Well the snow started falling around 4:30 a.m. out here on the far Eastern Plains, and it has just continued to intensify throughout the day. Winds have been sustained at 25 to 40 mph since around 6:00 a.m., and gusts have easily surpassed 50 mph. Combined with air temperatures in the low twenties, windchills are around -20 to -30 below zero!
At times visibilities have dropped to near zero, a couple of times I couldn't even see out five feet past the windows of our house. I think we've already easily had 8 to 10 inches of snow, and it just keeps coming down fast and furious. Drifts are mostly in the three to five foot range at this point and by the time the storm winds down I think there may be six to eight foot drifts in some locations.
The storm is currently centered over the Oklahoma Panhandle and it is stalled out. This is apparent on the visible satellite loop. It now appears that the low pressure center will likely remain nearly stationary through the rest of the day, into the overnight hours and into Thursday morning before grudgingly shifting northeast Thursday midday. So given the latest data, it now seems likely that the heavy snowfall will last longer than expected, which is reflected in the fact that the Boulder WFO extended the Blizzard warning until noon tomorrow, and this could mean much greater storm total accumulations than currently forecast. I'm going to follow my gut and say that the storm isn't going to let up until the early afternoon hours tomorrow, and that when all is said and done, the following areas will see the following accumulations:
Eastern Plains: 1 to 2 feet, 2 1/2 feet in orographically favored areas
Front Range: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet, up to 3 feet in orographically favored areas
Palmer Divide/Foothills: 2 to 3 feet, up to 3 1/2 feet in orographically favored areas
Those are some pretty darn impressive snow totals!
All in all a tremendous blizzard, a classic "High Plains Drifter", the likes of which we haven't seen in many years, and I'm with Verne here, this is going to be one for the record books! At least one advantage to this being a blizzard over a regular snowstorm, even thought the snow is really wet, with the wind whipping it around, the snow gets blown off the powerlines and tree branches before it can melt onto them, refreeze and weigh them down. So at least power outages don't seem to be as much of a threat with this storm as with others in the past, thank god.
It's one of those days just to heat up a cup of hot cocoa or cider, curl up in your favorite chair by the fireplace and watch the snow whizz past your windows on the wicked winter wind.
