National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Critical to Extremely Critical Fire Weather in the Southern Plains; Heavy Snow in the Northern Rockies

Gusty winds and very dry conditions will lead to a critical to extremely critical fire weather threat over portions of the Central and Southern Plains Thursday. Critical fire weather continues through Friday. Moderate to heavy mountain snow and strong winds will expand into the Northern Rockies Thursday, then into Colorado by Friday. Up to a foot of snow accumulation is possible. Read More >

Overview

A powerful mid latitude cyclone made landfall over the western United States and eventually made its way into the central and northern Plains over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. Freezing drizzle and some light snow began to fall across parts of western and central North Dakota on Thanksgiving evening, continuing through much of the day on Friday. As the brunt of the storm continued to slowly push north and east, snowfall rates increased across the south on Friday evening, with heavy snow developing across most of the southern half of the state late Friday night and through much of the day on Saturday. Further north and west, the atmosphere was slower to saturate and a prolonged period of light freezing rain and freezing drizzle continued through much of the event. When all was said and done, much of the south saw 6 to 15 inches of snowfall accumulation while portions of the west and north saw ice accumulations of over a quarter inch.

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Analyzed Snowfall Totals

 

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