2/26/09: Winter Storm Upper Midwest

[cstrunk]

A potent winter storm is shaping up for parts of the Midwest on Thursday. Here in Iowa we are looking at rain/freezing rain and some snow, farther north in Minnesota and Wisconsin there will be some pretty good snows. It will be interesting to see what the temperatures end up doing in central Iowa, which will dictate how much ice we get. Forecast is calling for 0.1-0.2" of ice at my location.

Some places will end up with a pretty good storm out of this one. Thoughts?

 

[Josh Richardson]

Thoughts are pretty much what you have already said, here in my area I would say between Hwy 18 and 3 will see the highest ice totals. We are looking at .25 to .4 inches of ice( I think closer to .25) and then another inch or two of sleet and snow. Dont need to get much further north of me to see all snow though.

 

[Nick Hartley]

Looking to get upwards of 8+ inches here on top of maybe 1/2" of sleet. Should be a lovely Thursday. Looks like the US Highway 14 corridor in SD has a decent target on it. Temps will be dropping like a rock throughout tomorrow. Possibly some pictures to follow.

The State Wrestling Tourney begins Friday and the High School Activities Assocation put out this warning to schools and travelers:
With the impending weather, adjustments may have to be made regarding the the State Class A and Class B Wrestling Tournaments scheduled to be held in Aberdeen and Watertown on Friday and Saturday, February 27-28. As of now, the tournaments are on as scheduled with weigh-ins beginning at 7:00am and first round wrestling slated for 10:00am on Friday morning. Should the weather prevent teams from arriving for the 7:00am weigh-in, we will weigh-in those present and weigh-in others as they arrive. If weather warrents, adjustments will be made to the first round start times. Teams and fans are encouraged to use caution when traveling. We will post updates on the website as they occur. Tournament headquarters phone numbers are as follows: Watertown (605) 881-9702, Aberdeen (605) 626-4066.

 

[Dean Baron]

It should stay all snow here in the Twin Cities. WRF showing a broad swath of 6-8 inches aross central and east central Minnesota, with higher amounts in west central and southern Minnesota. GFS, which up until yesterday was being very conservative with QPF, has in the last few runs added a swath of 6+ inch snow across central Minnesota and west central Wisconsin. HPC QPF showing .5-.75" area from South Dakota through the southern 1/3 of MN to the southern 1/2 of WI. For the last couple of days the models have been gradually pulling the storm farthern north but today the models have pushed the track slightly south again so it will be interesting to see where it actually goes. Winter storm warnings in effect for the southern two-thirds of Minnesota (as well as large portions of SD and WI).

 

[Mike Kovalchick]

6z NAM Bufkit soundings prints out something like 19" of snow to fall tonight in a short period of time at APX, MI from thundersnow. I will head up there for the fun this evening if it looks like something that extreme might verify.

The local area there has as much as 36" already on the ground (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mqt/SnowDepthMap/Northern_lower.php ) from a seasonal snow total in some cases over 200". The U.P. is up to 24 feet in Alger county and counting!

 

[Jason Foster]

I'm just hoping that low pushes further south...will aid in some action here on the east coast later.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the severe threat (although minimal) for today yet.

 

[Kenny Drake]

Thundersnow reports now coming in near/just south of the Mankato, MN area:
"Thunderstorm and Breezy" at Mankato as of 11:55am CST and I know it's snow because the MNSU web cam shows a lot of snow coming down.

 

[Josh Richardson]

Thundersleet coming down here, got a quick shot of 1/2 inch of sleet with a lot of thunder. Still looking at maybe another .10 inch of ice here soon as temps continue to drop up here and then a changeover to snow.

 

[Nick Hartley]

Bust in Brookings. Maybe got 2 1/2" of snow here. Wind is creating low visibility. Nothing worth posting here.

 

[Josh Richardson]

I haven't looked over reports for MN and WI but definitely a bust here, that 1/2 inch of thundersleet was cool but it was all we got. They have done a decent job on the roads here but everything is so "wet" that we will certainly have everything turn to a glaze of ice tonight and tomorrow.

 

[Dean Baron]

We got dry slotted here in the northern suburbs for a long time, it didnt start snowing until about 12:30 and besides the first hour of snow, it really hasnt come down too hard. Probably about 3-4 inches right now, NWS was saying 6-10. But there is still an area of snow moving through and will probably snow for another hour or two. Some good totals up 94 towards the Alexandria area.

 

[cstrunk]

Ended up with a short rain shower yesterday afternoon and then nothing. Bust!

Areas near here (Des Moines) did get hit with heavy rain and small hail for a short period.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Here in Chicago we smashed a 110 year old calender day rainfall record.

Ohare picked up 1.95 inches...old record set back in 1899 was .93

I stepped out of work for a bit to check out the action around 215pm. Pretty impressive downpours accompanied by some frequent lightning. The sears tower gets struck allot and I only work 2 blocks away, so ill cheat and walk over there during a storm to hear some thunder. There was a brief moment of sleet size hail too. Probably as small as hail gets. Then a gust of wind turned my umbrella inside out and I walked back into my building looking like I went swimming.

Chasing on foot = not always a good idea...but still worth it for some February storm fun.

 

[Joel Wright]

No wintry precip here, just a lot of rain. Got almost an inch. The best part was hearing thunder again. Been a long time! Yesterday's rain had that Springtime smell to it too. Definitely nice after a long winter.