February 5th-6th Midwest Snow Storm

[Grizzcoat]

I will say it's nice to see the ground and that ugly grass covered up again. And moderate snow at 10F in C.IA doesn't happen hardly at all-- at least for this duration. SNINCR 1/1 at the DSM airport is very good sign that things may be picking up....

[bud2380]

Snowing now.  Started about 10 minutes ago I think.  

[hlcater]

Started here as well. Absolute pixie dust, so that dry air is still being worked out by the looks of it.

[gosaints]

Weenie banding.... 

[NEJeremy]

Coming down hard here, but the flakes aren't very big. Still accumulating pretty quickly. I'm hoping we can squeeze 3" out of this before it ends.

[Minny_Weather]

Made it home. It's snowed enough to where it's blowing around on the roads and my parking lot now. Still tiny AF. Hoping to increase flake size as heavier returns make their way here.

[Minny_Weather]

Coming down hard here, but the flakes aren't very big. Still accumulating pretty quickly. I'm hoping we can squeeze 3" out of this before it ends.

You're in a good area. We're just getting the back side here. Still more than we were expecting a couple days ago. I may even be able to cover up the grass at my place.

[Minny_Weather]

Pea-sized flakes now. Thinking that's the biggest we'll get. Already a dusting down. We should reach an inch on the day from this.

[hlcater]

All these reports of small flakes just about everywhere could cut into totals...

[Grizzcoat]

All these reports of small flakes just about everywhere could cut into totals...

YEp-- I have been under some of the heaviest bands for sometime now and it's just real thick pixie dust. I also think that much of the reduced visibilities is due more to BR or FG and not necessarily moderate or heavy snow. But it beats nothing. 

[james1976]

I thought dendrites were supposed to be impressive with this. Seems like its pixie dust e erywhere.

[Grizzcoat]

Just measured anywhere from 2" to 2.5". For those that know- the snow would make excellent quinzee making material. Would set up like concrete if you make them right. You don't want the heavy/wet stuff if you can.  Made many in the day.....

[gosaints]

Nice dendrites here. Won't last long. Pixie dust sucks

[St Paul Storm]

Wonder if the dendritic growth zone is too cold to allow for bigger flakes to form? Haven’t checked any soundings but considering how cold surface temps are I wouldn’t be surprised if the DGZ is colder than the -10 to -20C to produce good flakes. Just a thought.

[Grizzcoat]

might just make 6"---- from KDSM--- SNINCR 1/2 DRSN 4/002

[Minny_Weather]

Having a really rough time accumulating. Just measured 0.2" on the top of my car. Small flakes do nothing for us.

[james1976]

Advisories being canceled in NW IA.

[ToastedRavs]

Pixie dust just SW of DSM. Measuring 2.25" so far. Could have been easily 3.5"-4" with better snow flakes. Oh well, can't complain. Just enjoy whatever you get

[Hawkeye]

It appears the more south models were right.  The heaviest returns are along and south of I-80.  The overnight HRRR runs had nw through ec Iowa with the peak band, now it has it south of I-80.  It has been decent pixie dust here so far, nothing major, and a bit of a dry pocket is moving in.  The similar system at the end of December dropped large flakes and 1 inch in the first hour.  I'm thinking 4 inches here now rather than 5 or 6.

[Minny_Weather]

It appears the more south models were right.  The heaviest returns are along and south of I-80.  The overnight HRRR runs had nw through ec Iowa with the peak band, now it has it south of I-80.  It has been decent pixie dust here so far, nothing major, and a bit of a dry pocket is moving in.  The similar system at the end of December dropped large flakes and 1 inch in the first hour.  I'm thinking 4 inches here now rather than 5 or 6.

Yeah this was supposed to be an all out miss for us. Definitely further South.

[Minny_Weather]

About to get a break then it looks like there's a weenie band headed our way with good rates. May drop another dusting.

