Wind gusts around 45 MPH and falling snow caused visibilities to fall to zero at times over parts of Northwest Kansas during the afternoon and into the evening. The reduced visibilities and icy roads caused I-70 to be closed across portions of Northwest Kansas, as well as Highway 24 in Sherman county, for around 7 1/2 hours.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 GLD wrote it up.
Wind gusts around 45 MPH and falling snow caused visibilities to fall to zero at times over parts of Northwest Kansas during the afternoon and into the evening. The reduced visibilities and icy roads caused I-70 to be closed across portions of Northwest Kansas, as well as Highway 24 in Sherman county, for around 7 1/2 hours. Lodging quickly filled up causing a need for local shelters in Goodland to be opened. Highways were reopened during the late evening.
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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 1, 1:28 PM MST, 1 hour 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 128 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY) ISSUED AT 123 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 ACROSS THE TRI STATE REGION THIS AFTERNOON...MAINLY PARTLY SUNNY CONDITIONS WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE MID TO UPPER 20S...WHICH IS OFF FROM MORNING LOWS AROUND ZERO TO 10 ABOVE. WITH THE CLOUD COVER OVER THE REGION...LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS OR FLURRIES ARE FALLING...BUT MAINLY OVER WESTERN ZONES/EASTERN COLORADO...ALL FROM CUTOFF UPPER LOW SITTING OVER THE SW. CIRCULATION AROUND THIS SYSTEM WILL KEEP MID CLOUD COVER OVER MUCH OF THE CWA OVERNIGHT TONIGHT WITH POTENTIAL FOR SCATTERED FLURRIES OVER EASTERN COLORADO THRU MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. GOING INTO FRIDAY...SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION WILL SHIFT EAST DURING THE DAY AS LEE-SIDE TROUGH SETS UP OVER THE ROCKIES. THIS WILL SHIFT WIND REGIME FROM A WEST-NORTHWEST ONE TO SSW BY LATE IN THE DAY. SOME CLOUDS EXPECTED DURING THE DAY...BUT WITH RIDGE CRESTING OVER THE REGION THEN SHIFTING EASTWARD...LOOKING FOR HIGHS TOMORROW TO REACH ABOVE CURRENT NUMBERS...BUT STILL REMAIN BELOW NORMAL OVERALL. FOR OVERNIGHT LOWS...WITH 850 TEMPS RANGING FROM -3C TO -6C AND SNOWPACK OVER AREA...KEEPING LOWS CLOSE TO GUIDANCE WHICH WILL BE IN SINGLE NUMBERS ABOVE ZERO...WITH SOME NEAR 10F OVER SOUTHERN/EASTERN ZONES. DAYTIME HIGHS GOING INTO FRIDAY WILL RANGE AROUND 30F AIDED BY SUBSIDENCE AS RIDGE PASSES THRU AREA...THEN INCREASING WAA WHEN IT FINALLY SETS UP EAST OF THE CWA. .LONG TERM...(FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY) ISSUED AT 126 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 PRIMARY CONCERN FOR THE WEEKEND WILL CENTER AROUND POTENTIAL STORM SYSTEM MOVING OUT OF THE FOUR CORNERS AREA AND ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS ON SATURDAY. BASED ON AVAILABLE 12Z DATA NAM APPEARS TO BE SOMEWHAT OF AN OUTLIER WITH THE HANDLING OF THIS SYSTEM BEING MORE OPEN AND PROGRESSIVE THAN OTHER MODELS AND FOR THE TIME BEING WILL LIMIT ITS INFLUENCE ON OVERALL FORECAST FOR THE TIME BEING. WHAT MAKES FORECAST PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT/HIGH UNCERTAINTY IS ANY IMPACTS ACROSS THE CWA WILL BE A RESULT OF TWO SEPARATE SHORT WAVE TROUGHS...ONE FROM THE NORTHWEST AND THE AFOREMENTIONED TROUGH ACROSS THE FOUR CORNERS. CURRENT DATA SUGGEST