The first true near-blizzard to blizzard conditions of the 2018-19 winter season struck mainly Phillips and Rooks counties in western portions of North Central Kansas on this Thursday, causing not only many of the usual winter storm disruptions, but also snarling post-Christmas travel. Snow totals themselves were not very impressive, with reports from a combination of NWS cooperative observers and CoCoRaHS observers including: 2.5 at Logan, 2.2 east of Phillipsburg and 1.3 near Plainville. However, snowfall analysis maps and satellite imagery strongly suggest that far northwestern Phillips County likely received at least 3-4. Farther east, most of the remainder of this six-county area saw well under 1, if hardly any at all. That being said, winds were certainly a major factor, as much of the 27th featured sustained north-northwest speeds of 25-35 MPH and frequent gusts of 40-50 MPH, resulting in considerable blowing snow and reducing visibilities to well-under one mile at times.
Breaking down event timing, and initially backing up a bit, this storm started off very similar to the one four weeks prior, and with something fairly unusual for this time of year: soaking winter rain! In fact, Wednesday the 26th featured widespread rainfall of 1-2 across all of North Central Kansas. As colder air invaded late that night, rain quickly changed to snow, with at least near-blizzard conditions already reported by sunrise in Phillips/Rooks counties. However, the majority of accumulating snow and overall-worst conditions focused between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., with very little snow thereafter. In the mid-upper levels, the primary player was a powerful, large scale trough, with its center tracking from NM on the 26th, to western KS by daybreak on the 27th, then northward across eastern NE into MN during the afternoon and evening. The associated strong surface low pressure system started the morning of the 27th over central Kansas (pressure around 996 millibars), before steadily marching to around Kansas City by mid-day and the IA/MN border by evening. On a climate-related side note, this event put an exclamation point on an incredibly wet December, as most of North Central Kansas received between 2.50-3.50 of precipitation for the month, or generally 300-500% of normal! For most official stations, it was a Top-3 wettest December on record, and was the outright-wettest at places such as Beloit.

Blizzard in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 27-DEC-18 05:00:00 to 27-DEC-18 14:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm total snowfall of 2.5 inches occurred in Logan (NWS coop observer) and 2.2 inches occurred six miles east of Phillipsburg (CoCoRaHS). Wind gusts frequently reached 40 to 50 mph during the snow, frequently bringing visibility down to a quarter mile or less.

Winter Weather in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 27-DEC-18 05:00:00 to 27-DEC-18 14:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm total snowfall of 1.3 inches was measured near Plainville, reported by a cooperative observer. Wind gusts frequently reached 35 to 45 mph during the snow, frequently bringing visibility down one mile or less.