Winter Storm in Kansas, February 26 to 27, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in Kansas, February 26 to 27, 2001
Start: 2001-02-26T22:00
End: 2001-02-27T18:00
Location: Kansas

February 26 to 27, 2001 · NWS TOP · 19 events in 19 counties and zones

A winter storm moved across the area producing significant snow amounts in some areas. The storm began as freezing rain then changed to snow.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 19 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 19

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TOP wrote it up.

A winter storm moved across the area producing significant snow amounts in some areas. The storm began as freezing rain then changed to snow. The slick conditions produced by the freezing rain lead to a fatal collision (discussed separately). The larger snow amounts were near the Nebraska border with amounts tapering off to the south. Some snowfall amounts include: 9 inches in Marysville, 8 inches near Clay Center and Hiawatha, 6 inches in Belleville and near Washington, and 4 inches near Westmoreland, Holton and in Lawrence.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 26, 2:50 PM CST, 7 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 26, 2:50 PM CST, 7 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
250 PM CST MON FEB 26 2001

MAIN CONCERN IS DEVELOPING WINTER STORM.  FAVOR THE NGM/ETA TIMING
OF THE COLD AIR AND THEIR PLACEMENT OF THE AXIS OF HIGHEST QPF.

COLD AIR HAS BEEN SLOW TO FILTER INTO NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS WITH KCNK
STILL AT 37F AT 20Z.  EXPECT COLD AIR TO SLOW PROGRESS SOUTHWARD
WITH THE FREEZING LINE MAKING IT TO A KEMP-KTOP LINE BY 12Z
TUESDAY.  RADAR MOSAICS ALREADY SHOWING SOME LIGHT PRECIPITATION
BREAKING OUT ACROSS CENTRAL KANSAS...AND WOULD EXPECT THIS TO BECOME
WIDESPREAD BY THIS EVENING THE ISENTROPIC LIFT INCREASES OVER THE
BOUNDARY.  290K AND 295K SHOW GOOD UPGLIDE DEVELOPING BY 06Z TUESDAY
AND PERSISTING INTO TUESDAY EVENING.  THUS WOULD EXPECT A PROLONGED
PERIOD OF SNOW ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS.  SPECIFIC
HUMIDITIES ARE FORECAST TO BE IN THE 3 TO 4 J/KG RANGE DURING THE
EVENT.  USING THE GARICA METHOD...COULD EASILY SEE 6 TO 8 INCHES OF
SNOW FALL NORTH OF INTERSTATE 70 BY TUESDAY EVENING.  TO SOUTH THE
OF THE KANSAS TURNPIKE...FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST A LONGER PERIOD
OF MIXED PRECIPITATION POSSIBLE.  CHANGE OVER FROM LIQUID TO
FREEZING TO OCCUR TUESDAY MORNING...AND IT MAY NOT GO OVER TO ALL
SNOW UNTIL LATE AFTERNOON SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 35.  SO EVEN WITH
TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES EXPECTED...WILL GO WITH A WATCH
DUE TO THE MIXED BAG OF PRECIPITATION.

BEYOND TUESDAY EVENING...WOULD EXPECT CLOUDS TO PERSIST THROUGH
WEDNESDAY EVENING.  AVN LOOKS OVERDONE WITH THE QPF ON WEDNESDAY AND
WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND PREFER THE ETA/ETA-X SOLUTIONS.

TEMPERATURES TO BE STEADY ON TUESDAY ACROSS NORTHERN ZONES...AND
FALLING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ZONES.  850 MB AIR COMING IN LOOKS QUITE
COLD...SO WITH FRESH SNOW...WOULD EXPECT HIGHS TO BE RESTRICTED TO
THE UPPER 20S TO THE UPPER 30S THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

.TOP...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT AND TUESDAY FOR NORTH CENTRAL
       AND NORTHEAST KANSAS...GENERALLY NORTHWEST OF THE KANSAS
       TURNPIKE.

       WINTER STORM WATCH TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT FOR EAST CENTRAL
       KANSAS...GENERALLY SOUTHEAST OF THE KANSAS TURNPIKE.

58T

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

19 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Brown

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Brown forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.827, -95.564 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Clay

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Clay forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.350, -97.165 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Cloud

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Cloud forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.480, -97.649 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Dickinson

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Dickinson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.867, -97.153 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Douglas

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Douglas forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.885, -95.293 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Geary

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Geary forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.002, -96.752 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Jackson

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Jackson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.417, -95.794 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Jefferson

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Jefferson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.236, -95.383 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Marshall

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Marshall forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.784, -96.523 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Morris

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Morris forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.687, -96.650 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Nemaha

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Nemaha forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.784, -96.014 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Osage

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Osage forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.652, -95.727 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Ottawa

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Ottawa forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.133, -97.650 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Pottawatomie

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Pottawatomie forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.379, -96.342 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Republic

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Republic forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.828, -97.651 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Riley

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Riley forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.297, -96.735 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Shawnee

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Shawnee forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.042, -95.756 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Wabaunsee

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Wabaunsee forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.953, -96.205 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Washington

When: February 26, 10:00 PM CST to February 27, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.784, -97.087 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kansas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, February 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5229614, 5229615, 5229616, 5229617, 5229618, 5229619, 5229620, 5229621, 5229622, 5229623, 5229624, 5229625, 5229626, 5229627, 5229628, 5229629, 5229630, 5229631, 5229632.