12/22/09-12/25/09 Midwest Winter Storm

[Justin Griffith]

It got icy here early today. Late this morning the roads were terrible, very slick. I-44 way icy but still moving pretty well. We got sleet this morning, then about an 1" of snow on top.

It's a cold white Christmas, the way it should be!

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

Snow has made its way back into the KC metro with winds whipping up again, nothing blizzard like but still considerable. Didn't expect this maybe a few snow showers but we have had a solid light/moderate snow for several hours now.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Confirmed ice-related accident toll from this storm is 24 with reports still coming in. This number is ice-triggered crashes only, does not include casualties from exposure or overexertion.

 

[Billy Griffin]

In layman's terms, I find it quite impressive how long this system is holding together, and especially how it is now moving WESTERLY, backing up and appears to be regenerating!

Blizzard Warnings continue for most of the nothern Plains. Jet stream analysis is just crazy with the mid-conus trough!
Almost looks as if the center of the new Low will be over central Nebraska soon, moving southwesterly into NW Kansas. I don't recall seeing anything this strong and sustained.

 

[jshields]

today has been pretty disappointing, as far as omaha and immediate areas are concerned. we were at 8-10" by 6am this morning, and the early morning forecast had the blizzard warning continuing with another 5-10" today and tonight. well the winds have really died down as the low has retrograded back towards western iowa, and outside of a little burst around 4pm it really hasn't snowed much at all since early morning. most of the snow today has fallen west and southwest of here. i would say we've added maybe 1-1.5" here today, and maybe another 1-2" will fall through tomorrow afternoon. drifts and everything are pretty impressive, but oh what a scene it would have been 15-20" total and the high winds continuing!!

 

[MatthewCarman]

today has been pretty disappointing, as far as omaha and immediate areas are concerned. we were at 8-10" by 6am this morning, and the early morning forecast had the blizzard warning continuing with another 5-10" today and tonight. well the winds have really died down as the low has retrograded back towards western iowa, and outside of a little burst around 4pm it really hasn't snowed much at all since early morning. most of the snow today has fallen west and southwest of here. i would say we've added maybe 1-1.5" here today, and maybe another 1-2" will fall through tomorrow afternoon. drifts and everything are pretty impressive, but oh what a scene it would have been 15-20" total and the high winds continuing!!

Atleast you have 8-10" of snow. The snow line was just outside of my town so while it rained here all night just to the west 5-10 miles it snowed all night. What is interesting is seeing heavy rain in IL with warmer temps and seeing pockets of snow near the rain. On the radar they were perfect round circles of snow surrounded by a thin line of freezing rain. Was this actually snow or rain?

 

[jshields]

sorry to complain i guess when you get excited for the likelyhood of 15-20", its a let down to end up with only 10!!

Atleast you have 8-10" of snow. The snow line was just outside of my town so while it rained here all night just to the west 5-10 miles it snowed all night. What is interesting is seeing heavy rain in IL with warmer temps and seeing pockets of snow near the rain. On the radar they were perfect round circles of snow surrounded by a thin line of freezing rain. Was this actually snow or rain?

 

[Stephen Locke]

Good grief. Strong winds at the surface out of the south in KC now. What a fun storm. It seems to be throwing everything at us!

 

[Skip Talbot]

What is interesting is seeing heavy rain in IL with warmer temps and seeing pockets of snow near the rain. On the radar they were perfect round circles of snow surrounded by a thin line of freezing rain. Was this actually snow or rain?

There were indeed pockets of snow embedded in heavy rain as we discovered while driving across the country on the way to relatives. The rain would abruptly change to snow across a very short distance, stay snow for a few miles and then change abruptly back over to rain.

 

[Stephen Locke]

wow

 

[Chris Heater]

We got about an inch of accumulation here once the rain switched to snow. Roads REALLY got slick in a hurry, as i unfortunately found out on an on-ramp to I-74. Went through a corner, and the truck kept making the corner. Don't know how...but I missed two highway reflector markers and landed down in the ditch. Had to wait about an hour and a half to get winched out since I couldn't even get out with 4WD. RIGHT after I got pulled out, another car made the same mistake and actually went airborne down the ditch. I would say people should slow down...but I don't have room to talk!

 

[rdale]

I would say people should slow down...but I don't have room to talk!

So... would this have happened if a Road Ice Warning was in effect