A cold front moved across northwest and north central Missouri, during the evening and overnight hours of January 27-28, 2012. Rain changed to snow, with accumulations ranging from one to three inches, along and north of Highway 36.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 EAX wrote it up.
A cold front moved across northwest and north central Missouri, during the evening and overnight hours of January 27-28, 2012. Rain changed to snow, with accumulations ranging from one to three inches, along and north of Highway 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 Kansas City, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 27, 3:30 PM CST, 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO 330 PM CST FRI JAN 27 2012 .DISCUSSION... Short Term (Tonight through Tomorrow)... An upper level trough is deepening and strengthening as it currently moves through the Plains. Top down saturation has been occurring though the day today with light precipitation being reported this afternoon. Snow or a mix of rain and snow is being reported along and north of highway 36 with mainly light rain further south. This system will continue to strengthen as it moves east across the forecast area and as air temperatures continue to drop to the wet bulb temperatures, as the column saturates, precipitation should transition to all snow with some light accumulations north of highway 36 and east of highway 65. Portions of north central and central Missouri could experience accumulations on the order of one half to one inch. A cold front associated with the upper level trough will move through the forecast area tonight with strong northwest winds behind it. Skies however will clear from west to east as we go though the overnight hours allowing for temperatures to drop into the low to mid 20s. Tomorrow as the upper level trough shifts eastward into the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes the region will be under northwest flow aloft. However, strong westerly downslope flow at the surface will allow temperatures to warm into the low to mid 40s. Highs across north central Missouri however may be tempered somewhat with snow cover on the ground. 73 Medium Range (Sunday - Friday): Above normal temperatures are expected throughout the extended as we remain under a northwesterly to quasi-zonal flow regime through most of the period. Monday looks to be the warmest day through the extended with strong warm advection aloft. Models have not handled mixing well this winter but we should be able to mix to a good enough depth that we should see highs surge into the 60s Monday. Bumped up temperatures a few degrees for Monday given this expectation. Model ensemble spread becomes problematic by the middle of next week and the deterministic models are having difficulty with timing of the next wave, likely due to the relatively fast quasi-zonal flow over the region. For now will keep the forecast dry on Tuesday given the varying solutions for timing. By the end of the week there is a trend for more amplification to the upper pattern across the CONUS, but there remains quite a bit of spread amongst the ensembles and timing issues between the ECMWF and the GFS. Despite the differences it looks like the next decent chance for any precipitation will come toward the end of the week as a system carves out broad cyclonic flow over the Northeastern CONUS/Great Lakes area. This pattern should tend to cool things down and have trended below the forecast initialization for Friday. CDB && .AVIATION... For 18Z TAFs...the main focus is on the timing of precipitation and a possible change in precipitation type due to the approaching shortwave trough. Bufr soundings show saturation in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere with much drier air in the low levels. As a result, confidence is low with regards to how much precipitation will actually reach the ground during the early afternoon hours. Soundings start showing better top-down saturation by late afternoon. This increased saturation, combined with a weak cold front that will track southeastward of the TAF sites by late this afternoon, will lead to dynamic cooling that could result in a brief rain/snow mix before the system quickly exits to the east. Conditions are expected to be predominantly VFR with this system, but cannot rule out brief drops into high MVFR conditions. As this system moves to the east, skies will start clearing during the overnight hours with winds shifting to the west/northwest behind the cold front. ACH && .EAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...NONE. KS...NONE. && WFO EAX
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO 101 PM CST FRI JAN 27 2012 KSZ025-057-060-102>105-MOZ001>008-011>017-020>025-028>033-037>040- 043>046-053-054-281230- ATCHISON KS-MIAMI-LINN KS-DONIPHAN-LEAVENWORTH-WYANDOTTE-JOHNSON KS- ATCHISON MO-NODAWAY-WORTH-GENTRY-HARRISON-MERCER-PUTNAM-SCHUYLER- HOLT-ANDREW-DE KALB-DAVIESS-GRUNDY-SULLIVAN-ADAIR-BUCHANAN-CLINTON- CALDWELL-LIVINGSTON-LINN MO-MACON-PLATTE-CLAY-RAY-CARROLL-CHARITON- RANDOLPH-JACKSON-LAFAYETTE-SALINE-HOWARD-CASS-JOHNSON MO-PETTIS- COOPER-BATES-HENRY- 101 PM CST FRI JAN 27 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST...NORTH CENTRAL AND WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI...AS WELL AS EXTREME EASTERN KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT RAIN IS EXPECTED TO MIX WITH AND CHANGE TO SNOW OVER PORTIONS OF THE OUTLOOK AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING. LOCATIONS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH AND EAST OF LINE FROM MOBERLY TO PRINCETON MAY SEE MINOR SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF UP TO AN INCH THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...MAINLY ON GRASSY AND ELEVATED EXPOSED AREAS. OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE OUTLOOK AREA...FURTHER TO THE SOUTH AND WEST...MAY SEE LITTLE MORE THAN A DUSTING OF SNOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AN ELEVATED FIRE DANGER WILL EXIST SATURDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS EASTERN KANSAS AND FAR WESTERN MISSOURI AS TEMPERATURES IN THE MIDDLE 40S COMBINE WITH GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES FALLING TO NEAR 2O PERCENT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED...ALTHOUGH ANY REPORTS OF SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION THIS EVENING WOULD BE APPRECIATED. CDB
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL 358 PM CST FRI JAN 27 2012 MOZ007-008-016-017-024-025-032-033-280500- PUTNAM-SCHUYLER-SULLIVAN-ADAIR-LINN MO-MACON-CHARITON-RANDOLPH- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...UNIONVILLE...LANCASTER...DOWNING... MILAN...GREEN CITY...KIRKSVILLE...BROOKFIELD...MACON...LA PLATA... SALISBURY...KEYTESVILLE...MOBERLY 358 PM CST FRI JAN 27 2012 ...LIGHT ACCUMULATING SNOW FOR THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT... LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS PARTS OF NORTH EASTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL MISSOURI. AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE UP TO AN INCH EAST OF A PRINCETON TO MOBERLY LINE. THIS HEAVIEST SNOW WILL FALL BETWEEN NOW AND 8PM...ENDING BY 11PM. TEMPERATURES ARE HOVERING AROUND FREEZING AND ARE EXPECTED TO DROP BELOW FREEZING THIS EVENING RESULTING IN ROADS BECOMING SLICK AS THEY BECOME SNOW COVERED. MELL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter reported 2.3 inches of snow in La Plata.
Two inches of snow was measured in La Plata.
The observer near Lancaster reported 1.8 inches of snow.
The observer in Downing reported 2.1 inches of snow.
Two inches of snow was measured in Kirksville.
The observer near Ethel reported 2.5 inches of snow.
The observer in Gallatin reported 1.8 inches of snow.
The observer in Brookfield reported 1.0 inches of snow.
Three inches of snow was measured in Green City.
The observer in Unionville measured 1.9 inches of snow.
The observer in Spickard measured one inch of snow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Missouri, January 2012
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: 356121, 356122, 356123, 356124, 356125, 356126, 356127, 356128, 356129, 356130, 356131.