The Dexes / Winter Storm, Blizzard & Heavy Snow / 5585527
Eventdex · Winter Storm, Blizzard & Heavy Snow
WARREN
5585527
The record
Everything the slot carries, as measured. Series arrays are drawn above and listed here in full.
| Event typeevent_type | Heavy Snow |
|---|---|
| NOAA NCEI event IDncei_event_id | 5,585,527 |
| Episode IDepisode_id | 2,058,038 |
| Begin UTCbegin_utc | 1997-02-03T20:00:00+00:00 |
| End UTCend_utc | 1997-02-04T14:00:00+00:00 |
| Statestate | IOWA |
| County/zone typecz_type | Z |
| County/zone namecz_name | WARREN |
| Deaths directdeaths_direct | 0 |
| Deaths indirectdeaths_indirect | 0 |
| Injuries directinjuries_direct | 0 |
| Injuries indirectinjuries_indirect | 0 |
| Episode narrativeepisode_narrative | A low pressure system developed over the southern Rockies during the afternoon of the 2nd and advanced into the southern Plains during the day on the 3rd. There were two centers of low pressure on the afternoon of the 3rd. One was located over western Nebraska, with the second over northern Oklahoma. During the evening of the 3rd, the two merged over Missouri and moved as one unified low pressure northeastward into Illinois. Precipitation developed over western Iowa at first and took the form of mixed freezing rain, ice pellets, and snow. The mixture changed over to snow rather quickly. Farther east, the precipitation remained freezing rain for a longer period over south central and southeast Iowa. Though freezing rain fell for a length of time, disruption was minor with amounts of ace accumulation limited. It did cause some travel disruption, but was not of storm proportion. Much of the northwest half of Iowa fell under the deformation zone during the evening and nighttime hours of the 3rd into the morning of the 4th. Heavy snow broke out over southern and central Iowa and drifted north. Snow amounts were limited to 3 to 4 inches over the southwest and south central counties by the intrusion of the dry slot aloft. Farther north, heavy snow continued into the night. Unlike most of the snowfalls during the winter, this system produced a very wet snow. Snow rations in the central part of the state were around 9 to 1, while further north ratios were closer to 12 to 1. The wet snow was a blessing in that it was not able to drift around a great deal. Wind speeds during the storm were generally under 30 MPH which was not enough to cause a significant amount of blowing snow. The down side of the snow was it was heavy and sticky. It quickly coated trees and some power lines. There were reports of trees being downed by the wet snow and a few power lines. The heaviest band of snow was about four counties wide and extended from west central Iowa, through central Iowa into the northeast Counties. This band received a general 6 to 10 inch snowfall. Most of the snow fall in a little over 6 hours. Some of the heavier totals included 13 inches at Hubbard in Hardin County, 12 inches at Rock Falls in Cerro Gordo County. Twelve inches were also measured at Ogden, Schaller, Greene, and Storm Lake. Eleven inches fell inches in Boone County at Boone and at Carroll in Carroll County. As mentioned before, southeast of the heavy snow band, snowfall was generally in the 2 to 4 or 5 inch range. Northwest of the band, 4 to 6 inches of snow was recorded. Travel was disrupted across the entire state, though roads were not shut down. Many school districts and some businesses closed on the 4th due to poor road conditions. Following this storm, decisions were made in several of the northern counties of the state to stop plowing roads for the balance of the winter season. Snow plowing budgets were reported to be between 80% and 117% used as of early February. Areal surveys were made and the decision was made to cease plowing several thousand miles of county roads that were little used and that no houses were located along. |
| Yearyear | 1,997 |
Provenance
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Storage: spine