Following a brief warm spell in late January, winter quickly returned to North Central Kansas on the last day of the month as a large upper level low pressure system carved into the central United States, bringing some of the coldest air of the season with it. On Monday January 31st, the day started out with widespread light freezing drizzle across the area, with slick roads contributing to a…
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.
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 GID wrote it up.
Following a brief warm spell in late January, winter quickly returned to North Central Kansas on the last day of the month as a large upper level low pressure system carved into the central United States, bringing some of the coldest air of the season with it. On Monday January 31st, the day started out with widespread light freezing drizzle across the area, with slick roads contributing to a single-fatality car accident in Smith County. As the day wore on into the evening, the freezing drizzle gave way to light snow, with accumulations of 1-3 inches by midnight in some locations. Areas of mainly light snow continued into Tuesday February 1st, with storm total accumulations of 1-3 inches common across much of North Central Kansas. However, the primary story on the 1st became widespread visibility restrictions and at least minor drifting from blowing snow, thanks to strong north winds sustained at speeds to around 30 MPH and gusts to over 40 MPH. Near-blizzard conditions were noted for several hours during the day, especially along and east of Highway 281 where visibilities to 1/2 mile or less were common. In addition to snowfall impacts, Feb. 1st ended up being one of the coldest days of the winter for North Central Kansas, both in terms of actual air temperature and wind chill readings. Actual high temperatures on the 1st were mainly between 7-10 degrees, and when factoring in the winds, automated stations including Smith Center and Phillipsburg recorded wind chills down to at least -26.
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 31, 11:50 PM CST, 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1150 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011
.AVIATION...06Z KGRI TAF. POOR AVIATION CONDITIONS TO PERSIST
THROUGH MUCH OF THE NEXT 24 HOURS AS A WINTER STORM CONTINUES ITS
GRIP ON THE REGION. IT ACTUALLY APPEARS THE STEADIEST FALLING SNOW
OF THE ENTIRE EVENT WILL BE SUBSIDING OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL
HOURS...BUT IN THE MEANTIME WILL KEEP A TEMPO GROUP FOR LIFR VSBY
AND IFR CIG. OVERALL THOUGH...AS FAR AS FALLING SNOW GOES
ANTICIPATE ONLY LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS ESPECIALLY BEYOND THE FIRST
4-6 HOURS. HOWEVER...VSBY RESTRICTIONS TO AT LEAST MVFR LEVEL WILL
LIKELY PERSIST THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS IN BLOWING SNOW DUE TO
FAIRLY RELENTLESS NORTH-NORTHWEST WINDS SUSTAINED AROUND 24KT AND
GUSTING TO 35KT. ALTHOUGH HAVE INDICATED LIGHT FALLING SNOW
THROUGH THE PERIOD...IT COULD EASILY BE OVER WITH AT KGRI DURING
THE LAST 3-6 HOURS AS THE MAIN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM
STARTS PULLING PRECIP OFF TO THE EAST. AS FOR CIG...HAVE BEEN
SEEING PLENTY OF FLUCTUATIONS BETWEEN NEAR-IFR TO HIGH-END MVFR
DURING THE PAST SEVERAL HOURS...AND THIS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE.
WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE VFR CIG RETURN DURING THE LAST 3-6
HOURS...BUT WILL CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE MVFR FOR NOW WITH VFR MORE
LIKELY AFTER THE PERIOD. WINDS WILL START TO SLOWLY EASE DOWNWARD
DURING THE LAST 6 HOURS AS WELL.
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 729 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011/
UPDATE...SNOW CONTINUES TO FALL AND BLOW AROUND THIS
EVENING...AS NORTH WIND GUSTS OVER 30 MPH. THE MAIN SNOW AREA HAS
BEGUN TO SHIFT SOUTHEAST AS THE TRACK OF THE SYSTEM HAS BEGUN TO
SHIFT SOUTHEAST AS WELL. FORECAST MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE A
FRONTOGENETIC BAND OF SNOW ACROSS OUR CWA THIS EVENING/TONIGHT.
THE BRUNT OF THIS BAND SHOULD FOCUS FROM OUR CENTRAL CWA INTO OUR
SOUTHEAST CWA. CALLS TO COUNTIES YIELD SNOW TOTALS SO FAR FROM
LESS THAN AN INCH TO POSSIBLY AN INCH OR TWO. HAVE MADE SOME
ADJUSTMENTS TO THE STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS...RANGING FROM A
COUPLE OF INCHES IN OUR NW CWA TO AMOUNTS IN THE 5 TO 6 INCH RANGE
IN THE EAST SOUTHEAST.
PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 332 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011/
SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY. BIGGEST FORECAST
CHALLENGE WILL BE TIMING AND SNOWFALL AMOUNTS TONIGHT THROUGH
TUESDAY EVENING.
SOME LIGHT SNOW HAS ALREADY BEEN FALLING TODAY DUE TO SOME MID-LEVEL
FRONTOGENETIC FORCING NEAR 600 MB. SOME LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE IS
STILL ON THE WAY OUT IN THE FAR SOUTHEAST CWA...BUT COLD AIR
ADVECTION SHOULD QUICKLY CLOBBER ANY LAST REMNANTS OF FREEZING
DRIZZLE. MODELS ARE CONTINUING TO SHOW AN UPTICK IN THIS MID-LEVEL
FORCING ALONG WITH INCREASED NEGATIVE EPV THIS EVENING...ESPECIALLY
OVER THE NORTHERN/MIDDLE OF THE CWA...AND SHOULD EVENTUALLY
TRANSLATE SOUTH INTO AND THROUGH OUR KS COUNTIES INTO THE EARLY
OVERNIGHT AS THE 700 MB CLOSED LOW DEVELOPS AND THE WAVE TRANSLATES
EAST.
LOOKING AT DIVERGENT Q VECTORS IN THE 500-300 MB LEVEL...GOOD LARGE
SCALE LIFT STILL LOOKS LIKE IT COULD CLIP THE CWA...ESPECIALLY FAR
SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST HEADING INTO TUESDAY...BUT THE TRENDS ARE FOR AN
EVEN FARTHER SOUTH/SOUTHEAST TRACK OF THE 700 MB LOW...MAKING IT
LESS LIKELY FOR MUCH ACCUMULATION FOR MOST OF THE CWA ON
TUESDAY...ALTHOUGH THERE SHOULD BE SOME LIGHT SNOW WITHIN AN AREA OF
SOME MODEST LARGE SCALE LIFT TOWARD TUESDAY LATE MORNING/AFTERNOON.
FOR MUCH OF THE CENTRAL...WESTERN...AND NORTHERN CWA...THE BULK OF
SNOWFALL SHOULD BE THIS EVENING/EARLY OVERNIGHT. IF WE DO NOT GET
APPRECIABLE SNOWFALL THIS EVENING...PREDICTED TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS OF
4-5 INCHES IN THE TRI-CITIES AREA WILL PROBABLY NOT BE REALIZED. FOR
AREAS IN THE SOUTH/SOUTHEAST...LARGE SCALE LIFT MAY STICK AROUND
LONG ENOUGH TO REALIZE SNOW AMOUNTS CLOSE TO THE 6 INCH RANGE TOWARD
LATE TUESDAY MORNING INTO EARLY EVENING. NONETHELESS...WIND SPEEDS
WILL BE ENHANCED DUE TO THE TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT AND SOME
MOMENTUM TRANSFER DUE TO STRONG COLD AIR ADVECTION PRODUCING STEEP
LOW-LEVEL LAPSE RATES TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY NIGHT. KEPT TEMPERATURES
COLD FROM THE PREVIOUS FORECAST AS THE ARCTIC INTRUSION IS OBVIOUS.
LONG TERM...12Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS
WILL BE WIND CHILLS WEDNESDAY MORNING...A WARMING TREND FOR THE END
OF THE WEEK AND A CHANCE OF SNOW SUNDAY.
