A heavy snow event moved across portions of South Central KS producing amounts up to 10 inches. Most locations varied between 2 and 6 inches but a few localized areas received quite a bit more.
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 ICT wrote it up.
A heavy snow event moved across portions of South Central KS producing amounts up to 10 inches. Most locations varied between 2 and 6 inches but a few localized areas received quite a bit more.
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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 19, 5:27 AM CST, 1 hour 28 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wichita KS 527 AM CST Tue Feb 19 2019 ...Updated for Aviation Discussion... .SHORT TERM...(Today through Thursday night) Issued at 300 AM CST Tue Feb 19 2019 Shallow cold air remains in place across most of KS early today. The main forecast challenge today will mainly be the warm advection snow event across most of the forecast, but some concern about temps climbing just above freezing in SE KS, cutting into snow totals. Model solutions continue to suggest that mid level lift associated with the right rear quad of the upper jet will increase the "warm advection" for the daytime hours today. This warm advection, over the top of the shallow cold air, will lead to increasing mid level level moisture across the southern plains by late this morning, with this moisture moving north into KS by midday. The combination of the lift and moisture will lead to a widespread precipitation chance for late this afternoon through tonight. Latest bufkit forecast soundings suggest an ALL snow event for areas west of the KS Turnpike, with possibly some freezing drizzle on the tail end of the event as cloud ice is lost. So mainly worried about snow accumulation amounts for this area. The bigger challenge will be for areas east of the KS Turnpike and especially over SE KS, where the warm advection may lead to surface temps climbing just above freezing, before precip begins this afternoon. Latest RAP and some of the other hi-rez models suggest surface temps could climb into the middle-upper 30s!! Which would lead to the precip initially starting out as either rain or a rain/snow mix. Went with some of the colder short range model solutions, but even then, temps may climb above freezing for a few hours in SE KS. Either solution will certainly cut down on snow totals. So have segmented the Winter Weather advisory to show the lessor snow amounts expected in SE KS and the Flint Hills with this in mind. Think SE KS will eventually see wet bulb temps dropping back towards freezing this evening, and turn over to all snow. For the rest of the forecast area (west of the Turnpike) the main message for the event will be snow and snow amounts. Current model projections suggest snow will begin a little later than previously thought, sometime during the afternoon hours, with potentially a few hours of moderate snow during the very late afternoon into the evening hours. This will certainly impact the evening rush hour. Latest model trends suggest lift will strong enough to lead to the higher snow totals that we previously advertised. Think most areas will see a solid widespread 3 to 5 inches, as lack of any frontogenetic banding will limit the higher amounts. Could see a few areas north and northeast of Wichita see amounts approaching 4-6 inches. As mentioned earlier, towards the end of the event by very late this evening, low level moisture remains high, but cloud ice will be lost, so could see some patchy freezing drizzle before the precip winds down late tonight. Most of the precip will come to end by early Wed morning, with weak downslope flow in its wake. This will lead to max temps a little warmer on Wed, leading to alot of the newly falling snow melting or a slushy Wed afternoon. Ketcham .LONG TERM...(Friday through Monday) Issued at 300 AM CST Tue Feb 19 2019 A gradual warming trend will be on tap for the end of the week, with SW flow aloft leading to gradual warm advection for most locations. This warm advection will lead to increasing chances for precipitation for Fri through the weekend. The shallow cold air will be a little tricky on precip type for Friday, especially for central KS, but as the warm advection increases, think most of the precip will changeover to rain. Will leave a wintry mix mention across central KS for now. A fairly dynamic system looks to move out of the southern Rockies for Sat and Sat night. this system is expected to move out of the southern Rockies and then NE across KS, with lots of warm moist air ahead of it. Latest medium models even suggest surface dewpoints may climb into the 50s, which will lead to increasing chances of showers and even a few thunderstorms. Gonna have to keep an eye on this system, as latest model runs pull some cold air into central KS for Sat night, which may lead to fairly dynamic winter storm for the northern half of KS for Sat night. Stay tuned. Ketcham && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Wednesday morning) Issued at 527 AM CST Tue Feb 19 2019 Widespread snow will overspread the region from south to north this afternoon and evening, as a strong storm system approaches from the southwest. Thinking snow and associated MVFR to IFR conditions will ramp up between 21-23z this afternoon, with areas of LIFR conditions possible during the evening in moderate snow. As mid-levels dry out from south to north during the evening, could see snow mix with or change to light freezing drizzle for a time all areas until about 08-10z. IFR to LIFR ceilings are expected all night. