12/29/06-12/31/06 NOW: KS / CO / NE / SD (WINTER PRECIP)

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://kamala.cod.edu/ne/latest.nwus53.KGID.html

Central NE getting in on the ice fun now too. This is in the same place as the ice storm last week.

I'm sitting here wondering if I'll see anything more than flurries here now. That low is not lifting yet and the dry air on the wv loop scares me. I have the feeling it's going to continue pushing east through w NE and eat away at whatever gets flung back here(if it ever gets flung back here!). I'd go somewhere else but most places don't seem like much of an option. nw KS roads are surely not good yet, and I don't care to drive into the ice storm east of here. Hmmmm. Lift north soon please. I think w KS/se CO have seen enough.

 

[John Farley]

We now have at least 20 inches at my location in Santa Fe, NM and it is still coming down. Some parts of Santa Fe and even Albuquerque have received 2 feet, with 25-30 inches in the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez Mountains. I am working on getting some pics and a fuller report posted. There is still the potential for several more inches of snow as we are now in the wraparound on the back side of the storm, and the winter storm warning has been extended until 5 a.m. tomorrow. That will make 59 hours that most of northern NM has been under a winter storm warning.

EDIT - Report with pics now posted under REPORTS thread. 21 inches here as of noon. Just flurries now (1:30 Sat.) as the main snow band has shifted a little west of here, at least for the time being.

 

[Stan Rose]

Reliable reports of 18 foot snow drifts over Kiowa county! 40 inches at Cuchara (Sangre de Cristos) and still snowing hard.

 

[Mark Farnik]

We got lucky and dodged the bullet on this one. We had about 5 inches of snow overnight Thursday into Friday morning, and it quit snowing about noon as a dry slot punched in from the north, and it has been sitting over us ever since, preventing any snow from swinging back into this part of the state.
In a way I'm a little dissapointed, as we really need the snow badly, but after reading the storm reports out of the east central and southeastern parts of the state, I'm glad it stayed further south. I really wouldn't have wanted another blizzard, the one last week was the worst blizzard I've ever seen and it sounds like the one that hit southeastern CO/western Ks was even worse than the one that hit us. We were snowed in for five days after the last storm, and we probably would have been snowed in for at least a week if this storm had tracked just a little farther north and west. So I guess a slight curse/major blessing situation all told.

 

[Mike Umscheid]

Unbelievable ice storm immediately east of the blizzard in southwest Kansas... major tree damage in Dodge City... 3/4 to 1+" ice buildup plus 25-35mph winds... still have power here in north Dodge... we don't have large trees on the north side like they do near downtown so we will probably keep our power... west of here until you get to the snow... 1.5" + of ice accumulation... this will probably beat out December 1984 out here..

EDIT... I'll keep updating my blog with some additional pics. www.underthemeso.com/blog

 

[Dick McGowan]

I just talked to a friend who said in Dighton, KS (Lane County), that nearly all powerlines that run East-West are down. Ice has accumulated already on top of the 4.25 inches of rain before that. So it's making it very difficult on crews out there to restore power. They think for the city of Dighton, 12-24 hours before power is restored, 5-7 days for rural parts of the county also.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Precip here again after about an 18 hour lull. Now it is freezing rain(still in cozad). This little band just formed, not sure it will last or not. It's right on that battle zone between the two lows(clearing/drying edge on wv).

 

[Scott Olson]

We got close to an inch of snow last night and it was raining steadily here all day (1-1.5"). Per latest guidance I would expect freezing rain by 03z. Meanwhile the central parts of the state (espically NC SD and SC ND) have been getting hit hard from the northern stream wave such as Mobridge (13") and Ashley (16").

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Boy the poor souls on I-80 eastbound here right now. Wonder if they know what they are about to drive into. There has been what seems to be above average traffic coming from the west. They are about to drive into a good wall of freezing rain with low sfc temps. As for here, I can't believe there is a chance that precip will make it this far west agains that push from the north low.

