10:30am Winter Storm Update

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The huge winter storm is still just about as forecast yesterday. As you view the forecast, please focus on the general pattern and not the small "squiggles" in lines and amounts.

Let's begin with the ice storm. The first map is storm total ice accumulation:
Darker shades of purple = heavier accumulations of glaze ice.
We already have roads that are slick in spots in eastern Kansas and northwest Missouri due to freezing drizzle. The significant freezing rain will be tonight in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas then spread east.

The snowfall map is below. Blizzard conditions are likely in many areas.
The heavy snow will begin in Oklahoma tomorrow and then spread east northeastward. The predicted areas of heaviest snows shifted just a bit from last night. I am very concerned about traffic on Interstate 44 tomorrow as the snow will fall very quickly and may be on top of glaze ice. This could be a real mess as will Interstate 70 later and then the central and northern Illinois interstates all the way to I-64 to Indianapolis by Wednesday morning.

How much of a gambler are you? This is a map of the probabilities of 8 inches or more of snow from 6am Tuesday until 6am Wednesday (note, probabilities go up in the eastern part of this area during the day Wednesday.
Probability of eight inches or more. Blue 10%, green, 40%,
and red 70% chance. 

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