Winter Weather — Phillips, Kansas

2023-12-02 · Phillips, Kansas

Event narrative

Social media snowfall reports included 5.0 inches five miles north-northwest of Logan, and 4.5 roughly halfway between Phillipsburg and Prairie View.

Wider weather episode

Mainly between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. on this Saturday, a sneaky mesoscale snow band materialized along a narrow, southwest-northeast oriented axis from northwest Kansas into south central Nebraska, slicing across primarily the northwest half of Phillips County in this North Central Kansas area along the way. Based on limited ground-truth reports from social media along with NOHRSC analysis, this band dumped generally 2-5 inches of slushy/wet snow within northern and western Phillips County...including 5.0 five miles north-northwest of Logan, and 4.5 about halfway between Phillipsburg and Prairie View. Totals dropped off considerably in eastern/southern sections of Phillips County along with northwestern Smith County, with a CoCoRaHS observer six miles east of Phillipsburg receiving only 0.8. Although amounts in the heart of the band solidly exceeded forecast expectations of 1 or less, impacts were held in check, due in part to very light winds only around 5 MPH. Even where the heaviest amounts fell, snow cover did not last very long, with some of it melting already on the afternoon of the 2nd after precipitation ended (temperatures rose to 35-40 degrees F), and the remainder disappearing on the 3rd (high temps 45-50 F).

As for the meteorological background and event timing, and starting in the mid-upper levels, the main player was a broad shortwave trough that traversed the heart of the Central Plains from west-to-east during the calendar day of the 2nd. Looking into the lower levels, this mesoscale snow band was clearly tied to the development of a narrow stripe of frontogenesis particularly evident between 700-850 millibars. The final light snow bands/flurries of the day faded away within and/or departed North Central Kansas between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1146753. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.