THE WINTER WEATHER SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE ITS GRIP ON THE FORECAST
AREA INTO WEDNESDAY. A COLD SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE
THROUGH THE AREA ON WEDNESDAY. WINDS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH DURING
THE DAY BUT WITH THE COLD TEMPERATURES TO START THE DAY...THE WIND
CHILLS WILL BE BRUTAL. WEDNESDAY NIGHT THE SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE
SYSTEM SLIDES TO THE SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA AND TEMPERATURES
ALOFT START TO MODERATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. AS
COLD AS IT HAS BEEN...TEMPERATURES WILL STRUGGLE TO WARM...REMAINING
COLD WEDNESDAY NIGHT. TEMPERATURES ALOFT WARM QUITE A BIT ON
THURSDAY...BUT WITH THE COLD SNOW PACK THE WARM AIR MAY BE TOUGH TO
REALIZE AT THE SURFACE. HAVE KEPT TEMPERATURES ON THE COOL SIDE FOR
THURSDAY. THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY THE TEMPERATURES ALOFT CONTINUE
TO BE WARMER AND EXPECT THAT THE TEMPERATURES WILL WARM SLOWLY AT
THE SURFACE. THE SLIGHT WARMING TREND CONTINUES FRIDAY NIGHT AND
SATURDAY.
ON SATURDAY THERE IS AN INCREASE IN MOISTURE ACROSS THE AREA AND
CLOUD COVER WILL INCREASE. THEN AS AN UPPER LEVEL WAVE MOVES INTO
THE AREA LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY...THERE IS A CHANCE FOR
SOME PRECIPITATION. SINCE HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE AROUND FREEZING
WILL JUST GO WITH RAIN OR SNOW FOR NOW.
MODELS BRING IN A BROAD UPPER LEVEL TROUGH FOR SUNDAY NIGHT INTO
MONDAY. THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF MOISTURE AROUND THE AREA AND
TEMPERATURES COOL OFF AGAIN. WITH THE BROAD TROUGH ACROSS THE AREA
THERE IS REALLY NOT MUCH LIFT SO WILL KEEP PRECIPITATION OUT OF THE
FORECAST FOR NOW.
&&
.GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL NOON CST WEDNESDAY FOR NEZ041-048-049-
063-064-076-077-086-087.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL NOON CST WEDNESDAY FOR NEZ039-040-
046-047-060>062-072>075-082>085.
KS...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL NOON CST WEDNESDAY FOR KSZ007-019.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL NOON CST WEDNESDAY FOR KSZ005-006-
017-018.
&&
AVIATION...PFANNKUCH
PREV FCST DISCUSSION...HEINLEIN/JCBHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 817 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 011200- 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- 817 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON WEDNESDAY FOR COUNTIES ALONG AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 14...WITH A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON WEDNESDAY FOR COUNTIES WEST OF HIGHWAY 14. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. WINTER STORM WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES REMAIN IN EFFECT ACROSS THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA UNTIL NOON WEDNESDAY. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGES FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL TOTALS. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HASTINGS (ALL LOWERCASE)
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
812 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0805 PM SNOW 6 ESE CLAY CENTER 40.49N 97.95W
01/31/2011 M1.0 INCH CLAY NE CO-OP OBSERVER
STORM TOTAL SNOW SO FAR.
&&
KINGPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1024 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1024 PM SNOW GENEVA 40.53N 97.60W
01/31/2011 E1.5 INCH FILLMORE NE TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
PFANNKUCHThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter storm, 3 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snowfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches combined with strong winds of 25 to 30 mph and periodic gusts approaching 45 mph brought reduced visibilities, occasional white out conditions and hazardous travel to the county.
Storm total snowfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches combined with strong winds of 25 to 30 mph and periodic gusts approaching 45 mph brought reduced visibilities, occasional white out conditions and hazardous travel to the county.
Storm total snowfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches combined with strong winds of 25 to 30 mph and periodic gusts approaching 45 mph brought reduced visibilities, occasional white out conditions and hazardous travel to the county. Bitterly cold temperatures combined with the strong winds also brought wind chill vales which reached as low as 26 degrees below zero.
Storm total snowfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, combined with strong winds of 25 to 30 mph and gusts approaching 45 mph at times, resulted in reduced visibilities and hazardous travel across the county.
Storm total snowfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, combined with strong winds of 25 to 30 mph and gusts approaching 45 mph at times, resulted in reduced visibilities and hazardous travel across the county.
Storm total snowfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, combined with strong winds of 25 to 30 mph and gusts approaching 45 mph at times, resulted in reduced visibilities and hazardous travel across the county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, February 2011
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: 278817, 278818, 278819, 278820, 278821, 278822.