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 300 AM CST Tue Feb 19 2019 Continued below normal temperatures and increasing chances for snow today into the weekend will keep the fire weather concerns very low for most of the week. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Wichita-KICT 30 22 37 19 / 90 100 10 0 Hutchinson 29 19 36 18 / 90 100 10 0 Newton 30 21 34 19 / 90 100 10 0 ElDorado 32 24 36 20 / 90 100 10 0 Winfield-KWLD 32 24 37 20 / 90 90 10 0 Russell 24 14 34 16 / 90 100 10 0 Great Bend 25 14 35 17 / 90 100 10 0 Salina 27 19 34 16 / 90 100 10 0 McPherson 27 18 34 17 / 90 100 10 0 Coffeyville 37 29 40 24 / 90 90 10 0 Chanute 35 28 38 21 / 90 100 10 0 Iola 34 27 37 20 / 80 100 10 0 Parsons-KPPF 37 29 39 23 / 90 100 10 0 && .ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory from noon today to 6 AM CST Wednesday for KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100. && SHORT TERM...Ketcham LONG TERM...Ketcham AVIATION...ADK FIRE WEATHER...Ketcham
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Wichita KS 520 AM CST Tue Feb 19 2019 KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-201130- Russell-Lincoln-Barton-Ellsworth-Saline-Rice-McPherson-Marion-Chase- Reno-Harvey-Butler-Greenwood-Woodson-Allen-Kingman-Sedgwick-Harper- Sumner-Cowley-Elk-Wilson-Neosho-Chautauqua-Montgomery-Labette- 520 AM CST Tue Feb 19 2019 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of Central Kansas, South Central Kansas and Southeast Kansas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Widespread light to moderate snow is expected to spread northeast across the region this afternoon through tonight. Snowfall accumulations of three to five inches are possible west of the Kansas Turnpike with some locally higher amounts in central Kansas. A rain and snow mix may limit accumulations across southeast Kansas to 1 to 3 inches. Furthermore, the snow could mix with and eventually change to patchy freezing drizzle by late this evening. See the latest Winter Weather Advisory for more information. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday Another round of wintry weather is possible Saturday through Saturday night. Considerable uncertainty exists surrounding this period so stay tuned. There is chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms for south central and southeast Kansas on Saturday night. Some small hail may be possible with a stronger storm. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated today or tonight, but snowfall reports would be greatly appreciated this evening. && For a graphical version of this information, see our webpage at: http://weather.gov/wichita/hwo/ Ketcham
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 winter storm, 5 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowfall amounts across the county ranged from 1 to 3 inches.
Snow fall across the county varied from near 5 in the southern sections of the county to near 3 inches across the northern sections.
Snowfall amounts across the county ranged from 5 to 8 inches in depth.
Snowfall amounts across the county were generally between 1 and 2 inches in depth. Russell reported 2.5 inches.
A wide range of snowfall amounts were noted across the county as several locations were receiving snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. The amounts varied from 4 to 10 inches in depth. The 10 inch snow depth came from 8 miles south of Kingman and within the city limits of Kingman, 9 inches of snow was reported.
The far NW corner of the county had a 6 inch snow fall report near Mt. Hope. Elsewhere, the snow depths ranged from 1 to 3 inches.
Snowfall across the county was generally around 1 inch in depth.
Snowfall amounts across the county ranged from 3 to 6 inches in depth. Six inches was reported in Sterling while 5 inches was noted in Lyons.
Snowfall amounts across the county ranged from 4 to 6 inches.
Snow amounts varied quite a bit across the county. The highest amount was in the SW corner near Inman where 5.5 to 6 inches of snow fell. The rest of the county was between 1 and 3 inches.
Snowfall amounts across the county ranged from 1.5 inches to 3 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, February 2019
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: 799912, 799915, 799926, 799910, 799924, 799930, 799916, 799921, 799923, 799922, 799917.