Blizzard — Lyon, Kansas

2025-01-05 · Lyon, Kansas

Event narrative

A mix of sources estimated between 4 and 8 inches of snow across Lyon County with the lowest across the south and highest across the north. Spotter estimated 6 inches 5 miles northwest of Reading. Emporia ASOS observation showed wind gusts in excess of 35 mph and visibilities of one quarter mile or less during the morning into afternoon hours when blizzard conditions existed across the county.

Local network of observations reported periods of visibility down below one quarter mile and wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph mainly in the 3am to 3pm time period on Sunday January 5th. Blizzard conditions existed across north central and northeast Kansas with anywhere from 10 to 20 inches of snow measured by the time the storm ended. All state and federal highway systems were considered closed by Sunday afternoon.

Wider weather episode

A winter storm brought a prolonged period of high impact winter weather to north central and northeast Kansas on January 4th and 5th. Light freezing drizzle and light freezing rain began Saturday January 4th which due to air temperatures and roadways temperatures in the 20s lead to treacherous driving conditions throughout the region. The freezing rain eventually transitioned to heavy snow on Sunday January 5th. Strong winds of 30-40 mph along with heavy snow created blizzard conditions across many areas on Sunday. Many areas received near record one day snowfall values of 10-18 inches and the majority of state highways became impassable and closed due to the snow and blowing snow. This was one of the highest impact storms across northeast Kansas in the past decade causing all state and interstate highways in northeast Kansas to be considered closed and impassable by Sunday afternoon.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1222315. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.