Winter Storm — Franklin, Kansas

2025-01-04 to 2025-01-05 · Franklin, Kansas

Event narrative

A long duration winter storm event hit the region with blizzard conditions just northwest of Franklin county but all of the area endured freezing drizzle and freezing rain Saturday afternoon and Saturday night January 4th and 5th before changing over to sleet and snow. Ice accumulations across Franklin County were estimated to be around one quarter of an inch with snowfall amounts of 4 to 10 inches. A CoCoRaHS observer measured 9.5 inches of snow 6.1 miles south of Pomona. Another CoCoRaHS observer reported 8.1 inches of snow 8.5 miles southwest of Baldwin City.

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 1222316. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.