Merry Christmas From CSW

New Video of The 2009 Christmas Blizzard in Kansas City

This video was shot about 11:35 pm in front of the house- looking south toward 87th Street between I-435 and Blue Ridge in KC-MO..
Best measure of snowfall on the ground was 2-4 inches so far with a few drifts of 6-8 inches on the brief trek to the street.

Snowfall was increasing and is expected to be moderate to heavy through early Christmas morning. Winds are gusting into the mid-30 mph range with temperatures in the mid-upper teens.

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Historic Blizzard Warning Continues For Metro and MetroRegion Kansas City

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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CSW VIDEO: Christmas 2009 Snowstorm Road Video

There's now a Blizzard Warning for the entire Metro Kansas City- the first blizzard warning I can recall in my nearly 50 years of Kansas City weather observing- reporting and chasing.



This video was shot along Blue Ridge Boulevard travelling southbound from about James A. Reed Road about 5 pm.

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CSW BREAKING WEATHER: BLIZZARD WARNING - KANSAS MetroRegion

MARSHALL- NEMAHA- BROWN- POTTAWATOMIE- JACKSON- JEFFERSON- WABAUNSEE-
SHAWNEE- DOUGLAS- LYON- OSAGE- FRANKLIN- COFFEY- ANDERSON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MARYSVILLE... HIAWATHA... TOPEKA... LAWRENCE... EMPORIA... OTTAWA
313 PM CST THU DEC 24 2009

...BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST FRIDAY...
...WINTER STORM WARNING IS CANCELLED...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST FRIDAY. THE WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELED.

* TIMING...HEAVY SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT.

* TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE.

* WIND...NORTH WIND WILL INCREASE TO 35 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 50 MPH TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. THIS WILL RESULT IN REDUCED VISIBILITY UNDER ONE QUARTER MILE TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES..WITH BLIZZARD CONDITIONS.

* WIND CHILL...WIND CHILL READINGS WILL BE FROM FIVE TO FIFTEEN BELOW ZERO ON FRIDAY.

* IMPACTS...TRAVEL WILL BECOME EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. DRIFTING OF SNOW ACROSS ROADWAYS IS LIKELY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE IMMINENT OR HIGHLY LIKELY. ANY TRAVEL IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED.
IF YOU LEAVE THE SAFETY OF BEING INDOORS...YOU ARE PUTTING YOUR LIFE AT RISK!

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CSW BREAKING: ICY ROADS- NUMEROUS WRECKS AROUND METRO KANSAS CITY

Numerous traffic crashes are being reported by all Metro Kansas City emergency agencies.




One of the latest involves reported injuries to a KC-MO traffic unit officer at 22nd Street and Paseo at 3:24 pm..

Multi-vehicle crashes have been reported in around the 'Grandview Triangle' of I-435/470-U.S. 71.


Wrecks are too numerous to note here- so be forewarned if you're going to drive anywhere over all but eastern & southeastern parts of the Metro from now onward....

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CSW BREAKING: METRO ROADS ICING OVER WEST TO NORTH

Reports of traffic crashes due to slick roads are becoming more numerous now in Douglas- Miami- Johnson and Leavenworth counties in Kansas- and in Platte county Missouri.

The images shown here are various traffic and Web cameras around the Metro and MetroRegion- right-click on the image and open 'Properties' for the image location and time.





Temperatures are now at or below most of Metro Kansas City (except here at CSW- 33-degrees) and have fallen into the mid to lower 20's in extreme northern- western and southwestern MetroRegion areas.

Serious to critical injuries were reported in an accident on Leavenworth County Road 1 north of Eudora just after 1:30 pm.

A serious-injury 1-vehicle crash was reported on the Kansas Turnpike (I-70) west of the East Lawrence interchange just before 1 pm.

Several wrecks have been reported in the past 15 minutes both in Johnson county KS and in the KC-MO Northland near K.C.I. airport.

Conditions will continue to worsen through the afternoon and tonight.

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Christmas Storm of 2009 Will Hit Financially-Strapped Governments Hard

I'll bet by this time Saturday- KC-MO officials will wish they had the half-million dollars they approved awhile back to study a convention hotel downtown.

As this possibly historic storm approaches and conditions worsen from west to east- highway and public works crews will put in long hours over the holiday on the roadways.

On Christmas Day- most if not all of those crews will be receiving double-time pay as well- so municipalities will be basically paying double the rate-of-pay that those crew would get on a normal day.

To make matters worse- this storm will spin around in Iowa until Sunday- continuing the snow and winds at least that long- so road crews will be working at least 72 hours on whatever schedules until the storm subsides.

Regardless- the bill to come due for this storm will be substantial even if there's not another storm all winter.

And that's not going to happen....

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Noon Camera Views From Emporia - Lawrence KS

With the temperatures now below freezing- sleet and freezing rain have begun in Emporia and in Lawrence.

As you can see in this image taken in Emporia just before noon- sleet is covering roadways there.

Temperatures are also below freezing in Johnson County KS- but no road problems have been reported yet.

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CSW WEATHER: Dangerous Winter Storm For Entire Kansas City MetroRegion

If your dream was for a white Christmas- your dreams will come true.


Present indications are for 4 to 8-inches of snow in Metro Kansas City by Christmas night- with possibly several more inches of snow by the time it all ends Saturday.


But before the snow begins this evening- we'll have ice to deal with.

The light rain now falling in Metro K.C. will turn to sleet- and falling temperatures (36 degrees as of this post here in southeast KC-MO) will turn wet- untreated roads to ice.

As temperatures continue to plummet and heavier sleet and snow falls- even treated surfaces will develop slick spots.

In addition- blizzard conditions will develop over most of the MetroRegion (Metro too) tonight- and continue into Christmas Day.

East-west roadways will become snow-covered and visibilities will fall to near white-out conditions- making driving dangerous.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS WINTER STORM- PLEASE- USE EXTREME CAUTION WALKING AND/OR DRIVING!

I'll be posting Metro road condition reports of slick roads as received....

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CSW BREAKING: Aircraft Emergency at K.C.I. Airport

At 11:13 am- a plane has reportedly lost their primary electrical system and is requesting an emergency landing at Kansas City International airport.

The fire department response was upgraded to an "Alert-2" at 11:17 am.

There is yet no word on the type of aircraft involved nor number of people on board (other than the pilot).

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UPDATE- 1142 CST: The plane has landed safety at K.C.I..

The aircraft was a Delta Airlines flight from Salt Lake City with 114 passengers and crew on board.

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