Snow began to fall shortly after sunrise across parts of North Central Kansas and gradually spread southeast across all of the region. The heaviest snow fell along the I-70 corridor from Manhattan east through Topeka and Lawrence and points north and east from there.
Every event with a place to put it; 8 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.
Snow began to fall shortly after sunrise across parts of North Central Kansas and gradually spread southeast across all of the region. The heaviest snow fell along the I-70 corridor from Manhattan east through Topeka and Lawrence and points north and east from there. Many areas received 5 to 8 inches from this storm and the snow accumulated to 6 inches or more within 12 hours of onset in several counties. The snow was over for the most part by midnight Thursday, January 20th or just 12 hours after it began in many areas.
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 Jan 19, 5:08 AM CST, 4 hours 52 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 508 AM CST WED JAN 19 2011 .UPDATE... UPDATED THE AVIATION DISCUSSION. && .DISCUSSION... SEE PREV DISCUSSION. && .AVIATION... DO NOT SEE MUCH FROM THE NEW MODELS TO DIFFER FROM THE PREV FORECAST. THE BETTER LARGE SCALE FORCING LOOKS TO MOVE ACROSS THE TERMINALS DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS IS WHEN LIFR CONDITIONS ARE MOST LIKELY WITH SN. THE NAM AND RUC ARE SHOWING SOME DRYING IN LOW LEVELS AHEAD OF THE UPPER WAVE THIS MORNING. THIS COULD LIFT CIGS TO VFR AT TOP AND FOE THIS MORNING AND THINK IT WILL DELAY THE ONSET OF -SN AS WELL. DO NOT HAVE MUCH CONFIDENCE IN CIGS LIFTING AND THEY HAVE BEEN FAIRLY PERSISTENT HANGING IN BELOW 3 KFT. SO OPTED TO GO WITH PERSISTENCE FOR CIGS THIS MORNING. WOLTERS && .PREV DISCUSSION.../410 AM CST WED JAN 19 2011/ LATEST WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWING STRONG SHORTWAVE TROUGH NOW DIVING SOUTHEAST ACROSS ID HEADING INTO THE CENTRAL ROCKIES. ISENTROPIC LIFT ALREADY UNDERWAY ACROSS WESTERN KS WILL DEVELOP EASTWARD INTO THE WESTERN CWA EARLY THIS MORNING AND INTO THE EASTERN SECTIONS BY 18Z WITH LIGHT SNOW DEVELOPING WEST TO EAST AND POSSIBLY SOME PATCHY FREEZING DRIZZLE MIXED IN SOUTH. AS THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVES INTO THE HIGH PLAINS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON...ISENTROPIC LIFT AND FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING IN THE MID LEVELS WILL DRAMATICALLY INCREASE OVER THE CWA...ESPECIALLY THE EASTERN COUNTIES. SOME MID LEVEL INSTABILITY WILL ALSO BE IN PLACE TO ENHANCE SNOWFALL RATES WITH THE STRONGER ASCENT. THIS WILL OCCUR PRIMARILY ALONG THE I-70 CORRIDOR TO THE EAST OF MANHATTAN IN THE 21Z-03Z TIMEFRAME WHEN SOME INCH PER HOUR SNOWFALL RATES MAY OCCUR. THIS SHOULD BE WHEN THE MAJORITY OF THE ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL FALL WITH SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS THEN TAPERING OFF QUICKLY THRU THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT. CONTINUED TO FOLLOW A BLEND OF MODEL GUIDANCE QPF AS THE NAM STILL APPEARS TO AGGRESSIVE ON QPF. SNOW RATIOS WILL PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE WITH ACCUMULATIONS. USED A 11-13:1 RATIO TO START WITH...THEN INCREASED THRU THE AFTERNOON TO A 15-18:1 RATIO BY THIS EVENING WITH THE COLDER AIR. STILL APPEARS THAT A SWATH OF 6 TO 8 INCH ACCUMULATIONS WILL FALL ALONG AND EAST OF A MARYSVILLE...MANHATTAN TO OTTAWA LINE...SO HAVE KEPT WINTER STORM WARNING GOING THIS AREA FROM MID MORNING TODAY THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. LOWER AMOUNTS IN THE 3-5 INCH RANGE ALSO APPEAR ON TRACK ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE COUNTY WARNING AREA AND CURRENT WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY SHOULD HANDLE THIS