A potent winter storm moved into southwest and south central Kansas the night of Monday, February 3rd, and increased in intensity during the day Tuesday, February 4th. There was snow, moderate to heavy at times, especially across south central Kansas Tuesday afternoon.
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 DDC wrote it up.
A potent winter storm moved into southwest and south central Kansas the night of Monday, February 3rd, and increased in intensity during the day Tuesday, February 4th. There was snow, moderate to heavy at times, especially across south central Kansas Tuesday afternoon. Before the storm ended late Tuesday night the 4th, there was a small area of 11-inch snowfall covering southern Pratt and northern Barber Counties. There was a pocket of 8 to 10 inches of snow from northeast Edwards County to northwest Kiowa County, as well as a 10-inch band of snow from northern Meade into eastern Seward Counties. Yet another small area of 8 inch snowfall fell in southwestern Barber County. Outside of the heavier snowfall, from 4 to 8 inches of snow fell southeast of line from just west of Liberal to just north of Garden City to west of Hays. Lesser amounts of 2 to 3 inches of snow fell just northwest of that line, from Hugoton, to near Lakin to Ness City to near Wakeeney.
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 Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 3, 5:00 AM CST, 6 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 500 AM CST Mon Feb 3 2014 ...UPDATE TO AVIATION... .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) ISSUED AT 300 AM CST MON FEB 3 2014 Short range models indicate the upper level trough in southern California turning east and pushing into the Desert Southwest today, then lifting northeast into the Western High Plains Monday night bringing the possibility for widespread snow into much of central and western Kansas late Monday night into Tuesday. As the storm system approaches, an upper level jet exiting the trough axis will intensify overnight as it climbs northeast into south central and portions of southwest Kansas reaching speeds in excess of +110kt. Additionally, divergence aloft will become more pronounced as the trough axis begins to lift northeast across the South Plains. Meanwhile, surface low pressure is expected to develop across eastern New Mexico Monday evening, becoming more organized late into Monday night while high pressure continues to pull away across the southern Great Lakes Region. This will set up a southeasterly upslope flow across central and western Kansas helping to draw slightly increased moisture into the region while also providing increased lift. As a result, initial areas of light snow are expected to develop as the first H5 vort max is projected to move up into southern Kansas, sometime generally after the 04 to 06Z time frame late Monday night, coninciding when NAM/GFS model soundings indicate profiles beginning to saturate. Snowfall amounts/tracking is still a little uncertain with the brunt of the storm well over 24 hours out, but early indications point to generally light amounts through the overnight period with the bulk of the expected snowfall likely into the day Tuesday. Locations that do see snow before 12Z Tuesday may receive upward of 1 to 3 inches with the highest of those amounts expected across south central Kansas. We may also see initial snow development overnight across west central and possibly extreme southwest Kansas where the NAM/GFS hint at H7 frontogenetic banding developing across extreme eastern Colorado after the 04Z to 06Z time frame. Temperatures will be slightly warmer today as an intensifying low level southerly flow begins to erode the colder air mass in place. The NAM/GFS show H85 temperatures rising very little across central Kansas but pushing well above 0C across extreme southwest Kansas. However, increasing mid/high level clouds from the southwest may limit climbing temperatures somewhat. Still, highs are expected well up into the 30s(F) this afternoon with the lower 40s(F) possible in extreme southwest Kansas. Look for lows down into the 20s(F) tonight. .LONG TERM...(Tuesday through Sunday) ISSUED AT 414 AM CST MON FEB 3 2014 The winter storm Tuesday is still on track to yield widespread 3 to 7 inches of snow across the region. Much of the snow will occur between 12z and 21z Tuesday. There is still quite a bit of question as to whether the 700mb response will be more aggressive that what models currently indicate given the strength and track of the 400mb potential vorticity (PV) anomaly. The GFS and NAM models show a track of the mid level PV anomaly very favorable for heavy snow across southwest Kansas. However, complicating factors include moisture availability for the cyclone as far west as southwest Kansas to realize heavy snow totals in excess of 6 inches. A compromise between the ECMWF and GFS would suggest about 90 percent of the DDC forecast area will see less than 6 inches of snow. Every model, both global spectral and higher resolution limited area, suggest a mesoscale sweet spot across far southeastern Colorado extending into far