Wild Weather Wrap Up, Look Ahead

In the time since my last blog, we have had four fairly significant storms. The first, which occurred at the end of November, broke the long stretch of dry, boring weather, and brought us a quarter to half inch of rain. The storm had been forecast to bring some freezing rain, but warm air surged north and brought the temperatures to to 66 by midnight. A few days later, on December 5th, cold arctic air blew in and a "surprise" snow storm brought us our first one inch of snow, with most areas receiving one to three inches of snow.

The next, was an extremely drawn out storm, two storms really, spanning five days. First, it brought a quick dose of freezing rain and drizzle on the morning of December 8th, quickly icing up the roads and causing several major accidents. The storm then produced occasional periods of freezing drizzle and sleet until the main event arrived on December 10th. Freezing rain moved into the area in the evening and ice rapidly began to build up on trees and power lines. Just as the KC metro was about to have a major ice storm, slightly warmer air filtered into the region. Temperatures rose to right around 32°, and very little icing occurred afterward. However, parts of northern Missouri and Kansas were not as lucky, where significant icing occurred and some areas remain without power. Map:


Our latest storm produced all snow across eastern Kansas and Western Missouri. The snow started falling around midnight of December 14th, and continued into the evening hours of the 15th. Dry air that got drawn into the storm helped to cut snow totals by several inches in an area from Laurence, Kansas, to Chillicothe, Missouri, Most parts of the city received between one and fours inches of snow. Areas off to the northwest and the southeast received a bit more, with up to six inches reported in some areas. Here is a map of the storm totals.


Now, finally, a look at the forecast for this upcoming week. We will finally be getting a short break from the wild weather. Skys should be mostly sunny for Monday and Tuesday, with much warmer temperatures than we have had for a couple of weeks. In fact, temperatures could reach as high as 50 by Tuesday. Then a weak system will move through Wednesday into Thursday, with a slight chance for showers or drizzle. Then, after a quick setback on Thursday, temperatures warm back to near 50° on Friday, ahead of our next system on Saturday. It is too far away right now to speculate what kind of impacts the storm will have on our region, so stay tuned as the storm approaches over the next several days.