State of Disaster Emergency Declared in Kansas

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EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC EVENTS
STATE OF DISASTER EMERGENCY
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Kansas declared a disaster area as deadly snow storm threatens two-thirds of the U.S.

Gov. Brownback has signed a state of disaster emergency declaration for Kansas for the entire state in response to a deadly storm, which continues to batter Kansas as it moves through the state.

“We still have some of the most difficult conditions ahead of us as the snowfall is followed by heavy winds and bitterly cold temperatures,” said Brownback. “Travel will remain treacherous and temperatures will be dangerously cold.”

National Weather Service (NWS) has issued multiple hazard warnings for about two-thirds of the United States as more than 150 million people are impacted by the storm.

Major Winter Storm Continues to Move East

A major winter storm will continue to move east into Wednesday with multiple hazards including: heavy snow from central Kansas through the Ohio Valley and Northeast; heavy ice accumulation from Arkansas into the Ohio River Valley and Mid-Atlantic; and heavy rainfall with possible flooding for parts of the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys.

U.S. Weather Hazards Map (Hazmap)  for Wednesday, February 5, 2014. