffic and sunshine helped churn away an overnight storm that brought three to five inches of snow, strong winds and falling temperatures.

Crews plowed and salted, but winds near 20 mph kept covering traffic lanes back up with the blowing, powdery snow. Area highway departments planned to keep plowing all day to finish the job.

"On the interstates, some are mostly cleared and some still partially covered," Kara Price, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said shortly before 9 a.m. "Bridges and ramps are still a little slick."

Snowfall Monday night and this morning totaled 3.8 inches at the National Weather Service office in Weldon Spring and 2.7 inches at Lambert St. Louis International Airport, home to the area's official gauge. The Weather Service said snow measured four to five inches in the western and northwestern reaches of the greater metro area, and three inches or fewer in some parts of the Metro East.

The temperature was 29 degrees at midnight, but began falling quickly after 3 a.m. It was 14 degrees at the start of the heavy traffic and 11 degrees by 9 a.m. Stiff winds gusted to 21 mph this morning.

St. Louis streets director Todd Waelterman said that combination kept the salt and chemicals from clearing the traffic lanes. While standing at West Florissant Avenue and Riverview Boulevard in north St. Louis, he said, "Half of Florissant is clear, but the north side keeps being re-covered with snow blowing over from Calvary Cemetery."

School closings today were numerous and widespread. Among them were Alton and Hillsboro, O'Fallon districts on both sides of the metro area, Parkway, Rockwood and Belleville. A few schools announced snow schedules.

This winter season, St. Louis has recorded 10.7 inches of snow. Heavier storms have struck to the north, east and south but only grazed this area. Snow was falling this morning in Chicago, where as much as a foot was expected. And as the storm heads east, there's a chance for more heavy snow in the Mid-Altantic states, parts of which were buried by a blizzard last week.

In St. Louis, the pattern this winter has been forecasts of snow that don't pan out.

The area normally gets 18.5 inches of snow annually, with 14 inches of that in December through February. The area's last noteworthy snow was in late January 2009, when a storm brought six or seven inches of snow here but covered much of southern Missouri and neighboring states with thick ice.

Light snow was possible through the day today, and parts of southern Illinois east of St. Louis could get another inch. The high today will be near 25 with winds gusting to 30 mph, and a low tonight near 21. No more snow was forecast through the week, but the low overnight Wednesday could drop to 10 degrees.