Light snow falling across Brown county caused a motorist to lose control of her van and collide with a southbound semi truck on US-75 at the intersection of US-75 and HWY 36.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
Light snow falling across Brown county caused a motorist to lose control of her van and collide with a southbound semi truck on US-75 at the intersection of US-75 and HWY 36.
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 18, 11:17 AM CST, 1 hour 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 1117 AM CST SAT DEC 18 2010 ...UPDATE TO AVIATION... .UPDATE... HAVE UPDATED THE FORECAST TO ACCOUNT FOR SOME LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATION ACROSS THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. WEAK WAA ISENTROPIC LIFT SEEN AROUND 285K CONTINUES THROUGH THE MID AFTERNOON AND MOVES SLOWLY NE. MAY GET HALF AN INCH TO AN INCH NORTH OF HIGHWAY 9 WITH A DUSTING TO FLURRIES ELSEWHERE. && .AVIATION... EXPECT LIGHT SNOW AT TAF SITES THROUGH THE AFTERNOON SO WILL KEEP AS AN MVFR PREVAILING GROUP. MODELS INDICATE A SIMILAR SETUP AFTER MIDNIGHT AND WILL CARRY LIGHT SNOW AFTER THAT TIME AS WELL. 67 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 552 AM CST SAT DEC 18 2010/ /ISSUED 353 AM CST SAT DEC 18 2010/ THE 0815Z WATER VAPOR SHOWING YESTERDAYS SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER THE LOWER MS VALLEY MOVING EAST AS ANOTHER IN A SERIES OF SHORTWAVE TROUGHS MOVES ONSHORE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. A LARGER SCALE UPPER TROUGH FURTHER TO THE WEST WILL MOVE EASTWARD ONSHORE THROUGH SUNDAY AND ALLOW FOR HEIGHT RISES AND A BROAD AREA OF WAA ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS INTO SUNDAY AND MONDAY. WITH THE WAA WILL COME MID CLOUDS WITH THICKENING HIGH CLOUDS AS THE LONG FETCH OF PACIFIC MOISTURE STREAMS INTO THE PLAINS. WITH THE CHILLY START TO THE DAY THIS WILL PLAY A ROLE IN KEEPING HIGHS TODAY IN CHECK AND WENT TOWARDS THE LOWER END OF GUIDANCE WITH HIGHS FROM THE MID 30S NORTH TO NEAR 40 SOUTHERN COUNTY WARNING AREA. THE CLOUDS WILL HELP TO KEEP LOW TEMPS FROM BOTTOMING OUT LIKE THEY HAVE THE LAST COUPLE OF NIGHTS AND WENT WITH A MODEL BLEND IN THE MIDDLE 20S. ISENTROPIC LIFT INCREASES ACROSS THE NORTHERN CWA LATE TONIGHT AND SHIFTS NORTH AND EAST INTO SUNDAY. AGAIN...BETTER SATURATION AND LIFT OCCUR TO THE NORTH OF THE CWA AND HAVE MAINTAINED A DRY FCST ACROSS THE AREA THRU SUNDAY. THE PERSISTENT WAA WILL PUSH 850 TEMPS INTO THE 0-4 DEGREE ABOVE RANGE BY LATE SUNDAY BEFORE RISING INTO THE 3-7 DEGREE C RANGE NORTHEAST TO SOUTHWEST RESPECTIVELY BY MIDDAY MONDAY. THEREFORE DESPITE PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES MUCH OF THE TIME...HIGHS SUNDAY SHOULD STILL REACH THE LOW TO MIDDLE 40S SUNDAY WITH SOME UPPER 40S ON MONDAY AS THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEXT COLD FRONT ON MONDAY IS A FEW HOURS SLOWER THAN PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS. THE COLD FRONT WILL USHER IN COOLER TEMPS OF ABOUT 8 TO 10 DEGREES FOR BOTH TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY WITH HIGHS FROM THE MIDDLE 30S NORTHERN CWA TO NEAR 40 DEGREES OVER THE SOUTH. WILL KEEP THE FCST DRY ON THRU WEDNESDAY. HOWEVER...BY EARLY THURSDAY...MODELS NOW TRENDING MORE WITH THE APPROACH OF A STRONGER PACIFIC TROUGH THAT MOVES INTO THE ROCKIES WITH GOOD WAA AHEAD OF IT ACROSS THE CWA WITH A CHANCE FOR LIGHT RAIN. MODELS ARE NOT IN AGREEMENT ON THE PLACEMENT THE SFC LOW THRU EARLY FRIDAY AS THE OPEN SHORTWAVE TROUGH LIFTS OUT INTO THE PLAINS. WITH PLENTY OF WARM AIR ALOFT...THE LLVL THERMAL FIELDS WOULD BE CRITICAL FOR THE POTENTIAL OF ANY FREEZING PRECIP. FOR NOW HAVE GONE WITH A CONSENSUS ON TEMPS AND LLVL THERMAL FIELDS FOR A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR LIGHT RAIN THURSDAY THEN A RAIN...FREEZING RAIN OR SNOW POSSIBILITY THURSDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY AS THE COLDER AIR MOVES INTO THE DEPARTING SYSTEM. WILL COOL HIGH TEMPS INTO PRIMARILY ALL 30S BY FRIDAY. IT IS MUCH TOO EARLY TO DETERMINE ANY ICE OR SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...BUT AT THIS POINT IT WOULD APPEAR THAT AMOUNTS WOULD BE ON THE LIGHT SIDE IF THE SYSTEM REMAINS PROGRESSIVE AND PRECIP BEGINS AS ALL RAIN. ON THE OTHER HAND...STILL A LONG WAYS OUT AND WILL NEED TO BE MONITORED WITH FCST ADJUSTED WITH TIME. 63 && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 1106 AM CST SAT DEC 18 2010 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-191715- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 1106 AM CST SAT DEC 18 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ACROSS PORTIONS OF NORTHERN KANSAS THROUGH THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS. ACCUMULATIONS OF HALF AN INCH TO AN INCH ARE POSSIBLE...MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF KANSAS HIGHWAY 9. THIS COULD BRING SLICK SPOTS TO AREA ROADWAYS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THERE IS A CHANCE FOR A LIGHT MIXTURE OF FREEZING RAIN AND SNOW THURSDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY...WHICH COULD HAVE SOME IMPACT ON TRAVEL. WITH UNCERTAINTY IN THE FORECAST...STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION OF AN INCH OR GREATER.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1202 PM CST SAT DEC 18 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1201 PM SNOW NW SENECA 39.84N 96.07W
12/18/2010 E1.0 INCH NEMAHA KS TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
BYRNEThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Light snow falling across Brown county caused a motorist to lose control of her van and collide with a southbound semi truck on US-75 at the intersection of US-75 and HWY 36.
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, Brown | 2010-12-18 | 78 | Female | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, December 2010
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: 270591.