An injection of cold air on the backside of a storm system will be potent enough to produce a swath of snow and slippery travel across the southern Plains through Tuesday.
The cold plunge is causing snow to fall in areas that started out the week with high temperatures in the 50s and 60s F. For example, Liberal, Kansas, had a high of 57 on Monday, but began reporting some sleet and snow with a temperature of 32 by early Tuesday morning.
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Snow (blue) and a wintry mix (pink and purple) are seen impacting portions of eastern Colorado, western Kansas and the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles early Tuesday morning, Jan. 28, 2020. |
“An area from the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma through western and central Kansas can expect slushy travel conditions through Tuesday morning,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said.
Precipitation is likely to begin in the form of rain in a majority of this swath. However, as temperatures drop to or below 32 F in the lower half of the atmosphere as the storm progresses, a transition to snow is likely.
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Snow is expected to come down at a quick enough pace to overcome the warmth stored up in the pavement from prior mild conditions, leading to difficult travel conditions with snow-covered roadways.
“As temperatures drop, slick areas are likely to develop on roadways and may hinder the Tuesday morning commute,” Gilbert said.
“Ice is one of the more dangerous winter travel hazards as it may be difficult to spot, especially at highway speeds,” she added.
A widespread swath of 1 to 3 inches of snow is likely from eastern Colorado through much of Kansas, the northern part of the Texas Panhandle and northwestern portions of Oklahoma.
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A pocket of 3- to 6-inch snowfall is forecast for southwestern Kansas and parts of the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 10 inches.
Dodge City and Liberal, Kansas, and Guymon and Woodward, Oklahoma, could lie within the zone of heaviest snowfall, presenting the greatest likelihood for shovels and plows.
Schools delays and cancellations, as well as other disruptions to daily routines are possible on Tuesday morning.
Around Oklahoma City, rain is expected to end as a period of snow and/or sleet late Tuesday or Tuesday night. There can be a slushy accumulation mainly on cars, grass and elevated surfaces, with any plowable snow expected to stay just north and west of the city.
Any wet areas on roads and sidewalks that are not dried by a gusty breeze whipping in with the storm could turn icy as temperatures plunge below freezing on Tuesday night.
As the storm unleashes drenching rain along the Gulf coast states Tuesday night into Wednesday, the wintry side of the storm may lose a bit of its punch during this timeframe.
Still, portions of eastern Kansas, northern Arkansas and much of Missouri could experience some light snow or a wintry mix around the middle of the week. This includes around Kansas City, Springfield and perhaps St. Louis, Missouri.
The storm is expected to run out of cold air by the time as it swings through the Southeast Wednesday into Thursday. Any snow will likely be confined to the highest elevations of the southern Appalachians by this point.
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