Sitting under a small band of heavier snow here downtown, but unfortunately it will probably be last big blast we’ll get from this system as the upper level dynamics and the associated instability will be pushing away from the region leaving us under a lighter snow upslope scenario for the rest of the day. Foothill locations look to do pretty well with this storm with accumulations ranging from 10-20″, however the metro area itself is going to suffer and the lighter amounts will result from the fact that the first several hours of this storm was too warm to support snow. NWS Boulder has chopped metro-area snowfall totals in half, and with two inches on the ground here downtown, I am pretty comfortable in agreeing with them.
So while its not over yet, I let out a groan as I don’t have the excited motivation I once had with this storm. I’ll likely document the trip home, but unless something really insane stirs up enroute, it’ll be a quick trip. That works out well as I will need to go home and prepare for tomorrow’s snow chase into southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma.
A WINTER STORM WARNING has been issued for central Oklahoma basically bulls-eyeing the OKC Metro area. Snow accumulations are expected to be in the 4-8″ range, but very gusty northerly winds will create a lot of blizzard conditions with blowing snow. The warning goes through Sunday evening for these area with winds and blowing snow turning to be the main focus during the ladder half of the warning. I am due to fly back home from OKC leaving just after 5pm on Sunday, so hopefully the worst of the snow/wind is out of the area by then so I can get back home without too much incident.
As for the chase trip itself, I am tentatively targeting the southern Kansas area along I-35. Given the adverse conditions that will be ongoing per our late afternoon arrival into this region, I am preparing to possibly stay overnight in southern Kansas, possibly northern Oklahoma before completing the journey on Sunday. Ultimately, I would like to get into OKC Saturday evening, but I am not counting on that to take place. We plan to depart Denver roughly 8am MDT (9am CDT) which on a normal drive would get us into OKC at 7pm. I fully anticipate a much slower go from Wichita south to OKC, if we are even able to continue the journey southward. We shall see.
More on all that later… still have a snowstorm ongoing here in Denver, even as its wrath will only be about half as much as hoped. Stay tuned for more!