Thursday Ice Storm...Whats next?

A storm system entered western Kansas on Thursday, pushing a warm front northward through Missouri. This trigggered rain south of the front and freezing rain north of the front. The front managed to push through Kansas City, warming temperatures to above freezing and changed the freezing rain to rain. Areas in northern Missouri, where the front couldnt make it, stayed in the freezing rain most of the night until the low pressure center passed near.


This low was very fast moving. Look at the map showing the location of the storm on Thursday morning:




Here was the storms location by 3:00 AM:



Kansas City warmed up to 50 degrees by 3:00 AM. The counter clockwise rotation brought in warm moist air from the south. The warm air lasted just long enough to melt the ice and snow, but notice the cold front just entering northwest Missouri. By 8:00 AM, the cold front has passed through Kansas City, and temperatures were in the upper 20's. Now this fast moving system is affecting areas of the northeast with heavy snow and rain.

This cold front is not the noticable system, even with the 50 to 27 degrees temperature drop.

The big change comes Saturday night with a vigerous arctic blast. Highs on Saturday will be in the upper 20's, and dropping to 0 to -5 degrees Sunday morning. Then here comes the really cold air. Highs will only be in the single digits on Sunday, and by Monday morning, the lows will likely range from -10 to -15 degrees around the area with wind chill near -30 degrees. It should warm up into the mid to upper teens on Monday.

The passage of the front will also bring a chance of some snow on Saturday.

There is also a storm due in Christmas week, actually right around Christmas eve. There are a lot of questions with this storm, and they wont be answered for a few days. If this storm takes a good path, and the timing is right we could see a snowstorm, and a white Christmas.

Right now highs on Christmas Day looks to be in the upper 30's

Alex Pickman