Good afternoon NBC Action Weather Bloggers,
We have already had over 1 inch of rain, thunderstorms, hail, snow and sleet up north, and windy and cold conditions. We are very lucky that it wasn't 5 degrees colder or we would have had an ice storm.
The new data is just coming in. We can see the storm on satellite movies. This winter storm is taking direct aim on the Kansas City metro area. I know this is hard for a lot of you to believe, but it is only a few hours away from beginning and everything points to a big snowstorm. And, this storm is so strong at the surface that it will create quite a pressure gradient on the back side. This could create blizzard conditions later tonight into Wednesday.
We are likely going to up our snowfall forecast totals, but we will wait until the last minute to make our final decision, so watch at 5 and 6 PM on NBC Action News tonight.
There are a lot of concerns as this storm approaches as well. Road conditions could be very bad by morning. It will be a tough winter day on Wednesday if this materializes like we think it will.
Once again, look at the satellite movie. This is a storm going through an transformation right now and it intensifies as it passes through us early on Wednesday. The snow could last through noon on Wednesday.
We will update the blog with our snowfall forecast map between newscasts tonight. And, bloggers, you know me by now, this is the first time I have really been excited about a snowstorm all season. Something, of course, still could take this storm off course, but I doubt it.
Gary