North Central Plains Snow (Feb 19-20)

[Mike Kovalchick]

Up to about 4 inches now. Radar and lightning data lighting up over S WI at the moment. Will be interesting to see how this develops into the colder air, and how far north that 800-700mb warm layer advects.

About 7" here so far and 27F. Starting to doubt that there will be any change over at all. The thunderstorms over Lake Michigan seem to be moving in our general direction. I note that there are no longer any pressure falls with the low suggesting any of the heavier convective elements should start to wane a bit.

 

[rdale]

Seeing the GRE p-types edging closer and closer to Lansing with time w/sleet now being reported in Hastings.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Well, we broke 7 inches here and no sleet as of 20 minutes ago... and it's still snowing moderate to heavy at times. Between 3pm and 8pm we average just over an inch per hour.

The band stretches all the way back into SE WI, so there's still a few hours left. HRRR doesn't push the tail end through until around 10-11z. In fact, it's showing up to an additional 4-5 inches of snow across my area. My forecast of 8-12 still looks pretty reasonable.

 

[John Vandehei]

Not sure how long it continued to rain after I went to bed. Everything is well glazed around here. There is about 3/8 to 1/4 inch of ice accumulation on everything above ground. Got about another 1/2 inch of snow, which is well crusted from the rain and freezing rain that fell. NWS is calling for blowing snow, but with the snow crusted and glazed over, going to have to wait for additional snow before that happens. I'll post some ice pictures after we get a little more daylight around here.

 

[John Vandehei]

Here's a couple of pictures of the ice around my home. My garage door was iced shut; had to kick the base a couple of times before it would open. Mailbox was completely incased in ice. Had to blowtorch it in order to open it.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Ended with 10 inches here. Looks like 8-12 was a good call. No 12 inch reports, but most places were safely above 8 inches. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=dtx&storyid=64377&source=0

 

[John Vandehei]

Initially, I didn't think the ice was too bad. Most likely because I live in a new subdivision, and there's no trees for the ice to knock down. However, on my way to work, I began to notice branches down here and there. Most of the damage is pretty sporadic. Luckily my power is still on, but several of my co-workers lost power. This combination of weather was probably the worst thing that could happen to the roads. We got an inch and a half of snow yesterday, followed by quite a bit of rain and freezing rain. This turned the snow on the roads to slush, which about another half of an inch of snow fell on top of overnight. Then the temperatures plummeted, cementing this inch or more packed sleet/snow/ZR onto the road surfaces. It will likely take a week for this to go away, since the plows can't get it off. Here's a few more pictures of the ice.