An initial shortwave trough spurred a cold front to dive through the region late the evening of the 8th through the morning of the 9th. Warm advection rain showers changed over to snow as the system passed through, with between one and three inches common over portions of east central Kansas.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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.
An initial shortwave trough spurred a cold front to dive through the region late the evening of the 8th through the morning of the 9th. Warm advection rain showers changed over to snow as the system passed through, with between one and three inches common over portions of east central Kansas. Dozens of accidents occurred along the roadways of several counties. One vehicle crash fatality was attributed to the weather, as were numerous reported injuries that occurred as a result of wrecks.
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 Dec 9, 5:11 AM CST, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 511 AM CST TUE DEC 9 2008 .UPDATE... UPDATED THE AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR THE 12Z TAFS. && .DISCUSSION... SEE PREV DISCUSSION. && .AVIATION... COLD AIR CONTINUES TO FILTER INTO TOP AND FOE. PRECIP TYPE SHOULD BE ALL SNOW BY 12Z AS CAA CONTINUES TO COOL THE COLUMN. NAM AND GFS SHOW THE BETTER FRONTOGENESIS THIS AFTERNOON BETWEEN 18 AND 21Z SETTING UP JUST SOUTH OF FOE. IN GENERAL EXPECT MVFR CIGS AND VSBY WITH -SN. WILL KEEP A TEMPO IFR AT TOP AND FOE GIVEN THE CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE EXPECTED SNOW BAND LATER TODAY. MHK SHOULD BE FURTHER REMOVED FROM THE FORCING AND DEEPER MOISTURE. DRY AIR IS QUICK TO MOVE IN LATE THIS AFTERNOON. ANTICIPATE CONDITIONS STEADILY IMPROVING TO VFR BY EARLY EVENING. WOLTERS && .PREV DISCUSSION... /341 AM CST TUE DEC 9 2008/ FORECAST FOCUS CENTERS AROUND WINTER WEATHER EVENT TODAY AND TONIGHT. EARLY THIS MORNING...INITIAL SHORTWAVE AND ISENTROPIC LIFT FUELING CONVECTION ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHEAST/EAST CENTRAL KANSAS IN THE WARM/MOIST SECTOR AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING COLD FRONT. SURFACE TEMPS IN EAST CENTRAL PART OF THE STATE WERE STILL IN THE MID 50S AT 1AM...BUT CRASHING POST FROPA INTO THE MIDDLE 30S...WITH COLDER TEMPS EVIDENT FURTHER UPSTREAM. LIGHTER RETURNS WERE EVIDENT ON LOCAL WSR- 88D MOSAIC FROM EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA TO SOUTHWEST KANSAS...WHERE MUCH COOLER COLUMN AND SFC TEMPS SUPPORT SNOW. TODAY...PRECIP WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING...WITH A BRIEF REPRIEVE BEFORE THE NOON HOUR AS THE LEADING WAVE LIFTS OUT OF THE STATE. CUT BACK ON MORNING POPS AS A RESULT BETWEEN 12Z AND 18Z. BETWEEN 18Z AND 21Z...LARGE SCALE LIFT AGAIN COMMENCES AS SECOND PIECE OF SHORTWAVE ENERGY...UPPER DIVERGENCE...AND ZONE OF 700:600MB FRONTOGENESIS COME TOGETHER OVER PRIMARILY EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. FORECAST SOUNDINGS ALSO DEPICT STEEP-ISH MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES...AND WEAK ELEVATED INSTABILITY. BEST OMEGA ALIGNS WITH THE SATURATED DENDRITIC GROWTH ZONE ALONG A SWATH THAT PASSES FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST THROUGH EAST CENTRAL KANSAS. CURRENTLY THINK THAT A BAND OF SNOW WILL SET-UP THIS AFTERNOON ALONG THAT LINE. THE SITUATION IS A BIT TRICKIER REGARDING TEMPERATURES. NORTHWESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE FORECAST AREA HAVE FALLEN COMFORTABLY BELOW FREEZING THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERIC COLUMN ALREADY THIS MORNING...AND THEREFORE EXPECT SNOW TO BE THE PREDOMINANT PRECIPITATION TYPE. THE SOUTHEASTERN THIRD THOUGH MAY SEE A BRIEF PERIOD THIS MORNING WHEN RAIN SWITCHES TO FREEZING RAIN OR SLEET AS SHALLOW NEAR SURFACE COLD AIRMASS ADVECTS SOUTHWARD...BUT MIDLEVELS REMAIN MILD. COLUMN WILL COOL TO BELOW FREEZING BY 18Z...AND KEPT THE WEATHER TYPE ALL SNOW DURING THE AFTERNOON. COULD SEE A FEW INCHES OF SNOW ACROSS EAST CENTRAL KANSAS TODAY...ESPECIALLY WITHIN THE AREA BENEATH THE AFOREMENTIONED PRECIPITATION BAND...BUT CURRENT GROUND TEMPERATURES MAY BE AN INHIBITING FACTOR. PAVEMENT TEMPERATURES ARE RUNNING IN THE MID TO UPPER 40S ACROSS MOST OF NORTHEAST KANSAS. EXPECT ACCUMULATIONS MAINLY ON GRASSY SURFACES AND THE LIKE...WITH A 2 TO 3 INCH SWATH FROM SOUTHERN LYON TO SOUTHERN DOUGLAS COUNTY...TO THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF THE CWA. AIR TEMPERATURES WILL FALL THROUGH THE DAY AND DESPITE THE WARM START...EXPECT WALKWAYS AND ROADWAYS TO BECOME SLUSHY...SLICK...AND HAZARDOUS. ALSO HAVE SOME CONCERN FOR WINDS. TIGHT SFC GRADIENT BEHIND THE COLD FRONT WILL KEEP WINDS ON