Northern Plains Blizzard 11/27/-11/28

[B Ozanne]

How is this storm going to rank in the history of Great Plains blizzards? Compared to snow storms in the northeast the snow totals aren't that impressive. Of course, when you add in 60mph winds, blowing & drifting snow, and white out conditions it was a powerful storm.

For snow totals though, is this on the upper end for this region?

 

[Robert Dewey]

Originally posted by B Ozanne
How is this storm going to rank in the history of Great Plains blizzards? Compared to snow storms in the northeast the snow totals aren't that impressive. Of course, when you add in 60mph winds, blowing & drifting snow, and white out conditions it was a powerful storm.

For snow totals though, is this on the upper end for this region?

Not sure about those areas, this is the first time that I have really followed a winter storm from birth to death over the Plains... However, I have seen areas further east (MN and WI) average a good 18 to +24 inch snowstorm just about every 2 years. You also have to remember that the Plains isn't located right next to a large moisture machine :wink:

Even so, I really don't think this storm ranks high on the storm total accumulation - even for that area. Highest I've seen so far is isolated 14 inch amounts. If precipitation would have changed over alot sooner, totals would have easily been 24-30 inches.

 

[Jeff Lawson]

Originally posted by B Ozanne
How is this storm going to rank in the history of Great Plains blizzards? Compared to snow storms in the northeast the snow totals aren't that impressive. Of course, when you add in 60mph winds, blowing & drifting snow, and white out conditions it was a powerful storm.

For snow totals though, is this on the upper end for this region?

I would consider anything above a foot to be "high" for the region. It's not so much a matter of it being rare, but rather a matter of it being the point at which a storm is assigned extra significance.

The wind was the real issue, though. There are some locations in central NE where travel was impossible during the storm, yet, when all was said and done, only 2-4" of snow piled up. 30 mph winds are enough to create whiteout conditions here on the Plains. Imagine what 60 mph can do.

 

[Robert Dewey]

Browsing through storm reports, and found this one added earlier:

0730 PM HEAVY SNOW KENNEBEC 43.90N 99.86W 11/28/2005 20.0 INCH LYMAN SD CO-OP OBSERVER

RECORD BREAKING SNOWFALL ENDED APPROXIMATELY 5 PM. VERY WINDY...PEAK WIND MEASURED 70 MPH AT 4 PM...VISIBILITY LESS THAN 50 FEET MOST OF THE DAY. SNOW WATER 2.05 INCHES

That's relatively near the location where I thought the heaviest bands would setup, and overall I am happy with my first snowcast of the season... I did expect more 12-14 inch amounts, but my general >8 inch line seemed to be right on target.

I completely overlooked/missed the icing situation, even though it was pretty obvious (even 12-18 hours before the event)...

 

[Doug_Kiesling]

Originally posted by B Ozanne
How is this storm going to rank in the history of Great Plains blizzards? Compared to snow storms in the northeast the snow totals aren't that impressive. Of course, when you add in 60mph winds, blowing & drifting snow, and white out conditions it was a powerful storm.

For snow totals though, is this on the upper end for this region?

Not sure how this one would rate since in Minneapolis, it was all kind of blah by the time it got here but I was out in Western MN yesterday for TWC and it was pretty brutal out there. It was cool to see the temp drop 20 degrees that fast.

The problem with that fast of a temp drop was it was raining then it turned to sleet and then lots of freezing rain fast that covered the roads in ice with snow and sleet falling on top of it. Classic worst case for the roads but did not see anyone in the ditch out west since they were ready and did not drive like idiots like people in the cities here do when it snows.

The wind was a major scare since my Jeep was sliding a little on the iced over roads if I started driving too fast. I thought I was having some auto trouble when my Jeep started making funny noises when I would speed up. Turns out that the slush and ice got packed up around the front drive shaft and transfer case and when I was parked, it melted some around the drive shaft and sounded like i was going to drop my transmission as the ice bounced between the drive shaft and the floor board.

Also, just an FYI in September I made my long range snow forecast for the season. My snow forecast for the MSP region was an average of 80 Inches or more by March 18th of 2006. Thats an Average from 5 points in and around the city. This winter is going to be brutal!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I'm not sure how it would rank. From storms I've seen I think it would be top except for maybe one in 87 that left 14 inches here but had a ton of wind. It more or less did all that overnight that time though so really didn't see much of it.

Snow amounts were not high, but would agree with Jeff that it is pretty high for the region. O'Neill ended up with 9 inches I think. Nnw of there was the 14 inch report. The problem out there is the open areas with no places to report in. I noticed the highest radar returns were often between O'Neill and Ainsworth and to the south. It never seemed like O'Neill was getting heavy snow on radar so I really wonder about areas sw of town. I also still really question any wind measurements out there as there was a lot of ice on things before the wind(take down large tree branches type of ice). I think they all stood a chance at being measured too low(yet still most all stations reported over 60mph). McCook I don't think had the ice problem and I know they were gusting to 69 at one point.

So snowfall was not at all historic but the duration and severity of the blowing I think might have been. 60-70mph winds seemed to last all of Monday out there and by then a lot of the snow had fallen and it did so on top of an icy surface. There was really no way to go anywhere during it. I wish I had not screwed up the door when I did as I would have tried again to get out of a town a bit into a very open area.

I headed back around noon and most highways out there were still being reported closed, even a huge chunk of I-80. The snow stopped for the most part before midnight so having all that stuff still closed, from I-80 north well into SD I think is a pretty memorable storm. It was interesting listening to the radio station up there and all the people calling in either offering to remove snow or requesting someone with a tractor to do it for them.

 

[Scott Olson]

In terms of snow for some areas it was a once in a decade storm, in Kennebec it was a record setting storm for both wind and snow. SD hasn't had a big blizzard for many years. If you look back between 1870-1920 you will see an extremely active period of huge Blizzards that hit the state. The economic loss for SD may be particularly high compared to other Blizzards due to the destruction of hundreds of powerlines. Im quite sure the 'ice storm that proceded the snow was some of the most widespread and damaging in the Dakotas in the last decade. Some areas in C/SC SD are still trying to shovel out of 12-20" of snow and incredible drifts. Heck, we had only 3" in most spots in town but there are 3-4' drifts everywhere. It was a very enjoyable experience I only wish I had been able to make it to Gregory to experience some of the total whiteout conditions that were reported in some parts of the state.

 

[mikegeukes]

Some links to the recent blizzard

NWS Hastings
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_sto...id=467&source=0

NWS North Platte
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_sto...id=471&source=0

NWS Omaha
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_sto...id=483&source=0

NWS Sioux Falls MI
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_sto...id=484&source=0
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_sto...id=477&source=0

Mike
http://mgweather.com