1/21 - 1/23 Plains/Midwest Blizzard

[Tom]

Here is a link to all the videos I uploaded to

today. Let me know if they don't work.......I must say this ranks right up there with one of the strongest blizzards that I can remember.

Part 7 & 8 just gave me GHD-1 Blitz flashbacks! I’m happy that you scored a nice hit.

[Tabitha]

Snow should taper to flurries in Lincoln towards about 7 PM CT and about 2 or 3 hours later in Omaha.

 

Some pretty fair accumulations may ensue; particularly with that late January sun getting low in the afternoon sky.

 

Right on the button...I told you I've seen all this before.

[St Paul Storm]

I meant how much .

Haha. My bad. I’m about to head outside for the first time since 2:30. My neighbor has shoveled twice already and he says he measured 12” so far.

 

I have no idea how accurate that is. I’ll get a measurement soon.

[Tom]

Just got pelted by BB sized hail for about a minute straight...#JanuaryChiWx

[St Paul Storm]

Definitely between 10-12” down so far. Still pounding. My arborvitae trees may be destroyed on the right.

[Bryan1117]

Where are you at if I may ask? I'm up near 680 and Irvington exit and I think we missed out on that heavy area that developed around 10am and lasted for a couple of hours.

I am in the Millard/Chalco area southwest of 132nd and Harrison.

[gosaints]

Definitely between 10-12” down so far. Still pounding. My arborvitae trees may be destroyed on the right.

Epic... Fantastic

[Tom]

Definitely between 10-12” down so far. Still pounding. My arborvitae trees may be destroyed on the right.

Congrats on the major hit!  Looks beautiful out there and I'm sure tomorrow it will look like a magnificent white gold landscape in the sunshine.  This stuff ain't melting till sometime in Spring the way things are looking.  Glad to hear you and others in NE scored on a very strong mid winter storm.  In a season where snow has been scarce, this would constitute in a rather good "share the wealth".  For now, I'll enjoy our warm weather and hopefully nature has some big hits down farther south for us next month.

[Minny_Weather]

I'd say we met blizzard criteria. Snow rate was very heavy from 12:30 till around 4 here.

[VMB443]

Just got pelted by BB sized hail for about a minute straight...#JanuaryChiWx

We got some pea-sized hail here and some thunder - now the shift to snow overnight, crazy evening, we will see what we get snow wise.

[Tabitha]

I'd say we met blizzard criteria. Snow rate was very heavy from 12:30 till around 4 here.

 

The Lincoln Airport may have barely missed it...the winds were there...but the best (or worst) 3 hour visibilities were 1/4, 1/4, & 1/2 mile...and you need three straight hours of 1/4 mile or less.

 

I'm sure plenty of other areas of eastern Nebraska did meet the blizzard criteria.

[Minny_Weather]

The Lincoln Airport may have barely missed it...the winds were there...but the best (or worst) 3 hour visibilities were 1/4, 1/4, & 1/2 mile...and you need three straight hours of 1/4 mile or less.

 

I'm sure plenty of other areas of eastern Nebraska did meet the blizzard criteria.

I live pretty far from the airport. The airport tends to have an invisible dome over it that makes it get less than the actual city for some reason.

[Tabitha]

I live pretty far from the airport. The airport tends to have an invisible dome over it that makes it get less than the actual city for some reason.

 

Wait, I misread; posted and deleted....let me think a second.

 

Ok.  First I thought that you said the city gets less; which I agreed with since all cities get less than the surrounding countryside as built up areas are warmer.

 

Then I realized that you said the airport is less snowy than the city; and that could likewise be true...as it is an open area and open areas are windier and windy, open areas tend to inhibit snow growth.

 

So, I could imagine that...

[Minny_Weather]

Wait, I misread; posted and deleted....let me think a second.

 

Ok. First I thought that you said the city gets less; which I agreed with since all cities get less than the surrounding countryside as built up areas are warmer.

 

Then I realized that you said the airport is less snowy than the city; and that could likewise be true...as it is an open area and open areas are windier and windy, open areas tend to inhibit snow growth.

 

So, I could imagine that...

I live in the Southeastern suburban part. It tends to get more than both the airport and downtown, especially when we're right near freezing (like we were when this event started) due to the urban island.

[Tabitha]

I live in the Southeastern suburban part. It tends to get more than both the airport and downtown, especially when we're right near freezing (like we were when this event started) due to the urban island.

 

I have never actually been to the state of Nebraska (being new to the Dakotas)...so it will take a little while to get acquainted with the area weather-wise.

 

My thoughts on Black Hills weather have been woefully inaccurate since arriving here...as this is a very tricky area to forecast for.

[Tabitha]

I live in the Southeastern suburban part. It tends to get more than both the airport and downtown, especially when we're right near freezing (like we were when this event started) due to the urban island.

 

The best place for snow (if you are not involving a lake or other large body of water) is on the windward side of a mountain. 

 

You get the rising air, the condensation, the wringing out of the moisture, the lack of wind typical in mountainous areas (except for mountain tops; which are always windy)...and the system tends to get stuck in place as the mountain doesn't give it anyplace to go.

 

The other excellent place to be for snow is on a plateau; which is even better than the windward side of a mountain  This is because wind from every direction is a rising wind; and the lift and cooling will happen no matter from where the wind blows; be it west, north, east, or south.

