KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued by the National Weather Service.
Good morning Kansas City and surrounding communities. We have a rare October winter storm heading our way. Our weather team at 41 Action News is monitoring this closely. There is one computer model showing much more significant snow than the other models, and it has our attention.
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for tonight at 10 p.m. through Thursday morning at 4 a.m. The storm will begin tonight, and the amount of snow is likely to vary significantly from location to location. Some spots may see more than 4" of snow, while others barely have a dusting. The lower amounts are more likely over the southern KC metro area and southward, with the higher amounts more likely from the north side of the KC metro area, Gladstone and Liberty northward. This line will set up and we just have to identify where this rain/snow line develops. When a rain/snow line sets up, it creates major challenges on the prediction of snowfall amounts, and we just happen to be near this likely developing line tonight and Wednesday.
Concerns: If amounts stay under 3", then the chance of power outages is low. If amounts go anywhere near or above 3" of snow, the weight of the snow will begin bending trees with all of the leaves still on them. The leaves just started falling. This is one thing we will be monitoring closely.
For today, expect it to stay dry. The chance of rain and snow will increase after sunset, or after around 8 PM tonight. We have time to get new data in and update this forecast.
Trick or Treat? The forecast for Halloween is for this storm to be long gone by Thursday afternoon. This is good news for the kids. They will likely need a coat, but it looks dry. The question is, will there be snow on the pumpkin?
At Kansas City International Airport, 0.3" of snow officially fell yesterday. We will be adding to this total in the next 36 hours. Right now, we are predicting 1 to 3 inches of snow near KC.
Have a great day and stay with 41 Action News, and we'll keep you advised.
