Winter Storm: Feb. 14 Recap

Snowfall over the weekend held a few surprises, the biggest coming with a 'snow squall' in the Kansas City area that led to multiple pileups on interstates within the metro. These snow squalls were caused by strong lapse rates and elevated instability that was collocated with the best dendritic growth zone (-10 to -20C). This allowed for rapid snowfall associated with strong northwest winds, creating near-zero visibility for a short period (~15 minutes) across several areas near the Kansas City metro. For a little more background and a few graphics, check out the link below from Kansas City NWS and for a more meteorological review check out the blog post by Jon Davies:

Kansas City Valentine's Day Snow Squall

Jon Davies Snow Squall Blog Post


The heaviest bands of snowfall occurred across parts of eastern Nebraska, western/central Iowa and into northeast Missouri and other areas along the Mississippi River. The upper level low made its' turn east and allowed the heaviest snowfall to occur into parts of Illinois and Indiana. A few maps of the snowfall totals from this weekend are also posted below:

Omaha NWS Sunday Snowfall Image

St. Louis NWS Sunday-Monday Snowfall Image

Springfield NWS Regional Snowfall Map