A winter storm caused strong winds and one to 3 inches of snow near the Nebraska border. Slick roads and poor visibility was the result with near blizzard conditions at times.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS TOP wrote it up.
A winter storm caused strong winds and one to 3 inches of snow near the Nebraska border. Slick roads and poor visibility was the result with near blizzard conditions at times. A number of vehicle accidents occurred but none with serious injury.
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 Mar 15, 4:13 AM CST, 8 hours 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
413 AM CST THU MAR 15 2001
CHANGE-OVER TIMES...SNOW AMOUNTS AND WORDING OF HEADLINES WITH THE
HIGH WINDS MAIN CONCERNS FOR TODAY INTO THIS EVENING.
BANDS OF PRECIPITATION STILL SPINNING NORTHWARD AHEAD OF STRONG
UPPER IMPULSE OVER SOUTHWEST KS. MODELS FARILY SIMILAR THROUGH 24
HOURS AND GOING WITH AVN/ETA COMPROMISE AT THIS POINT CONCERNING
THERMAL FIELDS. MODELS HAVE Q-VECTOR...MID LEVEL LIFT...AND QPF
INCREASING CONSIDERABLY 12Z-18Z AS UPPER LOW WORKS EAST. THICKNESS FIELDS
CHANGE TO SNOW BY LATE MORNING OVER THE NORTH CENTRAL AND OVER THE NORTHEAST
DURING THE AFTERNOON WITH THE FAR EAST CENTRAL COUNTIES LAST. QPF'S WOULD
SUPPORT GENERALLY 2 TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS BUT
COMPLICATING FACTOR IS WARM SURFACE TEMPERATURES. ALSO MODELS SHOWING
45 TO 65 KNOTS OF H850 MB WINDS INCREASING BY THE NOON HOUR. IF
JUST BASED ON SNOWFALL AMOUNTS...WOULD GO SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW
ADVISORIES MOST AREAS BUT EXPECT SURFACE WINDS IN THE 25 TO 35 MPH
RANGE AND SLIGHTLY HIGHER NORTH CENTRAL...WHICH WOULD LEAD TO NEAR
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AT TIMES. UPGRADED WATCH AREAS TO
WARNINGS...NORTH CENTRAL FOR TODAY...FAR NORTHEAST FOR THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. REST OF CWA WENT WITH WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORY HEADLINE TO COVER COMBINATION OF HIGH WINDS...SNOW AND
BLOWING SNOW. VERTICAL MOTION FIELDS DROP OFF RAPIDLY BY 00Z-06Z.
WINDS STILL STRONG AND MAY STILL BE NEEDING SOME ADVISORY CRITERIA
OVERNIGHT BUT WILL ALLOW DAY SHIFT TO CATCH UP ON THIS. ALSO CONTINUED
FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL THIS MORNING WHERE
ECHOES HAVE BEEN TRAINING SOME AND EXPECT MORE DEVELOPMENT.
TEMPERATURE WISE HIGHS THIS MORNING MOST AREAS FALLING INTO THE
LOWER 30S NORTH TO MIDDLE 30S SOUTH DURING THE AFTERNOON. SHOULD
SEE SOME DECREASE IN CLOUDS NORTH CENTRAL AFTER MIDNIGHT...MOSTLY
CLOUDY EAST WITH LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 20S MOST AREAS AS PER
GUIDANCE.
ON FRIDAY INTO FRIDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. UNDERCUT GUIDANCE A
TAD ON HIGHS OVER THE EXPECTED SNOWIER AREAS OF THE NORTH CENTRAL
AND NORTHEAST...AROUND 40 NORTH TO AROUND 45 EAST CENTRAL. LOW
FRIDAY NIGHT MAINLY IN THE MIDDLE 20S.
.TOP...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY FOR MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL CWA.
WINTER STORM WARNING THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FAR NORTHEAST
COUNTIES...MARYSVILLE TO HIAWAoTHA.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REST OF CWA THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.
FLOOD WATCH...TILL NOON PARTS OF NORTHEAST AND MUCH OF EAST CENTRAL
FRANTZThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter storm, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong non-thunderstorm winds blew down a large tree on a car in Manhattan and caused several thousand dollars damage to the vehicle.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, March 2001
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: 5234020, 5234013, 5234014, 5234021.