KSHB: Weather: Action Weather Blog: Viewer Question

Time to answer a viewer question. I thought this one would be a good blog entry:

Based on the hourly surface observations at 2:00 P.M. the center of the low is located right around the Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas border-in fact, it is almost 63 degrees in Southern Kansas/Missouri at this time. 9 out of 10 times if memory serves me correctly, that is really good track for snow-if the low is weak like this one is now, the snow/precip. usually is closer to the low-so why did the precip fall almost 500 miles North of this low and why with a pretty strong temp. gradient is this low not stronger? I'm just curious-I realize our dew points are only in the 20's but Nebraska'a were in the teens. This just seemed like a pretty good set up and I'm surprised the dynamics did not produce at least a lt. snow event for here. Thanks in advance for your repsonse
Bill

To answer... the storm that tracked to our south was not the reason there was snow up in Nebraska and Iowa today. There was a weak upper-level disturbance that moved across the area. You can actually see it on this morning's forecast maps for this afternoon:

See that yellow steak with x's, and the yellow spot over Iowa? That is the culprit... an area of Positive Vorticity Advection... which leads to rising air. We also had an 850mb low over us which helped increase cloud cover and bring light precip:

We didn't see much more than some flurries/freezing drizzle here. But they did pick up almost 3" of snow in Omaha! Even with those low dew points! The surface low you referred to did help to pull in some colder air, though!

That is the thing about forecasting... you have to analyze what is going on at ALL levels of the atmosphere.

Now for Sunday... we should see the return of some sunshine around here! It looks like it will still be cold, though... with highs in the upper 20s. If you are going to the Chief's game... brrrrrr! Hope you can stay warm! Temps will be falling into the lower 20s by the end of the game!

Still looking pretty cold the next five days or so, with just a 20% chance of flurries or light snow here and there. Nothing major at all. The models are even hinting at a WARM UP come next weekend! We could be close to 50 degrees again! Stay tuned!

And last... if you get a chance to watch the 10pm tonight... Mags is going to make her TV debut. :) She met a new friend today... Keith King's yellow lab named Murphy! They had some fun running around together. At first, Mags was a little scared... but after awhile she was running after Murphy! Then they got tired and wanted to rest:

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Jamie:

Thanks for the answer!!! I did not see that this morning-that really explains alot!! Def. looks like a cold week so it will feel like winter. Thanks again for taking the time to answer the question!!

HI, BILL:
No problem! Get ready for the coldest days of the season so far!
Jamie

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I have a question...what is the record for the least amount of snow we've received in a winter season?

thanks

MIKE:
The record for the least amount of snow in a winter season is 4.5 inches. That record was set back in 1922/1923.

That year there was no snowfall in October or November. December only had .6" of snow. And there was no snowfall at all in January. February and March got 1.2" and 2.7" respectively.

Right now, I would say we are on a good start to having one of the driest winters. But it only takes one big snowstorm to change that :)

Jamie