AREA. HAVE ENDED SNOW CHANCES A LITTLE QUICKER ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST CWA THURSDAY MORNING...WHICH ALSO FITS BETTER WITH THE 6 AM ENDING TIME OF ALL ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS. ANY ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS BEYOND 6 AM THU SHOULD BE LESS THAN HALF AN INCH AND LIMITED TO AREAS SOUTH OF I 35 EARLY IN THE DAY. OTHERWISE ANOTHER COLD DAY WITH FRESH SNOW COVER. MODERATING TEMPS HOWEVER ARE IN STORE FOR FRIDAY AS THE UPPER TROUGH SHIFTS EASTWARD AND TAKES THE CORE OF COLDER AIR WITH IT BEFORE YET ANOTHER NORTHWEST FLOW WAVE CLIPS THE AREA LATER IN THE DAY WITH A SLIGHT CHC FOR LIGHT SNOW FAR NORTHEAST CORNER. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS AGREE THAT PERSISTENT NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL BRING YET ANOTHER SHORTWAVE TROUGH THROUGH THE CENTRAL PLAINS. WILL KEEP A CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW FOR MOST OF THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY...ALTHOUGH MODELS VARY ON THE TRACK AND STRENGTH OF THE SYSTEM...SO SNOW AMOUNTS THIS FAR OUT ARE A TOUGH CALL. EITHER WAY...TEMPERATURES WILL GENERALLY REMAIN AOB NORMAL THROUGH TUESDAY. && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 6 AM CST THURSDAY FOR KSZ010>012-022>024-026-038>040-055-056. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 6 AM CST THURSDAY FOR KSZ008-009-020-021-034>037-054-058-059. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 447 AM CST WED JAN 19 2011 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-201100- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 447 AM CST WED JAN 19 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA BY MIDDAY TODAY AND INCREASE IN INTENSITY LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...ESPECIALLY OVER NORTHEAST KANSAS. THE SNOW WILL COME TO AN END THURSDAY MORNING. TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 6 TO 8 INCHES ARE EXPECTED TO THE EAST OF A MARYSVILLE...MANHATTAN TO OTTAWA LINE WHERE WINTER STORM WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT ELSEWHERE FOR ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF SNOW RECEIVED FROM THE WINTER STORM TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Six inches of snow was measured across much of the northern two thirds of the county. This snow accumulated within 12 hours of onset of the snowfall.
NWS measured 8 inches of snow within 12 hours of onset. This was on the high end of the reported range across the area with most spots reporting around 6 inches.
New snow was reported to be 6 inches to 8 inches across Jackson County from this storm. This snow fell within 12 hours of onset.
New snow was reported to be measured 6 to 8 inches across the county. This snow fell within 12 hours of onset.
The southern half of Brown and Nemaha Counties also received 6 inches of snow in less than 12 hours during this event. In Nemaha County a spotter estimated 10 inches of snow 2 miles west of Corning. This appears on the the high end of the reported spectrum however it does appear that 6 inches of snow did accumulate across the southern half of Nemaha County within 12 hours during this event.
New snow was reported to be 6 inches accumulated by late Wednesday night or within 12 hours of onset.
New snow was reported to be measured 6 to 8 inches across the county. This snow fell within 12 hours of onset.
The southern half of Brown and Nemaha Counties also received 6 inches of snow in less than 12 hours during this event. In Brown County law enforcement estimated 6 inches of snow in Hiawatha from this storm.
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, January 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: 268436, 268431, 268432, 268435, 268441, 268433, 268434, 268440.