Winter weather advisories were issued south of roughly the highway 400 corridor with winter storms warnings issued to the north of this zone for the rest of the state on the afternoon of the 10th. As snowfall began in earnest by 10 pm on the 11th in west cental Kansas, snowfall totals met the local warning criteria of 5 inches over most of the warned area by the morning of the 12th.
Every event with a place to put it; 19 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.
Winter weather advisories were issued south of roughly the highway 400 corridor with winter storms warnings issued to the north of this zone for the rest of the state on the afternoon of the 10th. As snowfall began in earnest by 10 pm on the 11th in west cental Kansas, snowfall totals met the local warning criteria of 5 inches over most of the warned area by the morning of the 12th.
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 11, 5:18 PM CST, 3 hours 42 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 518 PM CST Tue Feb 11 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Winter storm still on track with no change in headlines (Winter Storm Warning and Winter Weather Advisory counties unchanged). - Most areas will see accumulating snow starting around midnight CST. Best window for heaviest snow fall from the onset of the storm around midnight up until sunrise Wednesday Morning. - Minor to moderate impacts remain likely from widespread 2 to 5" snowfall. Greater than 5" snowfall most likely from Highway 96 to I-70 corridor. - Very cold temperatures Wednesday and Wednesday Night with highs in the teens and widespread lows below zero (F). && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 327 PM CST Tue Feb 11 2025 Winter storm system still on track to result in widespread minor to moderate impacts across southwest, west central, and central Kansas. Late last night, the arctic cold front arrived, and temperatures behind the front have been very cold all day...and pretty close to following 10th percentile of the NBM with respect to hourly 2-meter temperature forecast from the 13Z NBM run. Our shortwave trough was still digging southeastward from Utah-Nevada toward the Four Corners this afternoon. As the forcing for ascent continues to increase, the low level winds will continue to respond through the evening, and the sustained strong upward vertical motion and low level upslope component will lead to a deepening of the low level saturated layer. Pretty much all models and ensemble systems show initial burst of moderate to heavy precipitation developing from southeastern Colorado into adjacent far southwest and west central Kansas. Precipitation will then expand in coverage quite rapidly ad the 700mb baroclinic zone sharpens up, particularly from roughly Syracuse to Ness City to Hays corridor where 700mb southwest winds converge strongly from 50+ knots near Elkhart/Liberal to around 20 knots out of the west-southwest up along I-70. This zone of frontogenesis will remain strong in the 06-12Z time frame overnight (Midnight to 6 AM CST). This is the 6-hr period when much of the snowfall will occur across much of our southwest Kansas region. During the peak of the event, many locations, especially up north between Highway 50 and I-70, will see snowfall rates around 1"/hr for perhaps a couple of hours. Outside of this peak, the strength of 700mb frontogenesis will easily support at least 0.5"/hr for several hours outside of the peak window. Additional light snow will still be falling from 12Z to 18Z Wednesday (6 AM to Noon CST), but the strongest forcing for ascent will be pushing east fairly quickly in the morning such that snowfall rates will most likely only be 0.2 to 0.4"/hr until the snow eventually ends late morning/midday. All told, integrating all the above mentioned reasoning, a storm total snowfall of 4-7" looks good for I-70 counties...3-5" along the Highway 96 corridor...2-4" along the Highway 50 corridor...and 1-2" closer to the Oklahoma line. The winter headlines will not change, keeping the Winter Storm Warning for Highway 96 and I-70 corridors and a Winter Weather Advisory south of Scott City to La Crosse. The most intense zone of frontogenetic forcing is a mesoscale component to this storm, and there is very low skill in nailing this axis to the specific county, but overall synoptic scale thinking has not wavered much since yesterday, except that very high amounts of 8+" are much less likely now (less than 10% chance, even up north). The next forecast challenge comes temperatures Wednesday and Wednesday Night as we will see some of the coldest temperatures of the season. We will continue the theme of heavy 10th percentile NBM