Snow Totals

Here are the snow totals from overnight courtesy of NBC Action Weather Blog:

* Gallatin, MO: 6.0"
* St. Joseph, MO: 3.5-5.0"
* Kearney, MO: 4.5"
* Plattsburg, MO: 4.2"
* Mound City, MO: 4.0"
* Platte City, MO: 3.5-4.25"
* Maryville, MO: 4.0"
* Smithville, MO: 4.0"
* Trenton, MO: 3.9"
* Overland Park, KS: 2.5-3.5"
* W. Shawnee, KS: 3.5"
* Lenexa, KS: 3-4"
* KCK: 3.25"
* Bonner Springs, KS: 3.5"
* Lawrence, KS: 2.5-3.7"
* Berryton, KS: 3.5"
* I-35 & N. Brighton Rd: 2.9"
* N.Oak & Barry Rd, MO: 2.5"
* Grandview, MO: 2.0"
* Lee's Summit, MO: 1.75"
* Blue Springs, MO: 1.75"
* Belton, MO: 1.0-2.0"
* Pleasant Hill, MO: 1.0"
* Grain Valley, MO: 1.0"
* Gunn City, MO: 0.75-1.0"
* 10 mi. N. of Warrensburg, MO: 0.25"
* Sedalia, MO: Light Dusting

And the cool visible satellite from this afternoon showing the wides expanse of fresh snow. Arctic air still on schedule for tomorrow afternoon. The cold air may squeeze out a few snow showers tomorrow afternoon as well.

Clear and COLD!

Good early morning to everyone! No school today for most of the metro! While it looks beautiful outside, it is bitterly cold out there. It is down to 11° here, and wind chills are in the single digits close to zero. Most everyone got a decent snowfall overnight, except of course areas off to the southeast got next to nothing, again! In Lenexa I have right at 4" of snow, with most of the west and north parts of the metro checking in with 3-4" of snow. It is a little more than I was expecting, mainly because of the larger area of snow that moved across late last night. This afternoon, even with 100% sunshine, temperatures are not going to warm up much at all. Lower twenties if you are lucky. If you have snow on the ground, temperatures will have a hard time getting out of the upper teens.

Tomorrow, we will warm up a little, if you can call it that, into the middle and upper twenties, before another blast of arctic air rolls in tomorrow evening. With the cold air, there is another chance of some light snow or snow showers. Then just extreme cold! Lows could get close to zero Saturday and Sunday mornings. After that, attention turns to a storm that will be affecting us next Monday. This storm could bring another chance for snow, or possibly (hope not) freezing rain.

I will post a snow total map later today, along with some cool satellite shots.

Déja Vu!

When have we seen a storm like this before!? The storm tomorrow looks to be taking a very similar track to the other storms this season, with the heaviest snow lining up for areas from Topeka to Leavenworth and St. Joe and points north and eastward.

Precipitation should begin as rain across the city and points southward, but could begin as snow in areas from Topeka to St. Joe. These are the areas that are expected to get the most snow from this system, as of right now. The city proper will likely get 1-3" of snow.

Snow is in the forecast!

Today turned out to be pretty chilly, with highs mostly in the lower 30s and upper 20s. Temperatures topped out at 32° at KCI and 33° downtown. Tomorrow a surge of warmer air will try to make it into the area. The warm front will stop just to the southwest of the city, leaving us in the cooler air. Highs tomorrow should make it into the upper 30s, before a cold front comes through on Wednesday.


Snow is looking more and more likely for Wednesday. After the passage of the cold front, snow should break out during the afternoon hours. Snow amounts are still questionable, but 1-2" of snow looks to be a good bet, with the possibility of more. Right now, I will leave it at a fairly widespread 1-2". I will fine tune the forecast as more data comes in and I am more confidant in the accumulations. The latest data from the NAM would suggest lower amounts, but I am not buying that trend yet.

Playing Catch up

After several days of computer problems, I am finally able to blog again! What a week it has been too. Two significant severe weather outbreaks. As of this writing, we are now up to 89 tornado reports for the month of January. That is incredible. The average for the entire month, is 34, and it is only the 11th. Lets hope this doesn't keep up!

Our weather was very interesting as well. I don't remember the last time that I saw thunderstorms and snow in the same 12 hour period, like we saw on Tuesday. That was very interesting. Then, to see that area of rain develop on top of us on Thursday was exciting as well. We are up to 1.05" of rain for this month/year. A very nice start to the year.

We got another break today from the active weather. The clear skys gave a neat view of the small area of snow to our north from yesterday.


The tranquil weather should continue for several more days before big changes begin to arrive. Tuesday, temperatures will climb into the upper 40s and lower 50s in front of a big push of cold air. The cold front will usher in some much colder air, as well as a chance of snow or rain. Right now it way too early to tell who will get snow or rain. The latest models push all the precip to our south, but this is still nearly a week away, and a lot will change. The cold air will probably stick around for a while, so we will likely have several more chances of snow this month.

I will try to start blogging more often. I had hoped to have more posts this week, but computer problems kept me from even updating my forecast graphics.

What a warm up!

