WINTER STORM NOW 12/01/07-12/02/07: KS, MO, IA, NE, SD, MN, MI, WI, IL, IN, OH, NY, PA

[Ryan Pfannkuch]

1/5 inch of ice in Hastings

Just took a few measurements outside and came up with 1/5 inch of glaze here in Hastings as of 700am. Things really deterioriated within the last few hours. We are currently holding at 30F and thankfully the freezing line is only a few hours away with afternoon highs in the mid 40s possible. Considering what we currently have here...this can't bode well for folks back in my home state of IA. Wow did this thing come together rapidly once the isentropic lift kicked in!

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Yeah anywhere in northern IA(maybe as far west as Sioux City area) that doesn't break 32 is hosed. Radar filling in a bit back to the south. If the sfc winds can stay backed there long enough, that should really hold off the warming some. Teens to low 20s up there, I'm guessing can hold on for a good while. Then the cold front starts to push southeast later, which will lock areas up there below freezing. It may be interesting as that upper low center pivots out much later too. Wind picking up here and the trees are beginning to talk.

Interesting to loop the sfc pressure/wind on the spc meso page and watch the tendancy for them to back in nw IA right now. Feed all that cold air west right into that heavy precip area.

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Ames has a dusting of snow, not much for freezing rain yet maybe a very thin layer on a few objects. You can truly see which areas across Iowa have received the ice by checking out the IEM Webcams. Several of the cameras already 'iced over'... I-35 south of Des Moines is under travel not advised conditions. We must have a bit of ice on the roads, just heard a car spin its' tires on some outside...

The freezing rain had begun to fall once again here, its' quick to accumulate and I can already see it now on the roofs and windows where I couldn't before. I'll likely be updating my blog through the whole day, have a couple of neat links on there as far as freezing rain conditions thanks to the IEM...

 

[Joel Wright]

Unless I'm missing them, I'm not seeing too much in the way of sleet observations being reported. That is far from what some of the models were suggesting. That can be confirmed by the lack of high reflectivities, or bright banding, across the entire precip area. This is not what you want if you want to keep your power lol. This means there's a very wide swath of freezing rain, with just a little snow on the northern and eastern edges, and not all that much sleet mixed in. It appears to really be coming down out in central and western IA, on into eastern NE.

BTW, why is the DMX and OMA radar still stuck in clear air mode?

 

[rdale]

Probably because of the lack of high-reflect returns... No need.

 

[Jayson Prentice]

We've had some sleet here, although not much and its' been mixed in with the more prominent freezing rain. So it's still there and falling, but it seems like the freezing rain has definitely taking over quicker than some models thought.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Probably because of the lack of high-reflect returns... No need.

That's not the reason. Local radar has showed the higher returns. They can also be seen on the spc meso page radar.

 

[Jesse Risley]

We've had a bit of sleet, but mainly freezing rain here in Western IL.

It looks as if the heaviest glaze will occur roughly along a Sigourney, IA - Sterling, IL line. I wouldn't be surprised if some locations in far NE IA or NW IL receive 0.50"+ glaze.

 

[Kurt Hulst]

Posting on behalf of Craig Maire.

There is already a half inch of sleet on the ground in Waterloo, IA. It is supposed to turn to freezing rain and there is a possible ice accumulation of an inch or more. Craig is heading out to video tape what he can and will report later.

be safe man

 

[Joel Wright]

Well, some snow flurries are beginning to fall here finally. To the west out in the QC the live news break-ins show they've picked up a quick burst of snow. Just enough to whiten the ground. Winds are picking up a bit finally, probably a bit over 20mph. Stronger winds are still out in IA where radars show it's really coming down.

Edit: Make that snow is falling now. Went from flurries to more respectable snowfall in a matter of a few minutes...

 

[Darren Addy]

Looks like minimal impact around here. We had ice (probably 1/4" coating cars, etc.) but it appears that 32 degree or higher temps are already pushing up into central Nebraska (and SW Iowa). No precip at all coming down in Kearney, as of about 9:30 AM. Stuff appears to be melting pretty quickly and higher temps are predicted this afternoon.

 

[Robert Dewey]

It baffles me that some NWS offices are going with winter weather advisories and then mentioning ice accumulations around 0.25 inches with wind in excess of 25MPH... IWX says extreme southern lower MI could approach 0.30 inches of ice.

Model QPF increased with the 12Z as well, and the NAM/GFS are a touch warmer at 850MB indicating a faster switch over to ZR for some areas.

I'll probably get stuck with a winter weather advisory, but I'm expecting at least 0.25 inches of ice, and combined with the wind... this could be quite an event.

 

[Jason Tunzer]

It looks that the worst is over here in OMA. Temps are starting to climb above freezing. I would guess to say that there is a 1/4 on the trees and rain is still coming down. For the 15 minutes I was outside taking these pics I heard 3 branches cracking and falling down, I would guess there were in the 3'-6" diameter. Enjoy the pics and be safe.

 

[Bill Doms]

MnDOT traffic cams. Heavy snow bands entering the south Minneapolis metro area. Will be heading out shortly.

http://dot.state.mn.us/tmc/trafficinfo/cameras_map.html

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

Already have a nice glaze of ice here. No camera with me, but non treated area's are very very slick.

Numerous accidents being reported.. Heard a trooper earlier slide into the ditch, said he was only doing 5mph..