influence, especially with a fresh snow cover Wednesday. We will be in the heart of the arctic cold air mass with very little, if any opportunity for modification, even if we see direct insolation late in the day. Highs in the mid-teens is a pretty good forecast for much of the area as a result. Ideal radiational cooling with a fresh snow pack will most likely allow temperatures to fall close to 10th percentile NBM for lows, which would be -2 to -6F for much of southwest and especially west central Kansas where snow pack will likely be deeper. Going forward to end the week, we will likely see a rapid pattern change to much warmer downslope southerly flow, with 50s and even perhaps low 60s far southwest on Friday afternoon. Another storm system will move in from the southwest, but model consensus shows this system as a fairly progressive open trough, so winter impacts from this storm system would be limited, based on the latest model output. There is yet another storm mid next week that we will also have our eye on as we remain in a fairly active pattern. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 515 PM CST Tue Feb 11 2025 An overnight and morning snow storm is expected to move through southwest Kansas. Cloud ceilings in general will be in MVFR to IFR flight category. Snow is expected to develop after 06Z and affect each terminal. HYS will have the highest impacts as bands of heavier snow are expected between 09-18Z and surface visibilities could be reduced to 1 SM or less. LIFR flight category will be more brief for GCK, LBL, and DDC as 09-14Z is the timeframe we will have the best lift for the bands of light to moderate snow. Surface visibilities could fall to as low as 1 SM. The snow should wrap up for all terminals around 18Z and we could begin to see clouds break and cloud ceilings rise for GCK, LBL, and DDC around 22Z. && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning until 6 PM CST Wednesday for KSZ030-031- 043>046. Winter Weather Advisory until 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ Wednesday for KSZ061>066-074>081-084>090. && DISCUSSION...Umscheid AVIATION...Tatro
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Dodge City KS 330 AM CST Tue Feb 11 2025 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-111100- 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- 330 AM CST Tue Feb 11 2025 /230 AM MST Tue Feb 11 2025/ This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central Kansas, south central Kansas, southwest Kansas, and west central Kansas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Accumulating snow beginning late Tuesday Evening will create Moderate Impacts including hazardous driving conditions and the possibility of closure or disruption of infrastructure. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday Accumulating snow Wednesday Morning will create Moderate Impacts including hazardous driving conditions and the possibility of closure or disruption of infrastructure. Excessively cold wind chill temperatures expected both Wednesday and Thursday morning. Hypothermia or frostbite could occur with prolonged exposure and lack of proper clothing. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed. MR
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 winter weather, 7 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Two and one half inches of snow fell at Syracuse.
Five inches of new snowfall was reported at Healy.
Five and one half inches of snowfall was reported at Amy.
Two inches of snow measured at Johnson.
Seven and one half inches of new snowfall was reported by observer KALK1 at Kalvesta.
Four inches of snowfall reported at Wakeeney.
Four inches of snow was measured at Dodge City.
Four inches of snowfall fell in northern Hodgeman county. The cooperative observer JTMK1 measured 3.8 inches of snow.
Five inches of snow was reported at Ingalls.
Four inches of snow was measured at Lakin.
One inch measured at 10 miles southwest of Richfield.
A measured five inches of snow was reported at Scott City.
Five inches of new snowfall was reported 2 miles south southeast of Hays.
Five inches of new snowfall was reported at Ransom.
Five inches of new snowfall was reported at Ransom.
Four inches of snow fell at Hudson.
One inch of snow measured at Ashland.
One and one half inches of snow measure at Greensburg.
One and one half inches of snow measured at Sun City.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, February 2025
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: 1231346, 1231341, 1231349, 1231364, 1231350, 1231342, 1231343, 1231345, 1231355, 1231363, 1231368, 1231357, 1231359, 1231361, 1231362, 1231347, 1231365, 1231366, 1231367.