Edit: Well the band actually makes it here...yay. Seems to be completely sleet here on the west edge of it.

Edit: I think they may have just closed part of I80 here. It seems eastbound is closed. There was a wreck near here with many rescue vehicles, followed by a looooong standstill in the eastbound lane. Now no cars no traffic eastbound here at Cozad.

Edit: Can't believe I'm in the middle of this tiny band. I80 is open again. The heavy sleet is changing to heavy snow now.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

This snow chase has been rather funny here. I'm lucking out for what was largely a snowbust in western NE. First night I was on the west side of a thin n-s band moving north. It was about a county or so wide. East side was sleet and freezing rain while here it was snow(I know I drove to where it was ice today). Then today nothing all day. So all I had was that skinny band moving north last night. Now tonight wind up in this freaky skinny band moving south. I'm still in the thing. It's a bit nerve racking actually. I've been coaxing it west all evening now I'm trying to coax it to stay here and not drift back east. I keep looking at all the satellite loops trying to figure out what I can do to make it work lol. It's been like watching a very close football game for many hours. I thought I was about to lose now I see new development just nne of me with some west push.

Edit: I feel sorry for the eastbound travellers on I-80. There hasn't been anything nw of here so I'm sure they think its fine. Then they hit where this band is and it must be hell on the road now. And I've been in the middle or on the west edge and Lexington is on the east edge. I bet they go by this exit and have fun till the next one. Then again the parking lots around here are like......well parking lots I guess! Tons of people have stopped here.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Finally we're getting in on a little winter precip here in E NE. Technically not under a winter wx advisory until 6 am as temps were forecast to remain above freezing through the night; however here about 30 miles NW of Omaha temps have already fell to freezing with a steady drizzle and an occasional shower. Its now just starting to freeze on some surfaces. If temps can hold steady or fall another degree or two this area just NW of Omaha may seem some ice accumulation by morning as rain bands continue to form in NE Kansas and lift north towards the area. It also appears we might finally receive a measurable snow through out the day tomorrow.

 

[Mike Umscheid]

oh my god it changed over to snow here in Dodge!! LOL, we have enough to make things white, which is enough for me at this point... I'll take any snow... winds still gusting to 35 mph out there, so it's blowing it around pretty nicely... and swaying the trees that still have 1/2 to 3/4" ice on them still... what a mess here in Dodge

 

[Randall Roy Chamberlain]

It's 8:12 in the morning here I woke up at 6:30 to heavy rain and then about 45 minutes later the change over was under way and it was pretty quick. Had about 15 minutes of sleet in Omaha and quickly changed over to snow,light to moderate right now. I would say the wind is about 15-20 with gusts about 25.

 

[Jay McCoy]

Almost the exact same story here in Amarillo Mike. This is our second ice storm in about 10 days. During the oevrnight we finally got a dusting of snow which is nothing compared to other towns in the area like Boise City and Clayton with 30" and 12-15 ft drifts.

I dont think we had as much tree damage or power outages as last time since most of the weaker limbs broke last time but people werent as cautious this time either. So far we have had 5 ice related vehicle fatalities. The city did a horendous job keeping the bridges sanded.. They spent most their time at intersections for some reason even though ground temps kept most of it from freezing except at night.

We are finally clearing here but with winds of around 30 coming off the deep snowpack, temps wont move alot today. mid 30's at best. Beautiful moon during the night made the ice in the trees glow.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://www.511nebraska.org/ndortip/index.jsp


Hmmm, southcentral NE looks like a mess. Lots of X marks for closers and they all seem to say power lines/poles blocking road. It is interesting just how sunny it is here(very) and 3-4 hours east, back home, it is snowing pretty good.

Might be a fun journey back home here shortly as I get to drive through all those x marks. I80 is probably ok(jinx) but I'm going to try and get some ice photos on the way, which should not be too hard.