Blizzard — Russell, Kansas

2025-03-19 · Russell, Kansas

Event narrative

The ASOS site at Russell Municipal Airport began reporting blizzard conditions at around 5 AM CDT. This is supported by a KWCH storm chaser in Dorrance. Social media videos showed near whiteout conditions on I-70 during the morning hours, and KDOT closed I-70 from Salina and points westward. End time around 12 PM CDT was estimated from surrounding observations as the ASOS site was knocked offline due to a power outage.

Wider weather episode

Another very strong system impacted a large portions of the High Plains and Central Plains from the early morning hours to the early afternoon hours of March 19. Strong southerly winds occurred ahead of a strong approaching cold front during the early morning hours across portions of south-central and southeast Kansas. Then a strong cold front and strong northerly winds that accompanied it moved into central Kansas later that morning. These strong winds continued to spread southward into south-central Kansas. Meanwhile, moderate to heavy snow developed across portions of western and central Kansas and produced blizzard conditions during much of the morning and early afternoon hours.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1249270. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.