A strong storm system moved out of the rockies into the Southern plains. with areas northwest of the Kansas turnpike receiving 6 to 12 inches.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 ICT wrote it up.
A strong storm system moved out of the rockies into the Southern plains. Moisture ahead and northy of this system lead to a large swath of heavy snowfall across Central Kansas...with areas northwest of the Kansas turnpike receiving 6 to 12 inches. The heaviest snowfall amounts occured over Barton, Russell and Lincoln counties. The heavy snowfall hampered clean up efforts from the Ice storm that occurred earlier in the month, hitting the same area.
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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 14, 3:59 AM CST, 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 359 AM CST FRI DEC 14 2007 .DISCUSSION... TODAY-TONIGHT: WILL CARRY FREEZING FOG EARLY THIS MORNING...AS INCREASING CIRRUS NIXING MOST OF THE PATCHY DENSE FREEZING FOG BEING REPORTED EARLIER. OTHERWISE FAIRLY STRAIGHT FORWARD FORECAST WITH GOOD AGREEMENT IN THE SHORT RANGE WITH BOTH 00 UTC GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM MODEL/12 UTC EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS MODEL. WEAK RIPPLE IN SOUTHERN STREAM WILL MOVE OUT TODAY/TONIGHT IN ADVANCE OF STRONGER WAVE TOMORROW. 0000 UTC 850MB ANALYSIS SHOWED WEAK BAROCLINIC ZONE ACROSS OK. BY THIS AFTERNOON...WARM AIR ADVECTION/MOISTURE ADVECTION WILL COMMENCE WITH LIGHT SNOW BREAKING OUT PRIMARILY WEST OF HIGHWAY 14 AFTER NOON...AND VERY LATE THIS AFTERNOON WEST OF A LINE FROM SLN-ICT- WELLINGTON. THE BULK OF THE SNOW SHOULD OCCUR OVERNIGHT. GLOBAL FORECAST SYSTEM MODEL FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST NEARLY ALL SNOW FOR PRECIPITATION TYPE...WITH A SMALL CHANCE OF BRIEF MIX OF FZDZ/-FZRA ACROSS THE SOUTH EARLY IN THE EVENT. LAPSE RATES ARE GENERALLY NEUTRAL...BUT SOME VERY SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE RATES ARE EXPECTED OVERNIGHT. THE BEST COMBO OF LAPSE RATES AND PERSISTENT SNOW SUGGEST BROAD SWATH 5-7 INCH AMOUNTS FROM FROM HARPER COUNTY TOWARDS EMPORIA. DRIER AIR ALOFT WORKING INTO WESTERN SECTIONS MAY LIMIT SNOWFALL AFTER MIDNIGHT ACROSS BARTON/WESTERN RENO/WESTERN KINGMAN COUNTIES. SAT-SAT NIGHT: MAIN AREA OF SNOW WILL BE EXITING SOUTH CENTRAL KS AND PERSISTING IN SOUTHEAST KS. WRAP AROUND PRECIPITATION COULD AFFECT AREAS EAST OF HIGHWAY 14 AFTER DAYBREAK. COLDER AIR ALOFT WILL ALSO STEEPEN LAPSE RATES A BIT SO ACUMULATING SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE THERE. WITH SOME CLEARING AND DRIER AIR LATE...TEMPERATURES MAY DROP INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS IN CENTRAL KS BY SUN MORNING. && .AVIATION... PATCHY SHALLOW FREEZING FOG WILL BE COMMON ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA EARLY. THE ATMOSPHERE WILL SATURATE DURING THE DAY FRIDAY AS A WINTER STORM APPROACHES FROM THE SOUTHWEST. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO START BY MID-AFTERNOON AT MOST SITES...WITH CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES COMING DOWN TO IFR DURING THE NGT. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES OVERNIGHT FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... WICHITA-KICT 33 23 30 13 / 50 100 50 0 HUTCHINSON 32 22 30 13 / 80 100 50 0 NEWTON 32 21 27 13 / 40 100 60 0 ELDORADO 33 23 28 16 / 20 100 50 0 WINFIELD-KWLD 35 25 31 13 / 30 100 50 0 RUSSELL 29 18 28 8 / 80 100 30 0 GREAT BEND 29 20 30 11 / 80 100 30 0 SALINA 31 20 31 11 / 50 100 70 0 MCPHERSON 31 21 29 13 / 70 100 60 0 COFFEYVILLE 37 27 32 17 / 10 100 70 10 CHANUTE 35 25 31 15 / 10 100 70 10 IOLA 34 24 30 15 / 10 100 70 10 PARSONS-KPPF 36 29 33 14 / 10 100 70 10 && .ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SNOW ADVISORY FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 12 PM CST SATURDAY FOR KSZ071-072-094>096-098>100. HEAVY SNOW WARNING FROM NOON TODAY TO 12 PM CST SATURDAY FOR KSZ051>053-067>069-082-083-091-092. SNOW ADVISORY FROM NOON TODAY TO 12 PM CST SATURDAY FOR KSZ032- 033-047>050-093. HEAVY SNOW WARNING FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 12 PM CST SATURDAY FOR KSZ070. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 956 PM CST THU DEC 13 2007 KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-142215- RUSSELL-LINCOLN-BARTON-ELLSWORTH-SALINE-RICE-MCPHERSON-MARION-CHASE- RENO-HARVEY-BUTLER-GREENWOOD-WOODSON-ALLEN-KINGMAN-SEDGWICK-HARPER- SUMNER-COWLEY-ELK-WILSON-NEOSHO-CHAUTAUQUA-MONTGOMERY-LABETTE- 956 PM CST THU DEC 13 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL KANSAS... SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT PATCHY FOG MAY REDUCE THE VISIBILITY TO ONE MILE IN A FEW LOCATIONS OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THE POTENTIAL FOR ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL LOOKS PROBABLE FOR FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY MORNING...AS A POTENT WINTER STORM MOVES ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER STORM WATCH PRODUCT FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DEVELOPING WINTER STORM. FORTUNATELY...FREEZING RAIN OR SLEET IS NOT EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM SYSTEM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && FOR A GRAPHICAL VERSION OF THIS INFORMATION...SEE OUR WEBPAGE AT (LOWERCASE) HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/WICHITA/HWO/HWO.PHP COX/KLEINSASSER/KETCHAM
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Law enforcement officials reported 6 to 7.5 inches of snow across the county. The heaviest snowfall occurred north of Lyons.
A trained spotter reported 8.5 inches across western sections of the county.
Four to eight inches of snow fell across the county. This snowfall fell across broken power poles and downed power lines from a previous ice storm earlier in the month, further slowing the recovery process. The hardest hit areas were across the northern portions of the county.
Five to eleven inches of snow fell across the county. The snowfall amounts ranged from 5 to 7 inches in Hutchinson to 11 inches in Plevna.
Four to eight inches of snow fell across the county. This snowfall caused several roll-over accidents due to slick roads. The heaviest snowfall occurred north of Burrton where 8 inches fell.
Five to six inches fell across the county. The heaviest snowfall amounts fell north of Cunningham.
Law enforcement reported 10 to 12 inches of snow fell across Barton County. The heaviest snowfall amounts around 12 inches fell across the northwest portions of the county near Galatia.
The local Cooperative observer and law enforcement reported 9 to 12 inches of snowfall across the county. Some reports of power outages occured due to the weight of the heavy snow.
Law enforcement reported 6 to 7 inches across the county. Some drifting of the snow occurred along county roads.
Law enforement reported 8 to 10 inches across the county. Numerous cars slid off of Interstate 70 due to snowpacked roads.
Six to twelve inches of snow fell across the county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, December 2007
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: 67937, 67940, 69299, 69300, 69301, 69302, 67934, 67935, 67936, 67933, 69347.