Plains - Midwest Winter Storm Update

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Lots to talk about. For people wanting to travel by car or air in these regions, let's start with the timing.

6am CST Wednesday

 Tonight, travel on I-70 and I-40 will be difficult due to heavy snow. It will be snowing in Denver tomorrow morning. A blizzard warning has been issued for much of western Kansas.

6pm CST Wednesday
Most all of this north of a Dodge City to St. Joseph, MO line is snow. It will be snowing hard on I-80 and I-29 in eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa by this time. Winds are forecast to gust into the 35-50 mph range creating blizzard conditions.

6am CST Thursday
Just about everything north of I-70 is snow. A blizzard will be in progress in Iowa, NW Illinois that will move into southern Wisconsin with considerable drifting snow.  From the Ozarks, south, strong thunderstorms will be in progress. Tornadoes in the nighttime hours Wednesday night and Thursday morning cannot be ruled out.

6pm CST Thursday
Powerful storm with a textbook shape has moved into lower Michigan. Blizzard conditions expected in Wisconsin, the UP, and northern Lower Michigan. A line of thunderstorms with damaging winds will likely move across the Southeast during the day. Winds will be very strong from the Upper Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes.

How Much Snow?

 AccuWeather's forecast looks good to me:
AccuWeather has more information on this storm here.

Later today, I'll have an update on the increasingly likely winter storm for Christmas week.

Comments

  1. PointSpecialDecember 18, 2012 at 5:09 PM

    The European model has (or at least yesterday, had) a slightly more southern track and had Chicago included in the 6 inch zone. Has there been any more of a concensus among models yet?

    We're starting to approach that "magic" 48 hour window where things become a bit more clear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithDecember 18, 2012 at 5:34 PM

    Ensemble-derived probability of 6" of snow in Chicago is 5%.

    Probability of 2-3" is 50%.

    ReplyDelete

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