February 6th ice storm with widespread thunder...

Overview

A very shallow Arctic cold front pushed through Kansas on February 5th. By very early February 6th warm air and moisture just above the surface started surging north. This set the stage for widespread freezing drizzle, freezing rain along with some sleet. Warm air above the Arctic airmass at the surface also provided a great setup for scattered storms, with many of them producing sleet and hail.

Photo by Michael G. Geiman - near Cassoday

Photos & Video
Environment

Photos & Video

		@NWSWichita Still some legit hailstones out here at the farm pic.twitter.com/5adimeofIH — HPCO Weather Info (Media) (@hpcoweather) February 7, 2019
Iola, KS	McPherson, KS	Harper county, KS

@NWSWichita Freezing sleet with thunder and lightning in Marion. Driveway and street covered in a couple of minutes. pic.twitter.com/XSagGzrydI
— Justin Wasmuth (@thewazzie) February 7, 2019

Currently experiencing some hail, sleet, lightning, and thunder - with 18 degree temps in Salina. So weird. #kswx @NWSWichita pic.twitter.com/ow1a3YsdUk
— Nate Thies (@Coach_Thies) February 7, 2019

Here's a video of ice pellets falling from the sky in Lucas, Kansas! Adam Baker said the precipitation reminded him of Dip n' Dots -- Thanks for sending this to us Adam! You can share your weather pics and videos with us here -->> https://t.co/PQnuuAEUkF pic.twitter.com/8DBCDT6v6U
— KSN News Wichita (@KSNNews) February 7, 2019

Reports(page 1)

Reports (page 2)

Reports (page 3)

Environment

Very shallow but extremely cold Arctic airmass was well established by February 5th. Moist warm advection just above the surface ramped up across the southern Plains ahead of an approaching upper shortwave. A wedge of warm air, well above freezing, around 2,000ft kept most of the precip initially as freezing drizzle or freezing rain. Two things started to allow us to see more sleet and snow: First, we started to get cold enough near the surface to see some sleet and snow. Second, we started to see thunder, which helped decrease the warm air aloft allowing for sleet and even some small hail.


Lightning around 9:30pm with surface temps overlaid	Regional radar around 9:30pm with warm front position	Warm front position with surface temps and dewpoints


Warm front position with elevated instability(MUCAPE)	Upper jet	Model sounding for southeast Kansas

Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.