It sure felt good outside today. I am a huge fan of winter weather, but a break once in a while isn't so bad I guess. I was worried yesterday that we didn't melt off enough of the snow with cloudy skies most of the day. But rising temperatures overnight took care of that. I went to bed last night with a mostly snow covered yard, and woke up with almost no snow. Temperatures this afternoon have made it into the upper 50s in most places, with areas from Downtown and southward getting to around 60 or a little higher. Areas to the north were socked in by clouds part of the day, and with a snow pack still on the ground, have only made it into the 40s. Tomorrow should be even warmer with the continued southerly breeze. Highs in the middle 60s are possible, especial from KC southward. To the north, a small cold front and any snow that is left will probably keep them in the 50s.

On Monday, a storm system will be approaching from the west. It will be bringing a chance of rain. Right now, it is hard to say if it will mix or change to snow yet. The latest data gives us hardly any rain at all, then a slight chance of snow. The models have been fairly inconsistent once again with this system, and confidence is still rather low at this point.

Massive West Coast Storm

I know this is not near Kansas City, but the storm forecast to hit the west coast tomorrow is just incredible. I have been looking at some of the advisories coming out for California and the Sierra Nevada's and cannot believe what I am seeing. Several FEET of snow and over 100 MPH winds, in some cases up to 145 MPH. The NWS office in Reno has mentioned the possibility of up to 8" an hour snow rates. This is one heck of a storm. Here is an exert from one of the warnings for the Sierra Nevada:

SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON-
TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
457 PM PST THU JAN 3 2008

LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT...THEN INCREASE IN INTENSITY BY
FRIDAY MORNING. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL WILL OCCUR FRIDAY AFTERNOON
THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. BY THE TIME SNOW BEGINS TO DIMINISH SATURDAY..
TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 7 TO 12 FEET ARE LIKELY OVER THE HIGHEST
ELEVATIONS. SNOW LEVELS WILL START OUT AROUND 7000 FEET TONIGHT..
LOWER TO AROUND 6000 FEET FRIDAY...THEN LOWER TO 4500 TO 5000 FEET
SATURDAY.

IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW...STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL BUFFET THE
THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING AND CREATE
CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WITH LOCAL WHITEOUT
CONDITIONS. LOCAL WIND GUSTS OF 100 MPH OR HIGHER ARE LIKELY ALONG
THE SIERRA CREST THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT.

Here is another for the Lake Tahoe area:

GREATER LAKE TAHOE AREA-MONO-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...SOUTH LAKE TAHOE...TAHOE CITY...
TRUCKEE...MARKLEEVILLE...BRIDGEPORT...COLEVILLE...LEE VINING...
MAMMOTH LAKES...GLENBROOK...INCLINE VILLAGE
916 PM PST THU JAN 3 2008

...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM FRIDAY TO 10 AM
PST SATURDAY...

SNOW COULD BRIEFLY CHANGE TO RAIN BELOW 7000 FEET FRIDAY
AFTERNOON...BEFORE SNOW LEVELS FALL TO BELOW 6000 FEET FRIDAY
EVENING. EXTREMELY HEAVY SNOW WILL OCCUR FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH
SATURDAY MORNING WITH SNOWFALL RATES UP TO 6 INCHES PER HOUR.

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING WILL BE 3 TO
5 FEET ABOVE 7000 FEET WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS ALONG THE SIERRA
CREST...AND 1 TO 3 FEET BELOW 7000 FEET...INCLUDING THE LAKE
TAHOE BASIN. LARGE AND DEEP SNOW DRIFTS WILL OCCUR DUE TO STRONG
WINDS PRODUCING BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.

STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...WITH THE MOST
DANGEROUS WINDS FROM EARLY FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING.
WIND GUSTS UP TO 70 MPH WILL BE COMMON WITH GUSTS NEAR 145 MPH
OVER THE SIERRA RIDGES. THESE STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH THE
HEAVY SNOW TO BRING BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AT ALL SIERRA
PASSES...WITH A PERIOD OF BLIZZARD CONDITIONS REACHING LOWER
ELEVATIONS FRIDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY.

Back at home, expect windy conditions tomorrow, with even warmer temperatures. High should reach into the upper 40s, close to 50 tomorrow afternoon. With the southerly winds still howling on Saturday, expect even warmer temperatures, closing in on 60 by Sunday.

Big Warm Up..... How Long Will It Last?

We are headed for a big warm up for the end of the week and the weekend. This will bring a much needed break from the frigid temperatures that we have been experiencing for the past several weeks. Temperatures could approach record levels on Sunday, allowing everyone to thaw out from the parade of winter storms that have pounded the region.

Southwesterly winds will pick up tomorrow during the morning and will start to bring temperatures up even before the sun is up. With snow on the ground over much of the area, temperatures will be hampered a little bit, but should still make it into the middle if not upper 30s. Then, it is off to the races into the weekend. Southerly winds will pump in much warmer and more moist air, which will bring temperatures into the 40s on Friday, and into the 50s, near 60 on Saturday. Early next week, another storm system will move into the Midwest, and bring us a chance of rain, even thunderstorms. The storm system will being temperatures back to seasonal levels by Tuesday or Wednesday. There is still a slight chance that there is snow on the backside of the system, so it will have to be watched closely.

Here is a snow totals map from the Dec. 28-29th snow storm: