Heavy Snow in Kansas, January 20 to 21, 2007

Name: Heavy Snow in Kansas, January 20 to 21, 2007
Start: 2007-01-20T15:00
End: 2007-01-21T07:00
Location: Kansas

January 20 to 21, 2007 · NWS GID · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

A winter storm brought heavy snows to north-central Kansas during the weekend of January 20th and 21st. Snow fall amounts were typically in the 6 to 8 inch range.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 6 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: 6

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 GID wrote it up.

A winter storm brought heavy snows to north-central Kansas during the weekend of January 20th and 21st. Snow fall amounts were typically in the 6 to 8 inch range. Wind was not a significant factor during this event. And being a weekend, impact to schools and businesses was also limited.

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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 20, 12:51 PM CST, 2 hours 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 20, 12:51 PM CST, 2 hours 9 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1251 PM CST SAT JAN 20 2007

.DISCUSSION...FORECAST IS WELL ON TRACK. STARTED THE SNOW ADVISORY
3 HOURS EARLIER IN EACH SEGMENT TO COINCIDE WITH THE BEGINNING OF
SNOW. RAISED CHANCES OF SNOW TO 100 PERCENT ACROSS THE BOARD
TONIGHT. UPDATED OTHER FIELDS SLIGHTLY FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT. WILL
KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON SNOW ACCUMULATIONS IN THE SOUTH...BUT
PRESENTLY LOOKS LIKE THE ADVISORY SHOULD HOLD WELL.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 426 AM CST SAT JAN 20 2007/

DISCUSSION...CURRENT WEATHER SCENARIO SHOWS STRONG UPPER LEVEL
LOW PRESSURE CHURNING TOWARD SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO. THE LOW IS ON
THE MOVE WITH STRONG HEIGHT FALLS ON EVENING UA RUN...AND IMPRESSIVE
FRONT SIDE H250 JET DEVELOPING. SURFACE TEMPERATURES REFLECTING JUST
WHERE THE CLOUDS ARE WITH SOUTHEAST/SOUTHERN ZONES IN THE TEENS
WHILE FAR WEST AND NORTH DOWN IN SINGLE DIGITS. MOISTURE SEEN ON
H850 EVENING CHARTS STARTING TO SURGE AS FAR NORTH AS KANSAS...WITH
PRECIPITATION AREA ALREADY AT THE OK/KS BORDER REGION.

ONCE AGAIN...THE ISSUE NOT WHETHER IT SNOWS BUT HOW MUCH. AT THIS
TIME...OVERALL MODELS TRENDS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT...ALTHOUGH MORE
RECENT HINTING AT POTENTIALLY INCREASED MOISTURE REGIME. MOISTURE
FLUX IS AGAIN FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR...WITH 2-3
G/KG MIXING RATIOS BY SATURDAY EVENING. BROAD ISENTROPIC LIFT
INITIALLY...WILL GIVE WAY STRONGER SYNOPTIC LIFT AS SEEN BY H5-3
Q DIVERGENCE CENTERED ON THE AREA TONIGHT. PERIOD OF 6 HOURS WHEN
JET ENHANCED LIFT OCCURS SATURDAY EVENING. THE SNOW WILL HIT THE
SOUTHERN ZONES THIS AFTERNOON...AND THIS SPILL NORTH. STILL LOOKS
LIKE A FAIRLY QUICK HITTING EVENT WITH ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL EARLY
SUNDAY UNLIKELY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80.

THIS FORECAST GOES TO A SNOW ADVISORY. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN BORDERLINE
ALL THE WAY. SEEMS LITTLE QUESTION THE CWFA WILL SEE A SOLID 3 TO 4
INCHES OF SNOW. QUESTION ARISES DUE TO FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE MOISTURE
FLUX INTO THIS SYSTEM...AND WHETHER WE CAN HIT HEAVY SNOW CRITERIA
FOR A TIME. MOST LIKELY AREA FOR THIS TO HAPPEN WOULD BE NORTH
CENTRAL KANSAS COUNTIES PER MODEL RUNS...BUT LAST EVENT SHOWED
MODEL WORLD NOT THE MOST RELIABLE FOR NARROW AXIS OF HEAVIER SNOW.
CONFIDENCE NOT BUOYED EITHER BY LACK OF DEFINITIVE FRONTOGENETIC
ON FORECAST PLOTS...WHICH WOULD PROBABLY TAKE SOME LOCATIONS ABOVE
THE 6 INCH MARK. RIGHT NOW...THINGS ARE IN HAND...AND TRENDS WILL
HAVE TO BE MONITORED TO THE SOUTH FOR HEAVY SNOW. HONESTLY CAN ONLY
BALLPARK THEY AREA RIGHT NOW AND DAYSHIFT MIGHT HAVE A BETTER SHOT
AND STILL MAINTAIN SOME LEAD TIME.

ABOUT THE ONLY CHANGE BEYOND SUNDAY NIGHT WAS TO MOVE IN CLEARING
QUICKER ON MONDAY...AND LOWER MINIMUM TEMPERATURES MONDAY NIGHT DUE
TO FRESH SNOW EXPECTED AND CLEAR SKY. MODELS DEPICT STRONG WARMING
POTENTIAL LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY...BUT HAVE GONE THE FRESH
SNOW AND CLEARING SKY PUSHING TEMPERATURES LOWER.

&&

.GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 12 PM CST SUNDAY FOR NEZ039>041-046>049-
     060>064-072>077.

     SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM CST SUNDAY FOR NEZ082>087.

KS...SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM CST SUNDAY FOR KSZ005>007-017>019.

&&

HEINLEIN

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 20, 12:29 PM CST, 2 hours 31 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1229 PM CST SAT JAN 20 2007

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-
211200-
PHILLIPS-SMITH-JEWELL-ROOKS-OSBORNE-MITCHELL-VALLEY-GREELEY-NANCE-
SHERMAN-HOWARD-MERRICK-POLK-DAWSON-BUFFALO-HALL-HAMILTON-YORK-
GOSPER-PHELPS-KEARNEY-ADAMS-CLAY-FILLMORE-FURNAS-HARLAN-FRANKLIN-
WEBSTER-NUCKOLLS-THAYER-
1229 PM CST SAT JAN 20 2007

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

A SNOW ADVISORY IS POSTED FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH
CENTRAL KANSAS BEGINNING THIS AFTERNOON...THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY BY
NOON SUNDAY. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS SUNDAY MORNING WILL BE
ONE INCH OR LESS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT.

&&

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE:
   HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HASTINGS  (ALL LOWERCASE)

HEINLEIN

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Jewell

When: January 20, 3:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Jewell forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 39.785, -98.218 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Mitchell

When: January 20, 3:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Mitchell forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 39.393, -98.209 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Osborne

When: January 20, 3:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Osborne forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 39.350, -98.768 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Phillips

When: January 20, 3:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Phillips forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 39.785, -99.347 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Rooks

When: January 20, 3:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Rooks forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 39.350, -99.325 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Smith

When: January 20, 3:00 PM CST to January 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Smith forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 39.785, -98.785 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kansas in 2007 Every state in 2007 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, January 2007

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: 13452, 13453, 13454, 13455, 13456, 13457.