[hlcater]

This is like .25” an hour. If this keeps up we may even fall short of the 4” figure. Grizz said the heavy bands are even pixie dust. Concerning. HRRR still has us getting 6”. Can’t see that with flake size.

[bud2380]

Flakes are getting bigger here.  Coming down solid.  There is a persistent wind as well, so it is drifting a bit, which will make measuring harder at my house since I have an open field behind my house.  

[GDR]

Ripping hard right now

[Hawkeye]

Flakes are getting bigger here.  Coming down solid.  There is a persistent wind as well, so it is drifting a bit, which will make measuring harder at my house since I have an open field behind my house.  

 

The University of Iowa webcam shows good size flakes pouring down.

[bud2380]

I'm interested to see what that band from Ft Dodge to Marshalltown will do.  Will it dive south or keep heading more east or east/southeast?  That looks like the heaviest band right now.  

[Hawkeye]

4" totals popping up in west-central Iowa.

[NEJeremy]

Wonder if the dendritic growth zone is too cold to allow for bigger flakes to form? Haven’t checked any soundings but considering how cold surface temps are I wouldn’t be surprised if the DGZ is colder than the -10 to -20C to produce good flakes. Just a thought.

I checked the soundings for Omaha off of the HRRR, and it shows a warm layer in the DGZ. Temps are only around -5C.

[NEJeremy]

.25 mile visibility at the airport here in Omaha. I always thought that was the visibility requirement to have heavy snow as the report. They just have "snow".

[jaster220]

GRR upping totals. 3-4" for Marshall now. Would be a repeat of yesterday, and the umpteenth 3-4" snow of this unwarned winter. Stacking flakes never gets old tho 

 

[Minny_Weather]

Yeah I cleared snow off my windshield just now and it's actually pretty wet. This is definitely pretty low ratio, thus why it's not accumulating well.

[ToastedRavs]

.25 mile visibility at the airport here in Omaha. I always thought that was the visibility requirement to have heavy snow as the report. They just have "snow".

1/4 mile vis at DSM airport too, but only reporting moderate snow. Here, the fog may be limiting to quarter mile. From my understanding, if you have two obscurations, you can have moderate snow as long as there's fog as well

[Madtown]

dust just started falling....suprised at how low vis is for how light he snow is

[gimmesnow]

So it's really light snow falling? Awesome, that's the best for snowboarding. It finally feels like winter. I was out on the lake on the snowmobile yesterday with some buddies, and now I get to shred some totally sick 2 to 4 inches of that sweet wisconsin pow.

 

It finally kind of feels like winter!

[bud2380]

Radar returns improving here again and snowflakes are a bit bigger.  Looks like a better band headed for CR soon as well.  

[Hawkeye]

Only 0.7" of pixie dust here after two hours.  Noon to 2pm had been expected to be our heaviest snow.

[Grizzcoat]

.25 mile visibility at the airport here in Omaha. I always thought that was the visibility requirement to have heavy snow as the report. They just have "snow".

It's up to ASOS (in auto mode determing flake size/rate) or an actual observer compared to  other obstructions to VIS -- mainly being mist or fog or BLSN-- in this case I would venture even in 1/4SM VIS it's borderline moderate (SN) based on the atmospheric conditions. But remember -- snowfall intensity is not based on rate of fall, but visibility. So it's kind of a catch 22. 

[NEJeremy]

1/4 mile vis at DSM airport too, but only reporting moderate snow. Here, the fog may be limiting to quarter mile. From my understanding, if you have two obscurations, you can have moderate snow as long as there's fog as well

 

 

It's up to ASOS (in auto mode determing flake size/rate) or an actual observer compared to  other obstructions to VIS -- mainly being mist or fog or BLSN

 

That makes sense. It did look like a bit of fog was in the air as well.

 

Snow has really lightened up now. Basically flurries I would say.

I'm guessing maybe around 2" as it looks from my office window at work

[FV-Mike]

In-laws live in Clive,IA. sounds like I-35 is a mess with a couple big accidents

[snowstorm83]

There's some back building going on but it's still fairly light.