A Rare Early Fall Snowstorm
September 29, 1985
Brief Overview
On September 29
1985, a storm system dumped heavy snow from western Kansas into much of Nebraska.
into Kansas,
Nebraska and western Iowa.
The heavy snow
in the Dodge City area of responsibility occurred in the far north
including Ellis, Trego, Lane, Scott and Ness
counties. Two
reports near Wakeeney(10 S of Collyer and 16 nne of Wakeeney) were
adjusted downward from the 11 to 12
inches
reported since the liquid water with the snow didn't match other
location with similar snow amounts. For example, the
coop observer
10 miles south of Collyer reported .80 of liquid with 11inches of snow.
Given that this was a very wet snow,
6 to 8 inch
amounts were probably more realistic.
Synoptic Sequence of
events
A cold upper
trough dropped southward into the northern and central Rockies from
September 27 to September 29, 1985.
Meanwhile, an
upper low over southern California opened up and was ejected ene across
the southern and central plains.
Frontogenesis
occurred between the southern and northern stream. Plenty of gulf
moisture was in place across the central plains.
The result was
a band of heavy snow across northwest Kansas into Nebraska.
500mb charts
00 UTC Sep 28 500mb
12 UTC Sep 28 500mb
00 UTC Sep 29 500mb
12 UTC Sep 29 500mb
850mb charts
00 UTC Sep 29 850mb
12 UTC Sep 29 850mb
700mb charts
00 UTC Sep 29 700mb
12 UTC Sep 29 700mb
250mb charts
00 UTC Sep 29 250mb
12 UTC Sep 29 250mb