Blizzard warning issued for areas north of Kansas City; blowing snow possible in metro
The Kansas City area will be battling strong winds as a winter storm system moves into the area bringing the possibility of blizzard conditions to northwest Missouri and blowing snow to the metro, said FOX4 meteorologist Karli Ritter.
“We have a windy 24 to really 48 hours ahead of us with a wind advisory in effect for Kansas City through six o’clock tomorrow,” said Ritter, who provides weather updates to The Star.
“High wind warnings are in place for our neighbors off to the north and west, and tomorrow we are going to see our forecast changing quite a bit,” she said.
While temperatures will rise to the mid-40s this afternoon, they will begin to fall this evening as the storm system moves into the area bringing Kansas City its next round of winter weather, she said.
“Overnight tonight, we’ll start to see the colder air seeping in,” she said. “There could be some rain or snow mixing together today as the front pushes through, but the bigger story is the snow chance that’s going to be rolling in tomorrow, especially for north-central parts of Missouri.”
In the Kansas City metro, there will be some snow in Friday’s forecast from a “little spoke of energy that’s going to be rotating through,” she said. Then the snow will wind down tomorrow evening, pulling off to the east.
“As a result we’re going to see very windy conditions, blowing snow up to possibly a couple of inches,” she said. “And that’s why we have a winter weather advisory to our north with blizzard warnings in northwest Missouri as well.”
After the storm system passes through, the weather gets quieter heading into the weekend, she said.
The National Weather Service in Kansas City said snow is expected to start falling after 10 p.m. Thursday in northern Missouri, with the heaviest snowfall between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday north of the Missouri River.
The weather service is discouraging travel north of St. Joseph between midnight Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday because of expected limited visibility due to the possible blizzard and slick roads.
In its forecast guidance for those with temporary structures, including tents used for medical purposes, the weather service says strong northwest winds with sustained speeds of 25 to 30 mph are expected Thursday and Friday, along with gusts up to 50 to 55 mph.
Wind chills Friday morning are expected to be in the lower teens.
BEHIND THE STORY
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The Star produced this weather update in partnership with the local FOX4 television station. The station’s meteorologists create forecast videos multiple times a day for the newspaper to include in its weather reports.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 7:57 AM.
