A Rare Early Fall Snowstorm
October 8-9, 1970


Brief Overview                       
                       



                        On October 8-9  1970, a storm system dumped heavy snow from Northeast New Mexico and southeast Colorado, northeastward
                        into Kansas, Nebraska and western Iowa. Snowfall maps for southwest Kansas and adjacent areas and Nebraska/Iowa were
                        made from cooperative observer reports.

                        Snow totals from the Dodge City forecast area ranged from 6 to 11 inches along and just south of a line from Hugoton to Montezuma
                        to Larned.  Dodge City barely missed out on the heavy snow.  Parts of the northern and northeast Texas panhandle received 6 to 10 inches
                        of snow. Parts of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa received 5 to 9 inches of snow.

               
Synoptic Sequence of events 



                        An upper level low pressure center dropped sse from near Boise(00 UTC October 7) to northern AZ(12 UTC October 7), then moved
                        east to near Tucumcari(00 UTC October 8) to northwest or western Oklahoma by 12 UTC October 8 and finally to northeast Kansas
                         by 00 UTC October 9. The corresponding 850mb, 700mb and 250mb charts can be found below:



                        850mb maps


                        00 UTC Oct 7   850mb

                        12 UTC Oct 7   850mb

                        00 UTC Oct 8   850mb                   

                        12 UTC Oct 8   850mb

                        00 UTC Oct 9   850mb     


                        700mb charts


                        00 UTC Oct 7   700mb

                        12 UTC Oct 7   700mb

                        00 UTC Oct 8   700mb                   

                        12 UTC Oct 8   700mb

                        00 UTC Oct 9   700mb     



                        250mb charts
                       

                        12 UTC Oct 7   250mb

                        00 UTC Oct 8   250mb                   

                        12 UTC Oct 8   250mb

                        00 UTC Oct 9   250mb  


                       
                        I have heard people talk about how warm ground temperatures preclude snow accumulation. This case serves as an excellent
                        example of how heavy snow will accumulate even when temperatures have recently been warm. The high temperatures in October 1-8,
                       1970 for Dodge City, KS and Follette, TX were:

                        Dodge City:  85,84,74,85,85,88,67,34(snow) 1" snow
                        Follett, TX: 81,86,88,77,82,83,61,34(snow)   8" snow