NORTHERN STREAM SYSTEM WILL FOLLOW CLOSELY BEHIND SOUTHERN PLAINS TROUGH HELPING PUSH SYSTEM TO THE EAST AND EFFECTIVELY CREATING A SHARP NORTHERN GRADIENT TO PRECIP. AM A LITTLE CONCERNED GIVEN THE PROXIMITY OF THESE TWO SYSTEMS THAT SOME PHASING/STRENGTHENING OF THESE TWO SYSTEMS MAY OCCUR RESULTING IN A STRONGER/SLOWER/WETTER SOLUTION. BASED ON ENSEMBLE DATA...THAT THREAT APPEARS TO BE LOW AT THIS TIME BUT WILL CONTINUE TO WATCH CLOSELY AS SYSTEM NEARS. ENOUGH UNCERTAINTY EXISTS TO EXTEND POTENTIAL SNOW AREA FURTHER NORTH THAN OPERATIONAL CONSENSUS WOULD SUGGEST AND IF THE LATEST TREND IN THE ECMWF HOLDS SOUTHERN CWA WILL HAVE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW. ALTHOUGH THE PLACEMENT OF SNOW IS UNCERTAIN...STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS LOOK INCREASINGLY LIKELY THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING RESULTING IN A PERIOD OF BLOWING SNOW RESULTING IN AT LEAST MINOR TRAVEL IMPACTS. PLAN ON USING MULTIMEDIA BRIEFINGS AND OTHER PRODUCTS TO OUTLINE POTENTIAL IMPACTS. OTHERWISE...OTHER MAJOR CONCERN THAT WILL PREVAIL DURING THE EXTENDED PERIOD WILL BE MAGNITUDE OF COLD AIR THAT WILL ACCOMPANY SEVERAL STRONG HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEMS THAT WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA AS OVERALL NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT PREVAILS ACROSS THE REGION. EVEN ENSEMBLE MLP INDICATES VALUES AROUND 1045-1050 MB AND WITH EXTENSIVE SNOW COVER...HAVE TRENDED TEMPS BELOW MEAN VALUES AND IN LINE WITH A FEW OF THE COOLER PIECES OF DATA. WHILE FORECAST HIGH SLP SIMILAR TO VERY COLD AIR EARLIER THIS WEEK...THESE SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE MORE GLANCING BLOWS WHICH SHOULD MITIGATE OVERALL IMPACT. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 1024 AM MST THU JAN 1 2015 VFR CONDITIONS FOR BOTH TAF SITES THRU FORECAST PERIOD. SCT100 UP TO SCT250 WITH SCATTERED FLURRIES POSSIBLE FOR KGLD THRU 00Z FRIDAY. WINDS WNW 5-10KTS. && .GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. CO...NONE. NE...NONE. && SHORT TERM...JN LONG TERM...JRM AVIATION...JN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 131 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-022045- YUMA-KIT CARSON-CHEYENNE CO-CHEYENNE KS-RAWLINS-DECATUR-NORTON- SHERMAN-THOMAS-SHERIDAN-GRAHAM-WALLACE-LOGAN-GOVE-GREELEY-WICHITA- DUNDY-HITCHCOCK-RED WILLOW- 131 PM MST THU JAN 1 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL COLORADO... EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA AND NORTHWEST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... A STRONG WEATHER DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE HIGH PLAINS ON SATURDAY. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS POSSIBLE...WITH BEST CHANCES SOUTHEAST OF A NORTON TO TRIBUNE LINE. STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS GUSTING UP TO 45 MPH WILL CREATE LOW VISIBILITY IN BLOWING SNOW IN THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT. JRM
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Multiple reports of visibilities near or at zero during the afternoon and evening. Highway 24 was closed across the county and I-70 was closed from the state line to Goodland.
I-70 closed from Sherman county line to atleast Colby.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, January 2015
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: 549607, 549618.