Maps: Warm air to spare Kansas City area heavy snow

Warm air aloft will likely spare the Kansas City metropolitan area from heavy snows as a storm system moves through the Central Plains and Midwest early this week.

While Kansas City will likely see mostly rain, far northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, however, will not be as lucky. Six inches or more of snow is possible in those areas as the storm system moves through late Monday and Tuesday, according to an updated forecast from the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, Mo.

Highs on Monday are expected to be near 50 degrees across the Kansas City area. Lows are expected to be near 40 degrees Monday night. On Tuesday, the highs will return to the middle to upper 40s, before tumbling to the low to middle 20s Tuesday night.

Despite missing the brunt of the storm, the Kansas City metropolitan area could see some light snow Tuesday evening, but little accumulation is expected.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for Doniphan County in Kansas and Atchison, Nodaway, Holt and Andrew counties in Missouri, which have the best chance of seeing heavy snow.

Blowing snow may be an issue in those counties because strong and gusty winds will likely accompany the snowfall. The blowing snows could drop visibilities to near zero during the heaviest burst of snow, according to the winter storm watch.

The heaviest snow accumulations are expected north and west of a line from Lamoni, Iowa, to Manhattan, Kan.

Despite minimal impacts across the metro area, major travel impacts are likely north and west of the Kansas City area both Monday and Tuesday.

The National Weather Services’ Weather Prediction has issued a snowfall probability forecast for the 72-hours ending at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Here are interactive maps showing the probability of snowfall exceeding 4, 8 and 12 inches.

Weather Prediction Center 72-Hour Probabilities of Accumulating Snow

Greater than 4 inches

Greater than 8 inches

Greater than 12 inches

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 9:29 AM.