To this date December 24, 2009- Kansas City has never been under a Blizzard Warning.
This is and will be a historic storm for Metro Kansas City and I'd be amiss not posting the weather statement from the NWS office in Pleasant Hill:
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
955 PM CST THU DEC 24 2009
...SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM WILL CONTINUE THROUGH INTO FRIDAY...
...BLIZZARD CONDITIONS POSSIBLE TONIGHT ACROSS EASTERN KANSAS AND FAR WESTERN MISSOURI...
.SIGNIFICANT WINTER WEATHER WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH FRIDAY...AS A POTENT STORM SYSTEM MOVES NORTHEAST ACROSS MISSOURI. A MIX OF FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL CHANGE OVER TO ALL SNOW FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE REGION OVERNIGHT. THIS CHANGE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED GENERALLY ALONG AND WEST OF INTERSTATE 35. SLEET ACCUMULATIONS OF 1/4 TO POSSIBLY 3/4 OF AN INCH ARE POSSIBLE PRIOR TO THE SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS BY THE END OF THE STORM ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 1 TO 3 INCHES IN CENTRAL MISSOURI... TO 6 TO 10 INCHES IN EASTERN KANSAS AS WELL AS ACROSS WEST CENTRAL... NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL PORTIONS OF MISSOURI. BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT ACROSS NORTHEAST KANSAS AND FAR WESTERN AND NORTHWEST MISSOURI...WHERE VISIBILITIES MAY BE REDUCED TO UNDER 1/4 MILE WITH STRONG GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS. TRAVEL CONDITIONS WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED ACROSS THE REGION.
KSZ025-057-060-102>105-MOZ001-002-011>013-020-021-028-029-037-043-053-251200-
/O.CON.KEAX.BZ.W.0002.000000T0000Z-091226T0000Z/
ATCHISON KS- MIAMI- LINN KS- DONIPHAN- LEAVENWORTH- WYANDOTTE- JOHNSON KS- ATCHISON MO- NODAWAY- HOLT- ANDREW- DE KALB- BUCHANAN- CLINTON- PLATTE- CLAY- JACKSON- CASS- BATES-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ATCHISON... PAOLA... MOUND CITY... TROY... LEAVENWORTH... OVERLAND PARK... OLATHE... TARKIO... MARYVILLE... OREGON... SAVANNAH... CAMERON... ST. JOSEPH... PLATTSBURG... PARKVILLE... PLATTE CITY... WESTON... LIBERTY... EXCELSIOR SPRINGS... KANSAS CITY... INDEPENDENCE... RAYMORE... HARRISONVILLE... PLEASANT HILL... BUTLER... RICH HILL
955 PM CST THU DEC 24 2009
...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST FRIDAY...
A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST FRIDAY.
* PRECIPITATION HAS TRANSITIONED TO ALL SNOW ACROSS AREAS GENERALLY ALONG AND WEST OF INTERSTATE 35...WHILE A SLEET AND SNOW MIX CONTINUES SOUTH AND EAST OF KANSAS CITY. THE TRANSITION TO ALL SNOW WILL OCCUR OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. SLEET ACCUMULATIONS HAVE RANGED FROM 1/4 INCH TO AS MUCH AS 3/4 INCH. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THUS FAR HAVE BEEN 2 TO 5 INCHES ACROSS NORTHERN AND WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE KANSAS CITY METRO AND POINTS NORTHWARD.
* SNOW WILL INCREASE IN INTENSITY TONIGHT...AS THE STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES. SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY MORNING... WITH TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON RANGING FROM 5 TO 8 INCHES FROM BUTLER MISSOURI AND PLEASANTON KANSAS... NORTHWARD TO THE KANSAS CITY METRO. NORTH OF THIS AREA... SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY BE IN THE 6 TO 10 INCH RANGE.
* STRONG NORTHWEST TO WEST WINDS WILL PERSIST THROUGH FRIDAY... WITH SUSTAINED WINDS OF 25 TO 40 MPH AND HIGHER GUSTS. THIS WILL CREATE EXTENSIVE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WITH BLIZZARD CONDITIONS.
INTERSTATE 29 IS CLOSED FROM MOUND CITY MISSOURI NORTH TO THE IOWA BORDER... DUE TO DANGEROUS WHITE OUT CONDITIONS AND SIGNIFICANT DRIFTING SNOW. VISIBILITIES ARE OFTEN ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS.
* TRAVEL WILL BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AND INTO TOMORROW MORNING. VERY DIFFICULT TRAVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH FRIDAY...WITH PERIODS OF BLOWING SNOW SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING VISIBILITIES TO LESS THAN ONE QUARTER MILE AT TIMES.
PERSONS PLANNING ON TRAVELING FOR THE HOLIDAY SHOULD CONSIDER MAKING ALTERNATIVE PLANS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS... MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED... STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.
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2 comments:
According to the National Weather Service, you are incorrect. The last blizzard recorded in the Kansas City area was in 1989. The last official "Blizzard Warning" product was issued in 1982.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/?n=2009dec2425blizzard
Thank you for correcting me Scott.
The claim and the blame was that the NWS sites were jammed Christmas Eve and a proper search for prior events could not be performed.
That is unacceptable with the offending employee terminated and remanded to the KC STAR.
HNY-
Groucho
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