The second official blizzard of the season pounded most of this six-county portion of North Central Kansas on this Sunday. The greatest impacts were realized within Smith, Osborne, Mitchell and especially Jewell counties, as generally 3-9 inches of snow whipped around in strong sustained north-northwest winds of 25-35 MPH that sometimes gusted over 40 MPH. Although Phillips and Rooks counties also endured wintry conditions, snowfall amounts there averaged no more than 1-3 inches and visibility reductions were not as extreme. Snow first started developing in southwest-to-northeast bands around midnight, after transitioning from a rain/sleet mix that fell on the evening of the 9th. By sunrise, 3-5 inches had fallen across much of the area with higher amounts to 6 inches reported at Burr Oak, which was positioned under a particularly heavy snow band especially between 4-9 AM CDT. Although most of the accumulating snow ended within Phillips and Rooks counties by mid-morning, steady light to moderate snow bands persisted in much of the other four counties well into the afternoon hours before finally tapering off to flurries and largely ending from south to north by 5 PM CDT. However, at least minor blowing snow issues continued well into the evening hours as sustained winds slowly eased below 20 MPH.
Per NWS cooperative observers, a few of the highest storm-total snow amounts included 9 at Burr Oak, 7 at Ionia and Jewell, 6 at Smith Center and Cawker City, and 5 at Beloit, Hunter and Covert. In contrast, locations farther west such as Logan only measured 0.5. On the synoptic scale aloft, this event was powered by the passage of a highly amplified and slightly positively tilted mid-upper trough that slowly lumbered across the Central United States. At 700 millibars, the heaviest snow bands concentrated under a pronounced deformation zone on the northwest periphery of a closed low/vort max that tracked from southwest Kansas on the evening of the 9th to southern Iowa by late evening on the 10th. At mid-afternoon on the 10th, surface maps confirmed that strong north winds and blizzard conditions were promoted by a tight pressure gradient between a 1004 millibar low over north central Missouri and a 1022 millibar ridge extending southward into northwest Nebraska. Enhancing the March misery across North Central Kansas were daytime temperatures only averaging in the mid-upper 20s, yielding wind chill values generally 7-15 degrees above zero.

Blizzard in SMITH, KANSAS
From 09-MAR-13 23:00:00 to 10-MAR-13 13:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Blizzard in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 10-MAR-13 05:00:00 to 10-MAR-13 13:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Blizzard in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 10-MAR-13 05:00:00 to 10-MAR-13 14:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Blizzard in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 10-MAR-13 05:00:00 to 10-MAR-13 14:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: AWOS

Winter Weather in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 09-MAR-13 23:00:00 to 10-MAR-13 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Winter Weather in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 09-MAR-13 23:00:00 to 10-MAR-13 06:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer