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

MatthewCarman · Dec 25, 2009

Brendon, a good place to check road conditions and closed roads is your DOT travel site for your state. Every state should have one.

Jason Bolt · Dec 25, 2009

Here just on the Kansas side from Joplin, MO we switched to snow about 2330 and while it's hard to tell w/ all the drifting, I'd say we have about 7" and it's still falling at a good clip. I was cursing all the sleet for what it did to the roads, but now I guess I'm glad. Had all that fallen as snow things would be much worse. Road conditions don't seem bad to me just snowpacked and icy in spots. It's a slow go for sure. A trip from Columbus, KS to Joplin, MO just took me about 90 minutes to cover 35 miles, and that was in a six ton ambulance that handles pretty well. (My wife and I are working EMS together for the holiday lol) I think for the general public though they are having a lot of problems. Too many slide offs to count and 3 injury accidents since 7pm. As far as having clear roads, I wouldn't bet on it until maybe late afternoon tomorrow depending on the amount of sun we get.

Sean McMullen · Dec 25, 2009

Snow amounts were extremely underestimated for SE/NE. We have huge drifts outside our doors and am worried that I won't even be able to open my back door tomorrow. Haven't lost power yet so am happy about that but it was funny to see that NWS/OMA moved back there big snow totals to the west without telling anybody. Their newest video briefing doesn't even mention that they moved it but its obvious that they didn't expect the snow to make it as far west as it has. Nevertheless we're enjoying it and look forward to the next two days of blizzard conditions in SE/NE.

Scott Weberpal · Dec 25, 2009

Fantastic temperature gradient across MO right now. 50 degrees at (Quincy, IL - along Mississippi River) and 12 degrees at St. Joseph. Kirksville is 46 and about 50 miles to the west at Chillicothe its 20.

Larry J. Kosch · Dec 25, 2009

Christmas Day Bliizard in Iowa

Got up at 4 a.m. to check the weather (guess that makes me a storm chaser?) Saw that we got about 2-4 inches of snow in Lincoln NE overnight. Hard to estimate the snow depth due to the winds.

Last night,we kept hearing "thumps" on our roof. If we had any kids or grandchildren around, my wife and I would have told them that was Santa landing on our roof.

And one of the reindeers had a RFD problem!

(Actually it was the ice casings and small tree branches coming off the trees while the winds were blowing hard from the NW)

In checking the GFS models, I noticed there is a radical difference in the low pressure characterics between 12Z Friday 25th and 00Z Saturday 26th:

http://weather.unisys.com/gfsx/12h/gfsx_pres_12h.html

http://weather.unisys.com/gfsx/24h/gfsx_pres_24h.html

I noticed a big difference in the precipitation levels between the two times. This tells me the storm may be drying up. It still packs a punch, windwise, as it tracks into Iowa on Christmas Day.

I also checked the latest Water Vapor image of the Christmas 2009 storm. (see attached).

I noticed that the dry air from the north and southwest have been pulled into the storm circulation. This has the effect of cutting off the moisture flow into the storm. Also I noted the moisture trail is crossing FL now. This probably will dry up the moisture inflow.

Think it's going to take a while for the storm to dry up and unwind. Those folks in Iowa better keep the hatches batten down today!!

Justin Griffith · Dec 25, 2009

I just check the temp which was 26f, so I went outside and we're getting sleet/freezing rain now.

Our deck is coated in a thin layer of ice.

The temps dropped really fast, it went from 51f to 26f in very little time.

I can't sleep so I here I am.. lol

Joe Schaub · Dec 25, 2009

Call me crazy but I found this interesting:

http://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=ilx&wwa=special weather statement

AT 346 AM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
LINE OF SHOWERS ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG WIND GUSTS...EXTENDING FROM NEAR
PETERSBURG SOUTH SOUTHEAST 13 MILES WEST OF DECATUR TO JUST NORTH OF
FINDLAY...MOVING NORTH AT 50 MPH.

I do believe (for me atleast) this is a first.

So far, I have received 4.0 inches of rain since this mess started. I pray 2010 is a drought.

Chris Carter · Dec 25, 2009

Might be right there Larry, as i have noticed that the snow on the back end is shrinking in size and strength. This might be because of the system drying out, or it could be the two upper level lows merging together (one over southern MO, the other in western NE).

Looks like a little bit of a lull in the snow is in NW Iowa moving into Eastern Nebraska. I hope it doesn't stop for too long.

jshields · Dec 25, 2009

huge dry slot with the circulation now moving northwestward. most of iowa is precip free at this time and this area is moving westward, hoping for redevelopment this afternoon here in omaha as the snow is about to shut itself off!

cstrunk · Dec 25, 2009

I'm with jshields... snow pretty much done around here. The low is going to have to start moving back east soon or else there won't be any snow left by the time it does. I don't really think we ended up with all that much around here (Shenandoah, IA) compared to some areas. I can't tell because of the drifting. Probably 6 or 7 inches. But we do have some huge drifts that combined with previous snow, about 6 foot tall around our vehicles.

Chris Carter · Dec 25, 2009

Seems like Randolph, IA is the winner so far at 13" and that was at 8am. Shenanodah checked in at 12". Gretna, Papillion and Bellevue are at 10". I think Valley had 9" and Eppley was at 8".

mikegeukes · Dec 25, 2009

[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
1208 PM CST FRI DEC 25 2009

..CHRISTMAS EVE BLIZZARD

IN OKLAHOMA CITY... THE 14.1 INCHES OF SNOW MEASURED AT WILL ROGERS
WORLD AIRPORT IS THE HIGHEST RECORDED DAILY SNOWFALL AND HIGHEST
STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL. THE PREVIOUS DAILY AND 24 HOUR RECORD WAS 11.3
WHICH OCCURRED ON MARCH 19 1924. THE PREVIOUS STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL
RECORD WAS 12.1 INCHES ON JANUARY 5 THROUGH JANUARY 7 1988. OKLAHOMA
CITY RECORDS DATE BACK TO 1890.

IN WICHITA FALLS... THE 7.8 INCHES OF SNOW MEASURED IS THE THIRD
HEAVIEST DAILY SNOWFALL RECORDED. THE HIGHEST DAILY AMOUNT WAS 9.7
INCHES WHICH OCCURRED ON MARCH 15 1989... AND THE SECOND GREATEST
AMOUNT WAS 8.1 INCHES WHICH OCCURRED ON JANUARY 31 1985.

ALTHOUGH THESE ARE VERY HIGH SNOWFALL TOTALS FOR THE OKLAHOMA CITY
AND WICHITA FALLS AREAS... THE CHRISTMAS EVE BLIZZARD IS NOT THE
MOST SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IN OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS FOR 2009. ON MARCH
26 THROUGH 28 2009... PORTIONS OF THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES
AND NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA RECEIVED AROUND TWO FEET OF SNOW.
[/FONT]

cstrunk · Dec 25, 2009

Chris Carter said:
Seems like Randolph, IA is the winner so far at 13" and that was at 8am. Shenanodah checked in at 12". Gretna, Papillion and Bellevue are at 10". I think Valley had 9" and Eppley was at 8".

Just wondering, where did you find these totals?

John Farley · Dec 25, 2009

Not an official white Christmas in St. Louis because there was no snow at 6 a.m., but it is unofficially looking pretty white here in Edwardsville now. A band of snow wrapping around the southeast side of the low has covered the ground in the past hour and a half. Only about 0.3" here at the house, but this is one of those dangerous sub-advisory criteria events Dan Robinson raises in his road ice warning thread - coming back from my daughter's house one exit up I-55, I saw 3 cars off the road in a 10-mile stretch. With the temperature in the low to mid twenties and a couple quick bursts of snow, things iced up very quickly.

mikegeukes · Dec 25, 2009

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

MatthewCarman

Jason Bolt

Sean McMullen

EF0

Scott Weberpal

EF5

Larry J. Kosch

EF2

Attachments

Justin Griffith

Joe Schaub

Chris Carter

EF3

jshields

cstrunk

EF3

Chris Carter

EF3

mikegeukes

EF5

cstrunk

EF3

John Farley

mikegeukes

EF5

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