Several inches of snow fell over southeastern portions of north central Kansas on this Wednesday afternoon and lasted into the nighttime hours. A band of snow lifted from central Kansas into north-central Kansas.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 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.
Several inches of snow fell over southeastern portions of north central Kansas on this Wednesday afternoon and lasted into the nighttime hours. A band of snow lifted from central Kansas into north-central Kansas. This band's northward progress slowed and it actually stalled for a few hours Wednesday evening, as an upper-level low formed. This resulted in 3 to 6 inches of snow falling over most of north-central Kansas, with the highest amounts over portions of Jewell and Mitchell counties. After midnight, the circulation associated with the upper low then moved southeast into eastern Kansas, with the intensity of the snow diminishing.
This was mainly an upper-level system as surface features were not well defined. The shortwave trough was associated with a cold front that moved through the western United States during the day Wednesday. This front dropped south-southeast, missing the Central Plains. Only an inverted surface trough was over the region. In the upper-levels, low-amplitude northwest flow was over the United States with the mean ridge axis along the West Coast. A potent shortwave trough over the Pacific Northwest during the morning amplified and deepened as it emerged over the Plains during the night.
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 20, 1:20 PM CST, 40 minutes earlier.
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</html>PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1200 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0100 PM SNOW CENTRAL CITY 41.11N 98.00W
01/19/2016 M2.4 INCH MERRICK NE CO-OP OBSERVER
OFFICIAL STORM TOTAL SNOW FROM NWS COOP OBSERVER FROM
TUESDAY EVENT
&&
PFANNKUCHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1202 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1200 PM SNOW 4 N HASTINGS 40.65N 98.39W
01/19/2016 M0.6 INCH ADAMS NE OFFICIAL NWS OBS
OFFICIAL HASTINGS TOTAL AT NWS OFFICE...STILL A FEW
FLURRIES FALLING BUT MEASURABLE SNOW LIKELY OVER
1200 PM SNOW GRAND ISLAND AIRPORT 40.97N 98.32W
01/19/2016 M1.5 INCH HALL NE OFFICIAL NWS OBS
OFFICIAL STORM TOTAL SNOW...ALL MEASURABLE AMOUNT FELL
6AM-NOON
1250 PM SNOW OSCEOLA 41.18N 97.55W
01/19/2016 M2.8 INCH POLK NE CO-OP OBSERVER
STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL...SNOW HAS ENDED
0100 PM SNOW CENTRAL CITY 41.11N 98.00W
01/19/2016 M2.4 INCH MERRICK NE CO-OP OBSERVER
OFFICIAL STORM TOTAL SNOW FROM NWS COOP OBSERVER FROM
TUESDAY EVENT
0247 PM SNOW 3 NE SHELBY 41.22N 97.39W
01/19/2016 M2.5 INCH POLK NE CO-OP OBSERVER
OFFICIAL STORM TOTAL SNOW FROM NWS COOP OBSERVER.
0300 PM SNOW 3 N YORK 40.91N 97.60W
01/19/2016 M1.0 INCH YORK NE CO-OP OBSERVER
OFFICIAL STORM TOTAL SNOW FROM NWS OBSERVER
0353 PM SNOW ST. PAUL 41.21N 98.46W
01/19/2016 M3.8 INCH HOWARD NE CO-OP OBSERVER
OFFICIAL STORM TOTAL SNOW FROM NWS OBSERVER
0530 PM SNOW ORD 41.60N 98.93W
01/19/2016 M2.7 INCH VALLEY NE CO-OP OBSERVER
OFFICIAL STORM TOTAL SNOW FROM NWS OBSERVER
&&
SUMMARY OF A FEW STORM TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS FROM THE EVENT THAT MAINLY
OCCURRED DURING THE PRE-DAWN AND MORNING HOURS OF TUESDAY JAN 19TH
PFANNKUCHThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 3 to 5 inches.
Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 3 to 6 inches.
Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 3 to 7 inches.
Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 2 to 4 inches.
Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 3 to 7 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, January 2016
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 615088, 615089, 615090, 615091, 615092.