Around the Counties
One more sticky day, and then the front comes through. Highs climb into the low-to-mid 90s today with a heat index between 100 and 105, and a slow-moving cold front is sitting just to our north. ABC 17 News puts the best rain chances from 3 p.m. through the evening, with the heaviest rain overnight and one to two inches possible by morning. The severe threat is low — mostly gusty wind in the stronger storms. Thursday flips completely: lows in the 60s, highs in the 70s and 80s. If you’ve got outside work you’ve been putting off, finish it this morning or wait for tomorrow.
Archery deer season opens Tuesday, and a lot of the rules changed. The Missouri Department of Conservation opens archery deer on Sept. 15, and this is the year to read the book before you head out. The antler-point restriction has been removed for all counties. The CWD Management Zone is gone as a zone, but conservation says regulations still apply in some counties — and in those designated counties, a deer taken during the November portion has to go to a mandatory CWD sampling station the same day it’s harvested. Grain, salt, and mineral attractants are now prohibited year-round in counties within 10 miles of a place CWD has been detected. Permit prices went up. And nonresident archery and firearms permit holders may now take only one antlered deer across both seasons combined. Check MDC’s county list against the ground you actually hunt.
A free health fair for older neighbors, week after next. The Active & Aging Health Resource Fair runs Sept. 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the MU Health Care Pavilion, 1701 W. Ash St. in Columbia. Inside Columbia reports that Services for Independent Living is hosting, admission is free, and it’s aimed at folks 55 and up — though anyone thinking ahead about aging well is welcome. It’s a roomful of local organizations in one place, which is the kind of morning that saves a half-dozen phone calls.
Happening Soon
Thursday is a two-stop day in town. The Daniel Boone Library Bookmobile parks at 205 Central from 3 to 6:30 p.m. — books, music, DVDs, and pickup for anything you’ve already requested. Then Locals Night runs 4 to 7 p.m. at Katy’s Fork in the Trail on Central, with dinner service and the week’s menu posted ahead.
Friday morning the Friends of Rocheport Mum Sale opens at 10 a.m. and runs through Saturday afternoon — $15 mums, while supplies last. And Second Saturday fills Sept. 12 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: demos around town in violin making, blacksmithing, and candle making, open artist studios, the farmers market from 10 to 2, author James Owen at Missouri Life from 10 to 12:30, Cajun specials at Katy’s Fork, live Cajun music at Pataskala Coffee House from 2:30 to 5, and a plein air wet-paint sale from 2 to 6. Artists, the call for the Paint ‘en Plein Air’ gathering is still open.
Outdoors & River
The Missouri River at Boonville is reading 6.05 feet this morning and rising, nowhere near flood stage. With one to two inches of rain likely overnight, that number has somewhere to go — worth another look before you put in at the ramp or walk the bank below town this weekend.
Roads & I-70
Providence Road is still closed over I-70. Our road board this morning shows Missouri Route 163 closed at the interstate, both I-70 ramps to Route 163 closed with it, and outer-road closures near I-70 Drive and out at Cedar Creek. If your Columbia errand normally runs through Exit 126, it still doesn’t.
MoDOT wants to hear from you about three Columbia intersections. The department is taking public comment on safety work at Missouri Route 763 (College Avenue) at University Avenue and at Rollins Street, and at Boone County Route B (Paris Road) at East Brown Station Road, with construction expected in 2027. Per MoDOT’s release, there’s an open-house meeting Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the General Services Building, Room 194A, 900 E. Stadium Blvd. in Columbia — no formal presentation, just stop in when you can. A three-week comment period runs Sept. 15 through Oct. 6; comments go through the project webpage, by email to CDCR@modot.mo.gov, or by mail, and have to be received or postmarked by Oct. 6.
And the third-lane work continues between here and Boonville. The $104 million Improve I-70 project adding a third lane each direction across the 13 miles from Route 5 at Boonville to the Rocheport bridge is in construction through late 2027, with nighttime lane closures part of the routine. Slow down and watch the signing through there, especially with rain moving in tonight.
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