Blizzard — Atchison, Kansas

2018-11-25 · Atchison, Kansas

Event narrative

Blizzard conditions started after a few hours of lightly to moderately falling snow. Once the heavy snow arrived winds gusted up to 41 mph for nearly 4 hours, creating whiteout conditions, officially measured by the ASOS at nearby KMKC and KMCI as sub-quarter mile for that duration. Despite the heavy impacts from this system affecting Thanksgiving weekend return traffic, no serious injuries occurred from this event.

Wider weather episode

An extremely early season blizzard impacted eastern Kansas on November 25, 2018. The snowstorm was more indicative of a storm that would affect the area in the deep winter, as opposed to the middle to late part of autumn. The storm brought between 4 and 6 inches across northeast Kansas, including the Kansas City Metro area. Further separating this storm from other typical winter storms was the strong winds that accompanied the heavy snow. Most locations through the region experienced winds in excess of 35 mph at times during the storm. The strongest wind gusts came across northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri, where 50-60 mph winds were recorded in Wyandotte County and Leavenworth County (Kansas) and at Kansas City International Airport.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 793884. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.