[NEJeremy]

[CentralNebWeather]

Hastings preliminary snowfall map. Has me in 4-6”, I didn’t get that much. Pretty low numbers after days of large predictions. North did great.

[Tom]

Here's a neat map showing the # of hrs close to blizzard conditions...

 

[Tabitha]

Hastings preliminary snowfall map. Has me in 4-6”, I didn’t get that much. Pretty low numbers after days of large predictions. North did great.

DC55E0D3-F9CF-4A4F-8377-957BF486AA07.jpeg

 

ORD with 12 - 18?

 

And I thought it rained in Chicago...

[Snowlover76]

Ord is a town

[Tabitha]

Ord is a town

 

Satire is lost upon thee...

[Tabitha]

All in all; a historic storm for much of Nebraska; especially NE Nebraska; where the town of Ponca (near Sioux City, Iowa) reported 18 inches.

 

Throw in the near hurricane force winds and this is a historic storm, IMO.

[Minny_Weather]

This system is wishing us here in Lincoln goodbye currently with one final round of light snow. I'll miss this storm. Amounts were routine but the fact that it was a blizzard was certainly cool. Plus it got me out of finishing my assload of homework so now I have till Wednesday.

 

Fun fact. There were no widespread outages during this entire storm throughout all of Lincoln. Definitely weird considering we had borderline wind advisory gusts back in October which knocked out a quarter of the city on multiple occasions. The only known outage from this storm was indirectly caused by the storm, a truck jack knifed and hit a power pole.

[Craig-OmahaWX]

This system is wishing us here in Lincoln goodbye currently with one final round of light snow. I'll miss this storm. Amounts were routine but the fact that it was a blizzard was certainly cool. Plus it got me out of finishing my assload of homework so now I have till Wednesday.

 

Fun fact. There were no widespread outages during this entire storm throughout all of Lincoln. Definitely weird considering we had borderline wind advisory gusts back in October which knocked out a quarter of the city on multiple occasions. The only known outage from this storm was indirectly caused by the storm, a truck jack knifed and hit a power pole.

I for one, am glad its done with. This storm was a pain in the a**.

[Minny_Weather]

I for one, am glad its done with. This storm was a pain in the a**.

I'm running still on 3 hours of sleep from last night.

[james1976]

Gettin backside snow here. Comin down good. Windy too

[NEJeremy]

Yeah these snowstorms are always over before they start it seems. Especially when you track it for a week, checking out every model run each day, and then it snows for about 12 hours if you’re lucky and then it’s done!

[Tom]

The bipolar weather in Chicago continues...it's officially been snowing here for the past couple hours and I have a coating of accumulation.  I'm hearing of reports of 1.5" in Lake county.

[Tom]

SE WI cashing in on some pretty good snowfall....

 

[jaster220]

^^^ Sheesh - guess that secondary weenie band was legit, eh? Rarely works out that way tho. Some wet April-like flakes here at the lakeshore this morning. Just enough to remind that it's actually still winter tho yesterday looked and felt like an early spring day. Congrats to all those who scored with this system.

[Tom]

^^^ Sheesh - guess that secondary weenie band was legit, eh? Rarely works out that way tho. Some wet April-like flakes here at the lakeshore this morning. Just enough to remind that it's actually still winter tho yesterday looked and felt like an early spring day. Congrats to all those who scored with this system.

When the sun peaked out late yesterday around 3:00pm, with a southerly flow, it felt like an April-like day.  Temps peaked at 55F...cray cray Chi weather.  

[VMB443]

We got a solid three inches of heavy wet snow west of Milwaukee - came hard and fast last night.

[Tom]

We got a solid three inches of heavy wet snow west of Milwaukee - came hard and fast last night.

Just saw 3-5" reports over here in Lake county...wow, didn't see that coming...

[Minny_Weather]

Apparently the airport only got 1.8", which is shocking, I thought they got it harder than us. We got 3.5" here.

[Tabitha]

Apparently the airport only got 1.8", which is shocking, I thought they got it harder than us. We got 3.5" here.

 

Well the Lincoln Airport did beat the Omaha Eppley Airport...which measured a total of 1.0 inches of snow.

 

Lincoln has taken the lead in the snow race for the season:

 

2017-18 Snowfall:

 

Lincoln: 7.7"

Omaha: 6.9"

 

 

Both stations are much snowier than they were on this date last year when through January 22nd, 2017 the seasonal totals were:

 

Omaha: 3.8"

Lincoln: 3.7"

[St Paul Storm]

The morning after. We ended with about 12” give or take an inch or two. Some drifts were knee high.

[Snowshoe]

I would say the models were pretty darn accurate, at least in Wisconsin. I was happily surprised by 3" from about 3pm 7pm yesterday. Roughly .25" of rain on top of a frozen ground caused some pretty big puddles and filled the ditches. Hoping the Friday warmup doesn't melt too much snow. I've yet to get my x-country skis out.

http://www.weather.gov/images/mkx/events/2018/1-23Snow/StormTotalSnow_1_22_1_23_2018_WI.png

[Hawkeye]

As often seems to happen, the backwash snow did not materialize for my area.  I'm satisfied with the storm.  It was fun to track and then watch the snow bands yesterday, and we got our decent rain event with thunder.

[jaster220]

I see this ONE single red dot for 18".

 

Anyone with better search site link know where exactly to highest report(s) were?