Plains Winter Storm Brings Sharp Changes

[CaptinCrunch]

Plains Winter Storm Brings Sharp Changes
8AM CST, December 10, 2003

A intense storm in the Plains is bring a
harsh taste of winter to the mid
Mississippi Valley and western Great
Lakes as it chugs slowly northeast.
Winter storm warnings and advisories
were in effect for a large area from
Missouri to the upper peninsula of
Michigan.

Near-blizzard conditions were
experienced on Tuesday night in parts
of eastern Kansas, Missouri and Iowa
with light, powdery snow getting blown
around by 20 to 30 mph winds across
flat, open terrain. Blowing and drifting
snow caused havoc long after the
snowfall ended in many areas.
A WeatherBug live sensor in Raymore,
MO near Kansas City reported steady
winds of 20 mph with gusts to 44 mph
early Wednesday morning.
Snowfall amounts as of early
Wednesday morning generally ranged
from 3 to 10 inches from Kansas
northeast to Minnesota. Joplin, Missouri
picked up 8 inches while New Hope
near Minneapolis, Minnesota had 10
inches. Further south, Tulsa, Oklahoma
had 5 inches.

Lighter amounts of 2 to 4 inches had
fallen from eastern Iowa into Wisconsin
where the rain was slower to change to
snow.

Another important aspect was the rapid
influx of colder air behind the storm. A
WeatherBug live sensor in Bentonville,
Arkansas shivered at 22 degrees early
Wednesday, compared to a balmy
reading of 58 at the same time on
Tuesday.

Further north a shot of fresh arctic air
was starting to invade the northern
Plains and upper Mississippi Valley.
Temperatures in the eastern Dakotas
and Minnesota were expected to
remain steady or slowly fall into the
teens and single digits on Wednesday
afternoon.

This bone-chilling air will spread toward
the Great Lakes and northeast by the
end of the week.

A WeatherBug live sensor in Fergus
Falls in west-central Minnesota
reported zero degrees with a wind chill
of 13 below zero early Wednesday.