4/10 Spring Snowstorm-Blizzard: NE,SD,CO,KS,MN,WI

[Mike Umscheid]

Yesterday I decided I wanted one last good taste of winter, and this system will have plenty of it in addition to all the severe local storms in the warm sector. Since I am off work today (Thursday) and Friday, I chose to head north to North Platte, NE to experience the spring Heavy Snow. Am expecting a solid 8-12", perhaps a bit more maybe, by early morning Friday as the mid level cyclone bombs out to my southeast and east across Nebraska. I've already changed over to snow here in North Platte with a sloppy inch already accumulated. Am "blogging" this event on http://www.underthemeso.com for those curious

 

[Mark Farnik]

Last night it began to rain out at my parent's farm about 9 p.m., and when I went to bed at midnight we had about 4 tenths of a inch of freezing rain it was just beginning to change over to snow. Woke up this morning to over 6 inches of extremely wet, heavy snow on the ground. The rain that fell last night glazed over the trees and powerlines, which were all sagging under the strain of the ice and snow. We were certain that they would have called school, but nope, school was still on. It took us nearly 40 minutes to drive into Fort Morgan, the roads are sheets of black ice and slush, and power has been intermittent. They should have called a snow day, but nooo, they couldn't do that, and by noon the winds are forecast to increase to 20 to 40 mph and the snow is going to ramp up in intensity, creating near blizzard conditions across the area. I'm betting we'll get released at noon, but by then the road conditions are going to have deteriorated significantly from where they are now and its going to be considerably more dangerous to be driving.It's going to be a LONG, treacherous drive home this afternoon...