Snow Event - February 4th-5th, 2004

February 4th & 5th Winter Weather Event

A strong storm system developed across the central and southern Rockies. Tremendous amounts of moisture and lift moved into the Missouri Ozarks and southeast Kansas from the afternoon of the 4th into the nighttime hours. Forecasts were for 6 to 8 inches of snow across west central and central Missouri with lesser amounts heading to the south and east. Warmer air was expected to move into the area at several thousand feet and turn the precipitation over to sleet and freezing rain over southern Missouri.

Convective precipitation moved into southern Missouri by mid evening and kept the atmosphere cooled enough to where the precipitation remained as snow. Snow rates in the thunderstorm were one to two inches per hour with total snow amounts of 6 to 8 inches in south central Missouri.

Further north and west, the warmer air did move in aloft and changed the precipitation over to mostly sleet with some freezing rain. The convection to the south also limited the amount of precipitation that was able to make it to the north.

On the 5th, a band of snow developed across eastern Kansas and western Missouri during the morning hours and continue to move across this area during the day. Additional snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches developed across west central Missouri.

Here is the final snow map from the winter event of the 4th and 5th.

Snow Accumulations