Our mild winter is likely coming to a hard stop this weekend.
An intense winter storm is set to bring several forms of wintry precipitation, including freezing rain and snow, along with potentially blizzard-like conditions.
The National Weather Service has expanded its original list of counties affected by winter storm watches to include all area counties. Greenwood County had previously been off the list of affected counties. In addition, NWS has extended the watches to begin at 9 am Saturday instead of noon. Watches currently end at 6 pm Sunday areawide.
The Thursday afternoon update also calls for more accumulation and more wind than the initial outlook issued Thursday morning. Instead of up to 0.20 inches of icing, followed by 3-plus inches of snowfall and northerly wind gusts up to 35 mph, NWS is now calling for up to 0.25 inches of sleet, 0.50 inches of ice accumulation and at least 4 inches of snow — all driven by wind gusts as high as 50 mph.
The forecast considerably increases the risk of power outages, given the combination of ice accumulation and wind speeds. The wind and snow combination could also well lead to blizzard conditions, which means heavy snow and wind reduce visibility to under 0.25 miles for three hours or longer. Blowing and drifting appears likely Sunday, when the snowfall is most expected.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates. If you have not signed up for KVOE social media alerts, go to Facebook@kvoenews,Instagram@kvoenews,YouTube@kvoenews nd X@kvoeam1400.
7 am Thursday: Winter storm watch this weekend for Lyon, most surrounding counties
So far, the KVOE listening area has enjoyed a relatively mild winter.
That changes this weekend as a significant winter storm could bring freezing precipitation and snow to the area.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for Lyon, Chase, Coffey, Morris, Osage and Wabaunsee counties from noon Saturday to 6 pm Sunday. Weather Service meteorologist Sarah Teefey is confident the area will see some sort of wintry precipitation Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening. At least for now, there isn’t as much confidence in exactly how much we’ll get, either overall or by precipitation type.
The Weather Service has issued its preliminary outlook for the weekend, which includes up to 0.20 inches of icing before 3-plus inches of snow and blowing and drifting conditions, thanks to northerly wind gusts up to 35 mph.
The current forecast says freezing drizzle could fall for much of Saturday afternoon and evening before transitioning to freezing rain for the overnight hours early Sunday. Snow could develop after sunrise and continue into Sunday evening.
After the storm departs, biting cold follows.
With the wintry precipitation this weekend and the cold for much of next week, Teefey encourages travelers to pay attention to the forecast and adjust if needed.
KVOE and KVOE.com will keep you posted.