west-central Kansas. Per collaboration with WFO GLD/PUB, we felt pretty good about upgrading Hamilton County to a warning given they will most likely be within the initial zone of frontogenesis from late tonight into early Tuesday. The question then becomes how the 700mb response will evolve after that. There is suggestion that a new 700mb circulation will try to form further southeast during the mid to late morning hours perhaps somewhere between DDC and the Oklahoma border. The GFS and even now the latest 06Z NAM run support the notion of enhanced lift and snow extending from the far northeastern OK-TX Panhandles into eastern portions of southwest Kansas and toward south-central Kansas (generally east of Highway 283). As far as the eastern counties are concerned, we feel most confident in upgrading Stafford, Pratt, and Barber counties to a warning with 6 to 7 inches of snow (the combination of initial isentropic lift early in the event then deformation/frontogenetic lift later in the event). Everywhere in between a forecast of 3 to 5 inches still looks pretty good. The incoming day shift will need to further evaluate the mesoscale aspects of this system especially as it pertains to the 700mb deformation morning-midday Tuesday as more counties could eventually be included in a warning for 6+ inch amounts. The rest of the forecast was left untouched outside of the new AllBlend update for Days 4-7 (Thursday-Sunday). The Friday Night-Saturday storm system is looking a bit more promising for widespread light-moderate snowfall accumulation, but better details on that will emerge in the coming days. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Tuesday morning) ISSUED AT 500 AM CST MON FEB 3 2014 VFR conditions will prevail at all TAF sites through early Monday evening. Light snow will be possible late this evening causing possible MVFR cigs/vsbys in the vicinity of all TAF sites. As for winds, surface high pressure across Iowa and Missouri will continue to edge eastward today resulting in southerly winds of 5 to 15kt early this morning increasing up to around 15 to 25kt toward mid day. The winds will subside somewhat this evening, becoming more southeasterly as surface low pressure becomes more organized across eastern New Mexico. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 38 20 23 5 / 10 80 100 50 GCK 38 19 22 4 / 10 80 100 40 EHA 43 20 23 6 / 10 70 80 20 LBL 40 20 24 8 / 10 70 90 20 HYS 35 18 21 3 / 10 80 100 60 P28 38 23 26 9 / 10 90 100 50 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY from 9 PM this evening to 6 PM CST Tuesday FOR KSZ030-031-043>046-062>065-074>080-084>089. WINTER STORM WARNING from 9 PM CST /8 PM MST/ this evening to 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ Tuesday FOR KSZ061-066-081-090. && SHORT TERM...JJohnson LONG TERM...Umscheid AVIATION...JJohnson
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 405 AM CST MON FEB 3 2014 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-041015- TREGO-ELLIS-SCOTT-LANE-NESS-RUSH-HAMILTON-KEARNY-FINNEY-HODGEMAN- PAWNEE-STAFFORD-STANTON-GRANT-HASKELL-GRAY-FORD-EDWARDS-KIOWA- PRATT-MORTON-STEVENS-SEWARD-MEADE-CLARK-COMANCHE-BARBER- 405 AM CST MON FEB 3 2014 /305 AM MST MON FEB 3 2014/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A WINTER STORM WILL MOVE NORTHEAST INTO SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL KANSAS MONDAY NIGHT. LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP LATE MONDAY EVENING AND GRADUALLY EXPAND IN AREAL COVERAGE EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE TOWARD DAYBREAK WITH THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL OCCURING DURING THE DAY TUESDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY A WINTER STORM ON TUESDAY WILL RESULT IN WIDESPREAD MODERATE TO POTENTIALLY HEAVY SNOWFALL TOTALS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS. SPECIFIC DETAILS ON THIS STORM CAN BE FOUND IN THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE. THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM POISED TO PRODUCE LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOWFALL AMOUNTS IS EXPECTED FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBPAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC 32/25
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowfall of 8.9 inches was reported at Haviland.
Snowfall of 11 inches was reported at Sawyer.
Snowfall of 6.1 inches was reported at a location 2 miles northwest of Dodge City.
Snowfall of 9 inches was reported in Ashland.
Snowfall of 8.3 inches was reported at a location 7 miles northwest of Coldwater.
Snowfall of 7.0 inches was reported in St. John.
Snowfall of 6.0 inches was reported at a location 4 miles ESE of Kingsdown.
Snowfall of 9 inches was reported in Mullinville.
Snowfall of 8 inches was reported in Centerview.
Snowfall of 8 inches was reported near Fowler.
Snowfall of 7.5 inches was reported 7 miles west of Hardtner.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, February 2014
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: 504428, 504429, 504430, 504431, 504432, 504433, 504434, 504436, 504437, 504438, 504439.