2/23 - 2/24 Central Plains/Midwest Blizzard

[Minny_Weather]

Wasn't even aware they extended. So, how deep would that make the snow there??

About a 10" depth on average. There are a couple patchy spots where all there is is the old crusty snow, and there are some other places with 2' depths.

[Tom]

Wind gusts are topping 60mph locally...

 

 

 

10AM: Top wind gusts over the last hour include:
62mph Wheeling
61mph Harvard
60mph Aurora
60mph Sycamore
60mph Sugar Grove
57mph Shorewood
56mph Bolingbrook

Highest overall gust of the day: 70mph, measured at the Michigan City Lighthouse just before 6AM.

[jaster220]

We had the Bombogenisis storm 2 autumns ago up near Sault Saint Marie, but I think this is the first time I've seen a closed contour in the 970's mb since using this tool. Impressive gusts out there! And a few flakes now as well.

 

 

 

[jaster220]

Anyone know just how deep the low is at this time? The last I seen was at 981 in norther Lake Michigan at 7:45 AM EST

 

As of 11 am it was below 978 mb just north of SSM

[westMJim]

As of 11 am it was below 978 mb just north of SSM

yeah I seen that just after I posted this. Thanks

[jaster220]

Somebody said that OMA looked like the U.P. of Michigan??

 

Here's a poster from the U.P. mentioning the upgrade to a BW..

 

Baraga-Marquette- Including the cities of L`Anse, Gwinn, and Marquette 747 AM EST Sun Feb 24 2019 ...BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM EST MONDAY... * WHAT...Blizzard conditions developing late this morning and continuing into this evening. Additional snow accumulations of 10 to 17 inches,  except 5 to 8 inches near Skandia and Marquette and 2 to 4 inches south of Gwinn. Northwest winds will gust as high as 55 mph this afternoon and evening.

 

 ..and he made it a point to mention that's on top of the 12" he already got from this storm and he has 65" OTG at this point 

[Snowshoe]

In the past 12 months I experienced a +24" storm last April, a 16" storm a couple weeks ago and now this Blizzard. Each storm unique and amazing but this one is incredible. Probably because I least expected it. I went to bed with pouring rain and woke up to a ~10" blizzard. The others were well modeled and almost expected. Today I expected maybe 2" if lucky and trailer my sleds north for good snow. Instead I'll be headed out with a chainsaw to clear trees from our trails.

[Cfweather]

I35 closed from Ames up to MN. 3/4 of the state is travel not advised. And there are a ton of other roads have have been closed too.

[gimmesnow]

Somebody said that OMA looked like the U.P. of Michigan??

 

Here's a poster from the U.P. mentioning the upgrade to a BW..

 

 

 ..and he made it a point to mention that's on top of the 12" he already got from this storm and he has 65" OTG at this point 

 

Man I need to make my way back up there sometime, it's been years. I still remember the first time I jumped off my snowmobile and was up to snow in my neck. They've got really cheap buildable lots up there, like $2,000.

[Stacsh]

Radar explosion in Michigan

[OmahaSnowFan]

Omaha has tied the snowiest Dec-Feb period on record wiith 44.3” of snow

[Minny_Weather]

Omaha has tied the snowiest Dec-Feb period on record wiith 44.3” of snow

Lincoln is 0.3" short of this. Hoping we get lucky with a light burst this week but I don't think we'll beat it as our next legit shot of snow is on March 1.

[jcwxguy]

Snow map (they didn't use gretna) but you can see the bullseye area

[james1976]

This storm has dropped into the 970s?! Amazing
I receive about 5" of snow. Crazy blowing and drifting right now. Large tree limb blew down and up against the side of the deck.

[westMJim]

The low looks to still be near  Sault Ste Marie as their latest reading was 978.4 at their airport and 975.7 at KANJ At this time I am getting moderate snow and blowing snow here with a temperature of 30.5. Winds at the airport are reported at 36 MPH with gust of 49

[james1976]

16" report in NW Iowa

[westMJim]

This storm has dropped into the 970s?! Amazing

I receive about 5" of snow. Crazy blowing and drifting right now. Large tree limb blew down and up against the side of the deck.

The report from the Sault (Sault Ste Marie) was 978.4 at the airport and 978.4 downtown (downtown is north of the airport) 

[westMJim]

Here are some web cams from Munising 

https://www.exploremunising.com/web-cams/

 and Ontonagon it looks real bad at Ontonagon 

https://www.jamadots.com/webcams

[Money]

There’s a mass casualty car crash involving over 40-45 vehicles just north of here

 

Here’s a video

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1993660107606185&id=1441072926198242

 

Insane

[gosaints]

Civil emergency message no travel advised in county

[St Paul Storm]

Finished with about 4” here yesterday. Winds gusting to 40mph at times. Took a stroll through Minnehaha falls (fed from Mississippi River)in Minneapolis. Unbelievable experience with the deep snowpack and winds. Clear blue skies and fresh air. Amazing.

[Money]

Apparently there was an accident before that pileup that caused a backup and then the people behind that couldn’t see the cars stopped due to zero visibility from the blowing

 

Sounds like at least 4 dead in that wreck so far and a lot of emergency vehicles can’t get to the scene because of all the cars behind it

 

They said the highway could be shut down for 12-15 hours

[jaster220]

Radar explosion in Michigan

 

My morning grid forecast from my office "Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible."

 

Would have to STOP snowing right now for that not to be yet another FAILED forecast for here. 

