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I was wrong on the snow totals for drexel..... we had a half inch of snow, which brings drexels winter total to 4 1/2 inches.......deprived is an understatement

Wow, looks like Bill was busy today with all that snow!  I'm sure you had some fun along with the work!  I enjoyed the pics on the news and in the blog!  

Weather team - thank you for all of your hard work on the recent storms.  I really appreciate all of your efforts in keeping us updated on the news and in the blog.  Your passion for your work really comes through!  

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Thank you!

Gary

Why must you taunt me with these pictures gary?!! Looks like fun!

Gary:

Thank you sir!!!! I have two kids that really think they are rock stars now LOL!!!

Bill in Lawrence

lol looks fun...

In my day I built some massive snow structures....I was quite the ambitious kid.

Fun pictures. Ahhh I remember those days when I loved to play in the snow. Now it's just off to work and no time to play. We did get between 6-7 inches here north of Lawson. We have some pretty good snow drifts too. Keep up the good work...nwmissourigal

Gary or anyone,
I have a question about the heartbreaking situation about the tornados.  I know the people are in shock down there, but in one of the stories somewhere, I saw this poor dog wandering around lost, and talk about cattle walking the streets.  

Does anyone know which rescue group might be going to help?  The Red Cross & Fema will be down in droves to help the people, ibut we shouldn't forget all the poor pets will need help too.   We have a lot of pet owners out here, perhaps a link for donations to help the animals?

Thanks

I think before winter is over we will get hit.

Gary,
  Thanks for sharing the pictures I sent. I didn't get your email before the 6pm newcast and was surprised when I saw them. It has been a wild and crazy couple of days. I appreciate all the hard work you and the weather team does. Nothing can be predicted perfectly where mother nature is concerns. I feel for the south who has missed out on the snow this year. I know what it is like, that was  us last year. I don't think Gary or anyone for that matter has blown the forecast. Things shift, just like a tornado. Storms build to be so big and always end up shifting. It is impossible to be exact, but you can be close. The same with tornados, you are better off being prepared and warned in advance. There could be one on a path to hit you dead on, only to fall apart or lift back up before it reaches you.  I hope everyone realizes the weather team has worked hard to follow the storm. I knew from the start when Gary said snow was coming that we would be hit due to the fact that another station was saying the same thing, and that has never happened all winter.  Good Job guys!

wow, how the blogs quiets down when there isnt a major storm lurking!!

I might have to move to St. Joseph lol

Those of us south of KC had our snow last year. We should be nice about letting them have it this time. (sniff, sniff) Maybe next year, we will all get snow. Now that I think about it, I think we will let them have the rain too. Floods in the spring and flooding here now as well. :-)
Pat

Rip the hat off that kid lol

I wish we could just skip spring time. I'm not looking forward to that! Don't forget people to go to the NWS Spotter Trainings!

I agree - not looking forward to spring! I have a really bad feeling about this season.

I have a flight leaving at 11:30 am tomorrow from KCI, do you think this disturbance will cause any delays? We plan on leaving the plaza area around 9:30. If you could let me know if you think we need to leave earlier that would be wonderful. Thanks!

Gary, I am laughing out loud at the futurecast ... the poof-effect is amazing around here. Great job!

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Thanks! That was amazing how the computer model did that.

Gary

Gary just said on the weathercast that it will jump over KC by then

Gary, the temperatures for the weekend seem to be going up and down.  What's the reasoning behind that?  

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Matt,

Good question!  The Arctic front sort of barely gets here on Saturday.  It is a very strong front, but blasting towards Chicago instead of us for the first time this season.   How much of it gets here is causing us some consistency issues in our 7 day this weekend.

Gary

Gary,
I'm curious what kind of snow accumulations that Feb. and March storms have brought us in the past. Sounds like some folks think winter is over but according to the LRC and your earlier comments, we could still have some big storms left with snow potential in the next six weeks. Can you explain and give historical odds at such happening?
Thanks!

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Dwight,

February is still one of the snowiest months, and even though average snowfall tapers off in March, Kansas City's biggest snowstorm in it's recorded history happened in March 1912, on the 22nd and 23rd with 25 inches of snow.  Last year it snowed in April, so we have a lot of time left.

Gary

Dwight,
I see some snow systems on the 0Z GFS model. Cold air is not a problem. We will have swings in temperature, but a large pool of cold air in central Canada will be tapped when a ridge occasionally builds in the Pacific.
KCI is up to nearly 19 inches for the season with other areas seeing much more than that so far.
The Midwest core has seen over 50 inches so far this season including Chicago and Madison, WI.

It sure puts things into perspective when you hear of the loses down south.  Here we are getting all bent out of shape about not having enough snow and some of these poor folks have lost everything!  I feel for them!  Again, thanks Gary and team for getting us through the crazy day yesterday!  I bet you will all sleep good tonight!

-19F is the record low temperature for this date back in 1982.
We have not gotten anywhere close to those kind of low temperatures in years around here.

Gary,

My sister runs an orchard outside of Gardner, and based on the LRC, do you think we will see the same problem last year with the late freeze.  They lost $200,00-$400,000 last year because of the hard freeze we had.  Any ideas you have would be great.  Thanks.

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This is a great question, since we did have the late very hard freeze last year.  We used my theory (the LRC) quite well last year to make an accurate prediction of that hard freeze weeks ahead of time.  This year's weather pattern will go back into the part of the pattern that has produced our coldest outbreaks, but in March.  We have had a consistent source of Arctic air since December, and I don't see Canada warming up any time soon.  When we go back into the colder signitures we will likely have very hard March freezes.  This should help, as the growing season shouldn't get a strong early start.  In April it may all fade to the north.  But, this is something we will go into more detail soon.

Gary

Gardner,
If we have "average" temperatures in March with frequent freeze/frost events we will not have the problem that occured last April.  I would expect normal/below normal temperatures for March as the colder part of the cycle may appear again. I am not sure about April yet.  

The April freeze is the one that killed all the fruit buds.  I don't think they are concerned about March freezes, as teh trees are able to recover.  But those late hard freezes really hurt.  Thanks for the info though.  As soon as we find an answer for April, I will pass iton her so they can do what they can to prepare.  Last year, they harvested less than 100 pounds of apples.  Not good for the liveliehood you know.

"The April freeze is the one that killed all the fruit buds. "
Yes, low temperatures during that freeze dropped into the 16-18F range after the very warm stretch of weather the previous month. So that April freeze was definitely significant like you mentioned becasue we rarely have low temperatures in that range during April.

Isn't the bigger issue with last year's freeze the fact that we had a significant warm stretch that allowed the growing season to get an early start before we saw the freezes?  I guess we should hope for a more traditional transition into spring.

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Yes, it was a big problem.  March was quite warm, and we knew (based on the LRC) that it was going to turn very cold in April.  We may have some warmer stretches in March this year, but the cold spells should counteract any warming.

Gary

CentralOP2
Where does one go to see the 0Z GFS model?
Is it something I can easily access and is it a visual or just numbers that would not mean anything to a novice?
Thanks!

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Dwight,

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod/analysis/

You can get the GFS, NAM, NGM, and other models at the above link.  Notice all of the parameters you can choose from.  Start playing around with them.  When we post maps, it is often from this site, so pay close attention and you can learn a lot in the next year.

Gary