Blizzard in Kansas, January 29 to 30, 2001

Name: Blizzard in Kansas, January 29 to 30, 2001
Start: 2001-01-29T19:00
End: 2001-01-30T18:00
Location: Kansas

January 29 to 30, 2001 · NWS GLD · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

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 GLD wrote it up.

A low pressure system across the lower Missouri River Valley in combination with a high pressure system across the central Rocky Mountains produced high winds and blowing snow late on the 29th into the 30th of January. Although no precipitation fell across the area, Blizzard-like weather conditions prevailed across northwest Kansas mainly west of U.S. Highway 25. Wind gusts between 50 to 60 mph were quite common causing snow from a storm 2 days earlier, to blow and drift. Several roads were closed due to poor visibility and road conditions including Interstate 70 and U.S. highway 27. Numerous schools cancelled classes as well with this storm system.

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 29, 3:30 PM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 29, 3:30 PM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
230 PM MST MON JAN 29 2001

FORECAST CHALLENGES INCLUDE WIND AND TEMPERATURE AS WELL AS TIMING
OF UPPER LOW MOVING AWAY FROM CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS.

UPPER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS SPINNING OVER FAR EASTERN COLORADO AND
WESTERN KANSAS THIS AFTERNOON. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE IS OVER
UTAH AND ARIZONA. UPPER LOW WILL MOVE SLOWLY NORTHEAST TO OVER IOWA
BY EARLY TUESDAY. IR AND WATER VAPOR SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOW SEVERAL
WEAK VORT LOBES ROTATING AROUND UPPER LOW.

MODELS INITIALIZED WELL AT 12Z RUN AND ARE CONSISTENT WITH POSITION
AND FUTURE MOVEMENT OF UPPER LOW. WILL GO WITH AVN AS MODEL OF
CHOICE DUE ITS PAST TRACK RECORD WITH UPPER FEATURES. GOOD SNOW COVER
REMAINS ACROSS MOST OF CWFA. LATEST KGLD 88D SHOWS LIGHT SNOW
ROTATING SOUTH AROUND UPPER LOW ACROSS CWFA AND EXPECT THIS TREND TO
CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT. EXPECT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS TO BE LIGHT. THUS
WILL WORD FIRST PERIOD AS CLOUDY WITH FLURRIES ALL ZONES. WITH
SNOW COVER IN PLACE AND NORTHWEST WINDS WILL GO CLOSE TO GUIDANCE
FOR TEMPS GENERALLY 15 TO 20 DEGREES MOST AREAS.

BY TUESDAY UPPER LOW WILL MOVE TO IOWA WITH SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE
RIDGE BUILDING EASTWARD INTO AREA. EXPECT TIGHTENING PRESSURE
GRADIENT RESULTING IN NORTHWEST WINDS IN THE BLUSTERY TO WINDY
CATEGORIES. AM CONCERNED ABOUT WINDS AND POSSIBLE EFFECT ON OUR SNOW
COVER. COULD GET SOME BLOWING AROUND AND DRIFTING OF SNOW IF WINDS
DO PICK UP. WILL HOWEVER NOT ISSUE ANY HIGHLIGHTS AT THIS TIME.
EXPECT WRAP AROUND MOISTURE TO PERSIST MUCH OF THE DAY AS THE LOW
TRACKS SLOWLY NORTHEAST. WILL LEAVE CHANCE POPS FOR LIGHT SNOW ALL
ZONES AS A RESULT. EXPECT TEMPS TO MODERATE SLIGHTLY GENERALLY INTO
THE 25 TO 30 DEGREE RANGE.

TUESDAY NIGHT WILL SEE SOME DECREASE IN CLOUDINESS AS EFFECTS OF
UPPER LOW DEPARTS. SURFACE RIDGE BEGINS TO INFLUENCE WEATHER. WEAK
S/W MOVES THROUGH EARLY IN THE NIGHT. WILL LEAVE LOW CHANCE POPS FOR
THE NIGHT AS A RESULT. WILL GO CLOSE TO GUIDANCE FOR OVERNIGHT
TEMPS GENERALLY 15 TO 20 DEGREES.

Wednesday AND THROUGH MUCH OF THE EXTEND RIDGING TAKES CONTROL OF
CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS WEATHER. ATMOSPHERE DRIES OUT SOMEWHAT BUT
CLOUDS WILL BE SLOW TO DISAPPEAR. EXPECT LITTLE CHANGE IN
TEMPERATURES UNTIL THE WEEKEND WHEN TEMPS THEN ONLY RISE TO AROUND
40.

ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM NOW IN THE PACIFIC IS PROGGED BY MRF AND ECMWF
TO POSSIBLY AFFECT THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS BY LATE IN THE WEEKEND.
WILL CARRY A CHANCE OF SNOW FOR SUNDAY AS A RESULT.

.GLD...NONE.

LAMMERS

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Cheyenne

When: January 29, 7:00 PM CST to January 30, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Cheyenne forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.786, -101.731 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Sherman

When: January 29, 6:00 PM MST to January 30, 5:00 PM MST
Where: Sherman forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.351, -101.720 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Wallace

When: January 29, 6:00 PM MST to January 30, 5:00 PM MST
Where: Wallace forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.917, -101.764 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Greeley

When: January 29, 6:00 PM MST to January 30, 5:00 PM MST
Where: Greeley forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.481, -101.806 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Rawlins

When: January 29, 7:00 PM CST to January 30, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Rawlins forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.785, -101.076 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Thomas

When: January 29, 7:00 PM CST to January 30, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Thomas forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 39.351, -101.055 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Logan

When: January 29, 7:00 PM CST to January 30, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Logan forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.917, -101.148 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Wichita

When: January 29, 7:00 PM CST to January 30, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Wichita forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 38.482, -101.347 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

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, January 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: 5230200, 5230201, 5230202, 5230203, 5230204, 5230205, 5230206, 5230207.