THE BREEZY SIDE TODAY. VISIBILITY REDUCTIONS DUE TO SNOW WILL ONLY BE EXACERBATED BY THE WIND. DO NOT THINK SUSTAINED SPEEDS OR GUSTS WILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO WARRANT AN ADVISORY...BUT DAY SHIFT WILL NEED TO MONITOR. TONIGHT...PRECIPITATION WILL SHUT OFF RATHER ABRUPTLY AFTER 21Z...AS UPPER FORCING SHIFTS EASTWARD...BULK OF MIDLEVEL MOISTURE DROPS SOUTHWARD...AND HIGH PRESSURE AND LARGE SCALE SUBSIDENCE SETTLE IN. SKIES WILL CLEAR OUT...AND WINDS DIMINISH. LIGHT WINDS... RADIATIONAL COOLING...POTENTIAL SNOW COVER...AND COLD AIRMASS IN PLACE WILL ALLOW LOWS TO DROP DOWN INTO THE TEENS. WED-FRI...NORTHWESTERLY FLOW REGIME WILL AGAIN BE ESTABLISHED ALOFT. CLIPPER SKIPS ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS WEDNESDAY...WHICH SHOVES A WEAK COLD FRONT THROUGH THE REGION. NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF MOISTURE RETURN...SO EXPECT LITTLE MORE THAN AN INCREASE IN MIDLEVEL CLOUDS. WARMED HIGHS A FEW DEGREES WEST WITH WARM ADVECTION AHEAD OF THE TROUGH. OTHERWISE...TEMPERATURES LOOK TO REMAIN RIGHT AROUND SEASONAL NORMALS. NO CHANGES MADE THEREAFTER. LUNDE && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 3 PM TUESDAY FOR KSZ011-KSZ012-KSZ022-KSZ023-KSZ024-KSZ026-KSZ035-KSZ036-KSZ037-KSZ038 -KSZ039. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM TUESDAY FOR KSZ040-KSZ054- KSZ055-KSZ056-KSZ058-KSZ059. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 522 AM CST TUE DEC 9 2008 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-101130- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 522 AM CST TUE DEC 9 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW IS POSSIBLE ACROSS THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA TODAY. THERE MAY BE A BRIEF PERIOD OF TIME THAT A MIX OF RAIN...SLEET...AND SNOW FALLS ACROSS PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL KANSAS THIS MORNING. THE BEST CHANCE FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW COMES THIS AFTERNOON...MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM EUDORA TO NEAR EMPORIA. APPROXIMATELY TWO INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED IN THIS AREA...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS AROUND THREE INCHES POSSIBLE. GUSTY NORTHWESTERLY WINDS COMBINED WITH THE FALLING SNOW MAY REDUCE VISIBILITIES BELOW ONE MILE AT TIMES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A few accidents were reported around the county, with only one minor injury reported. One and a half to two inches of snow were reported to have fallen.
More than two dozen accidents were reported across Coffey County, four of which resulted in minor injuries to individuals in vehicles that had rolled due to the click road conditions.
Fourteen accidents were reported across Shawnee County. One of these accidents resulted in the death of an 84-year-old man. He had been driving along Hwy 75 on the Westgate bridge but lost control of his vehicle. He died several hours later at a local hospital. Four other accidents resulted in minor injuries. One to two inches of snow were reported across the county.
Numerous accidents were reported across Franklin County, specifically around the Ottawa area. Two of the more serious accidents occurred when a truck jack-knifed along I-35 and a semi overturned on Hwy 59. Several slide-offs occurred in conjunction with the jack-knifed truck. Numerous other accidents occurred in and around Ottawa. There were no injuries. Approximately two inches of snow fell across the county.
Numerous accidents were reported across the county, and several minor injuries came as a result of those accidents, but no official number was made available by local police. The most significant accident in the county occurred when a vehicle rolled after hitting a patch of ice on Hwy 75. A woman was taken to a local hospital for treatment. One to two inches of snow was reported to have fallen across the county.
Three quarters of an inch to one inch of snow was reported to have fallen in Douglas County. Local law enforcement and emergency management relayed fifty-four accident reports from across the county. Five injuries were reported with these wrecks.
Several vehicle accidents occurred across the county, but no injuries were reported. The county received some of the greater snowfall totals from the event, with local cooperative observers having reported three inches of snow accumulation by 1630pm CST.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather, Shawnee | 2008-12-09 | 84 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, December 2008
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: 148514, 148227, 148226, 148229, 148312, 148500, 148313.