Two rounds of snow - and a potential bigger storm next week

It seems unfair to have such a fantastic spring tease last weekend and then we get slammed back to winter with cold and snow. But there isn't anything we can do to change it and February can be a very cold month. Groundhog said early spring, but as I mentioned in the last post, I expect this to be a cold month.

Round #1 of snow - today (Tuesday):

This will be a light and powdery snow for most of the area because the temperatures will be so cold. It definitely won't be the slushy stuff we had the last couple of weeks. North winds will be blowing the snow around, and we should be (after dark anyway) tapering down to light flurries. Heaviest accumulations (up to 3 inches in spots) will mostly be across central and western Kansas.

Round #2 - arriving Wednesday:

This wave of snow should come up from the south as a large storm organizes south in Texas and Oklahoma, then begins to move to the northeast. Kansas will end up on the west side of it all, but as it looks now, we should be close enough to catch some accumulations. Heaviest amounts will end up in southeast Kansas, but even areas along the Turnpike may catch an inch or two.

Chiefs Parade in KC on Wednesday - looks snowy

Dress warm & allow extra time getting around because snow will cover the KC metro area throughout the afternoon. They are expecting over a million people to attend, so traffic could be a headache, especially with some snow coming down at a pretty good clip Wednesday afternoon.

Are we headed for an even bigger storm next week?
It looks like something is trying to form around the middle of next week. This could be a Wednesday or Thursday (Feb. 12-13) storm.  We have several sets of data that we rely on to make our forecasts, but two that get the most traction are the GFS and European models and they are suggesting a storm. The magnitude and details aren't very clear yet, but here's a snapshot of what we are looking at toward the middle of the week. If that system can organize and move up through our area, we'll be looking at widespread rain and snow. We are still a week away, so let's see what future model runs show as we get closer.