 

After the switch-over it ripped for about 30 mins and already got 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Everything's whitened up that's elevated. 12k NAM showed hours and hours of snow falling for the past day or two of runs. It's nailed every event within that range. Am I smarter than the professionals up in GR's office? I doubt it, yet even I can understand how a deepening SLP like this will lead to a great lake response as we've seen multiple times this season already. Heck, even last night's Euro showed 2" for my county. I'll take the surprise event (again) but the blunders outta GRR are just plain unexplained imho 

[gosaints]

It getting windier not better

[jaster220]

There’s a mass casualty car crash involving over 40-45 vehicles just north of here

 

Here’s a video

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1993660107606185&id=1441072926198242

 

Insane

 

That's horrible!! and very sad. I've seen this sh*t play out too many times here along I-94 and I find it's a combination of bad wx and stupid people. We Americans cherish our freedom of mobility and hate to be inconvenienced by Mother Nature's fury, but there's times to stay the h*ll off the x-ways yet peeps refuse to heed the warnings. The sad part is when innocent naive drivers are caught up in something like this. Those semi drivers are "on the clock" so to speak and will continue in the worst of weather. They have little to fear in the case of a pile-up. It's the passenger car operators that'll be squish bate in most instances. All this has just gotten worse with the insane volumes of vehicles, especially those SUV's and trucks giving people more bravado in bad conditions than in past eras. 

[jaster220]

Finished with about 4” here yesterday. Winds gusting to 40mph at times. Took a stroll through Minnehaha falls (fed from Mississippi River)in Minneapolis. Unbelievable experience with the deep snowpack and winds. Clear blue skies and fresh air. Amazing.

 

Beautiful stuff there SPS! I vaguely remember those kind of days in my 7 seasons in NMI. Deep deep winter and a calm sunny day occasionally crossed paths, even in the LES belts. Made for a great day outside skiing or snowmobiling, or just plain hiking. Thx for posting your pic!

[jaster220]

 

The low looks to still be near  Sault Ste Marie as their latest reading was 978.4 at their airport and 975.7 at KANJ At this time I am getting moderate snow and blowing snow here with a temperature of 30.5. Winds at the airport are reported at 36 MPH with gust of 49

 

 

You're right, looks to have paused forward movement there. Same basic location @ 18z as 16z:

 

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/s4/pmsl.gif

[Minny_Weather]

That's horrible!! and very sad. I've seen this sh*t play out too many times here along I-94 and I find it's a combination of bad wx and stupid people. We Americans cherish our freedom of mobility and hate to be inconvenienced by Mother Nature's fury, but there's times to stay the h*ll off the x-ways yet peeps refuse to heed the warnings. The sad part is when innocent naive drivers are caught up in something like this. Those semi drivers are "on the clock" so to speak and will continue in the worst of weather. They have little to fear in the case of a pile-up. It's the passenger car operators that'll be squish bate in most instances. All this has just gotten worse with the insane volumes of vehicles, especially those SUV's and trucks giving people more bravado in bad conditions than in past eras. 

It's not just the people who choose to go out in that, it's the people who choose to go out in that then attempt to go normal speed. They then slide out of control and cause these pile-ups. But you can't see them because it's a whiteout.

[gosaints]

It's not just the people who choose to go out in that, it's the people who choose to go out in that then attempt to go normal speed. They then slide out of control and cause these pile-ups. But you can't see them because it's a whiteout.

there is no way someone should travel here today. Unless an emergency occurs. It's that bad

[East Dubzz]

Yeesh, this wind is blowing my truck all over the road. Thank goodness there is a hard layer over the snow.

[Money]

It's not just the people who choose to go out in that, it's the people who choose to go out in that then attempt to go normal speed. They then slide out of control and cause these pile-ups. But you can't see them because it's a whiteout.

I had someone tailgate me last week or so and they ended up spinning out later on

 

So many dumb drivers

[Stormhunter87]

Apparently there was an accident before that pileup that caused a backup and then the people behind that couldn’t see the cars stopped due to zero visibility from the blowing

 

Sounds like at least 4 dead in that wreck so far and a lot of emergency vehicles can’t get to the scene because of all the cars behind it

 

They said the highway could be shut down for 12-15 hours

Didn't hear about any deaths on 80 but they had three major pile up. Apparently a volunteer fire department had several firemen injuried when they went to go help people in one of them.

[gabel23]

Didn't hear about any deaths on 80 but they had three major pile up. Apparently a volunteer fire department had several firemen injuried when they went to go help people in one of them.

Waco fire department had some firefighters get hit. The last I heard the person was in serious condition. I also heard Aurora fire department had some trucks hit, just terrible I hope everyone is ok. 

[gosaints]

National guard vehicles called in to rescued stranded vehicles

[Madtown]

Sunday Funday!

[gabel23]

Sunday Funday!

Man that would be awesome, enjoy!

[Madtown]

Still snowing and winds are insane...under 1/2 vis at all times down to 1/4 at times

[St Paul Storm]

Fresh, deep snowpack doing work on temps. Going down to -9F tonight with a high of only 5F tomorrow. WC down to -30. This storm is tugging down the cold air big time.

[Grizzcoat]

Sister lives near Kenyon,MN (just NE of Rochester). Had vis earlier today under 50 yards.Snow in garage.

[jaster220]

Yeesh, this wind is blowing my truck all over the road. Thank goodness there is a hard layer over the snow.

 

This wasn't you by any chance??

 

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190224/a702dfb27aaeb32e6463d5055498ad3a.jpg

 

As said, truckers will just keep on a truckin'...til they just can't