February 8th-11th Major Snowstorm

[shakjen]

Visibility is down to less than a 1/4 mile here. Snowing harder and blowing.

[james1976]

Yeah its hard to get an accurate snowfall measurement. Always gotta worry about compaction and any breeze. I think my 5.9" measurement might be a bit shy of what actually fell but Ill stick with it.
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I'm at 26" solid for the season.

[tbone8]

Pretty intense banding coming together in Chicago metro area...

 

[Jaycee]

^{Wow. Models are really trying to get something going here, could we really be the ones pulling something finally?}

 

 

^RGEM:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HRRR:

 

 

[snowstorm83]

Grids are 2-4" so I would expect an advisory anytime now, but then again, it's not snowing and accumulating yet LOL. Flurries right now.

[Hawkeye]

So far this morning, the GFS still has nothing falling here tonight/tomorrow/Sunday, the UK has taken it away, and the ICON has taken it away.  The Canadian and NAM still have some falling, but at this point I'm not believing any bullish models.

[bud2380]

Euro with only .13" for Iowa City for tonight.  That's down from closer to 1/4" last night.  

[Sciascia]

Flakes are small here, but there's a lot of them. Funny to see scattered large flakes mixed in. Almost like it's trying to become something more.

[bud2380]

Euro then has another .1" for Saturday night.  So at best we'd be looking at a couple of 1-2" waves.  

[westMJim]

Had moderate snow fall here from 8 am until 12:30 PM now its down to light snow falling the last reading I took was 5.7" of snow for this event and now have 11.4" on the ground. No wind so no drifting at all. 

[Hawkeye]

12z euro is depressing... looking like the end result of all of this energy is going to be the forked-tongue worst-case scenario for my backyard.

 

[FV-Mike]

Gosh, just getting pounded right now. down by I-80 looks good too. Having flashbacks to 13-14 NYE storm 

[snowman1]

Getting absolutely dumped on right now. WSW back on. A little late, don't you think DVN?

[BrianJK]

Downpouring right now.  Gorgeous.

[hlcater]

Yup this is going about as bad as it possibly could’ve for the 20-80 corridor. What a joke. Why is it every time there’s a worst case scenario, it just HAS to pan out. I’m expecting nothing from tonight or Saturday. Both will go south of here. 4” for this whole shebang, perfect.

[Iowawx]

HRRR actually does bring the snow right through CR tonight.

[shakjen]

Gosh, just getting pounded right now. down by I-80 looks good too. Having flashbacks to 13-14 NYE storm 

yes, coming down pretty hard. hardest we have had all storm.

[Tom]

What are your snow totals down in the S/SW burbs?

[Niko]

A really hvy band getting ready to pound my area. Radar looks great for a long, duration of snow today into the evening. Great spot to be in for this storm (probably best spot). So far at 4.1" and counting.

[BrianJK]

Think the back edge just got here.  What's on tap for later?

[Sciascia]

Snow just about done in the ORD area as the snow moves ESE

[Tabitha]

Continues to snow here; albeit lightly at the moment...with a temperature of 3 F...as we approach sunrise within the hour.

 

Since 1 AM; there has been additional accumulation; but not a large addition thus far.

 

Periods of snow should continue here throughout the day...and the rapidly strengthening February sun should foment a bit of convective activity with those very cold heights...850's near -20 C...so the closer to noon; the heavier the snow...I would guess.

 

We had a nice snow burst here shortly before Noon MDT; 2 inch per hour snow...though it only lasted about 20 minutes.

 

So far the storm has yielded 3.8" new snow here.

 

It is snowing more lightly now; with a temp in the single digits and very light winds.

[St Paul Storm]

Yup this is going about as bad as it possibly could’ve for the 20-80 corridor. What a joke. Why is it every time there’s a worst case scenario, it just HAS to pan out. I’m expecting nothing from tonight or Saturday. Both will go south of here. 4” for this whole shebang, perfect.

That sucks. We’ve all been there unfortunately. I’ll never forgot 3 months after I moved to St Paul we were forecasted to get 12-18” from a storm in early November, but there was a very small chance a warm tongue would sneak into the area. We ended up with 4” of slop and pingers. That one still burns me. Appreciate what ya got and move on to the next. This hobby is a cruel joke sometimes.

[tbone8]

Guys rooting for all this snow must not have to shovel sidewalks or clear driveways. At any rate, got 5.5" by LaPorte, IN, snow is falling at a moderate steady rate. Just waiting for the heavy stuff to move east...  

[Tom]

Think the back edge just got here.  What's on tap for later?

12z Euro shows .20-.30qpf across the area from tonight into Sunday....prob another 3-5 on the way for ORD...deduct 1-1.5" from this map near ORD, more so the farther S/SE you go to get an idea on whats lurking.

[jaster220]

Nothing impressive in Marshall yet. Took mby 13 hrs to scrounge up 4" via small flakes and very modest rates. Now the 94 corridor seams split by better bands N and S of me. Detroit magnet in full effect. Maybe this blob comes just far enough north to snag me. It is a winter wonderland look outside tho! Let it snow let it snow let it snow :-)

[Tom]

Here is a list of snowfall totals which are darn close to what was expected:

 

 

O’Hare 7.3 inches

 

Midway Airport 6.8 inches

Pell Lake WI 8.0 inches

Batavia 6.2 inches

Naperville 8.0 inches

Arlington Heights 7.0 inches

North Aurora 10.0 inches

Somonauk 8.0 inches

Carol Stream 6.5 inches

Joliet 7.0 inches

Crown Point 7.5 inches

Chicago Heights 8.4 inches

Evanston 6.0 inches

Hobart 6.5 inches

Orland Park 6.5 inches

Roscoe 6.0 inches

Bolingbrook 7.0 inches

[Tom]

Some spots down in the S/SW burbs are going to see those lolipop 12-15"+ totals through Sunday so I would have to say the NAM/GFS were not off their rockers it looks like.

[bud2380]

18z NAM showing a narrow stripe of 2-4" from highway 30 to I80 corridor give or take 10-15 miles either side tonight.  

[westMJim]

Nothing impressive in Marshall yet. Took mby 13 hrs to scrounge up 4" via small flakes and very modest rates. Now the 94 corridor seams split by better bands N and S of me. Detroit magnet in full effect. Maybe this blob comes just far enough north to snag me. It is a winter wonderland look outside tho! Let it snow let it snow let it snow :-)

I have been sick with a bad case of bronchitis so I have not kept up on snow fall amounts. But today I am feeling a little better and I took the best readings I could from the driveway (that had been cleared off before last night) and came up with a snow fall of 5.7" on new snow and now have 11.4" in the yard.  My main surprise was all of the school closings that we had today. Even being sick I did clear off part of the drive way with just a shovel the snow is not a wet heavy type so it was easy to move. Oh well I guess kids today just don't have to attend school like when I was a kid. 

[Tom]

18z NAM through Sat 6:00pm...

 

http://maps1.pivotalweather.com/maps/models/nam/2018020918/030/snku_acc.us_mw.png

[Niko]

Heavy snow now and radar is looking superb. So far 4.5".

[Niko]

Nothing impressive in Marshall yet. Took mby 13 hrs to scrounge up 4" via small flakes and very modest rates. Now the 94 corridor seams split by better bands N and S of me. Detroit magnet in full effect. Maybe this blob comes just far enough north to snag me. It is a winter wonderland look outside tho! Let it snow let it snow let it snow :-)

[Tom]

Man, 18z NAM a bit more juicy for the Sat pm into Sunday wave...atta boy NAM...keep it up!

 

http://maps1.pivotalweather.com/maps/models/nam/2018020918/048/snku_024h.us_mw.png

[Tom]

Man, 18z NAM a bit more juicy for the Sat pm into Sunday wave...atta boy NAM...keep it up!

 

http://maps1.pivotalweather.com/maps/models/nam/2018020918/048/snku_024h.us_mw.png

This looks very similar to what the 12z Euro control showed today..

[Tony]

Man, 18z NAM a bit more juicy for the Sat pm into Sunday wave...atta boy NAM...keep it up!

 

http://maps1.pivotalweather.com/maps/models/nam/2018020918/048/snku_024h.us_mw.png

Maybe we can get this thing to warning criteria next run.

[gosaints]

Some spots down in the S/SW burbs are going to see those lolipop 12-15"+ totals through Sunday so I would have to say the NAM/GFS were not off their rockers it looks like.

They were showing those totals on one wave scenarios. So how they got there was different....

[Tabitha]

We had a nice snow burst here shortly before Noon MDT; 2 inch per hour snow...though it only lasted about 20 minutes.

 

So far the storm has yielded 3.8" new snow here.

 

It is snowing more lightly now; with a temp in the single digits and very light winds.

 

About 4.0" of snow here from the biggest storm of the season.

 

It's actually kind of nice outside; though the temp is in the vicinity of zero.  I like the cold.

 

Probably around 5 or 6 inches of snow on the ground; depending where you look.

 

The 4" bring the seasonal total to 21.2"; which is at least moving in the right direction.

 

Despite the small annual total; the ground has been well-covered with snow on 50 days this winter season. 

 

This was the 22nd measurable event here.

 

In my previous venue; some other weather people considered the possibility that I had a tendency to under-measure; as though they lived nearby, they often came in with better snow totals.  Since the topography (and other considerations) were far more uniform there than here; the discrepancies seemed less understandable than any that might manifest in these parts.

 

It is still snowing very lightly here at 1:30 PM MDT.

[Tom]

Maybe we can get this thing to warning criteria next run.

I'd be happy with a WWA...lol...

[Tony]

I'd be happy with a WWA...lol...

Gotta keep reaching for the stars Tom