Action 3 News Weather Blog

Good evening!

The accumulating snow is winding down with an inch or less of additional accumulation overnight. Snow totals across Omaha should be in the 3 to 5 inch range by Thursday Morning with most of us getting 3 or 4.

Winds have already increased behind the snow and we will continue to see winds gusting to over 35mph through tomorrow. As temperatures drop to near zero tonight wind chill will be as cold as 30 below. That will also be the story through Friday as the core of the arctic air moves in. To compound things, blowing and drifting snow will continue with visibilities near zero at times. The winter storm warning continues through Thursday afternoon.

I arrived at work at 3:00 am today and saw the snow started to fly during Action 3 News Live This Morning right before 6:00 am.  It’s certainly here!

A WINTER STORM WARNING remains in effect until 6 pm Thursday for the Action 3 News coverage area, including the Omaha metro.  For your reference, here is the color-coded advisory map from the Omaha/Valley National Weather Service office website:

Current radar trends indicate snow will continue for the remainder of the day today, with the back edge of the snow shield (covering the Northern Plains) arriving into our area after midnight.  The snow is centered around an inverted trough of a surface low pressure system centered over eastern Wyoming.  The following map shows the surface features overlaid on a radar composite image, from NOAA’s Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (map valid 1330 UTC, or 7:30 am CST):

No need to change my initial snow forecast of 3″-6″ for our area, so I left my current snow forecast map untouched: 

The dry, powdery snow will stop accumulating after midnight, but a cold front (which was the inverted surface trough) will arrive early this afternoon, cause a wind shift and increase wind speeds between 20-40+ mph.  The end result will be falling temperatures into the single digits this afternoon and evening, on top of the blowing snow…yielding near whiteout conditions and bitterly cold wind chills.  We will also see drifting snow that will cause troublesome road conditions, perhaps leading to impassable roadways in the open country later tonight and tomorrow.  The National Weather Service is well-justified sustaining the Winter Storm Warning through 6 pm Thursday, since blowing snow and near zero visibility along with unhealthy wind chills colder than -20°F will remain a high threat through Thursday.

The main threat after the snow ends will be the continued dangerous wind chills ranging between -20°F and -40°F on Friday, mainly during the morning hours.

Be very careful, if you plan on being outdoors from this afternoon through Friday morning since we’re dealing with another blast of Arctic cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills.

Keep watching Action 3 News for more updates on this storm!

-C.T.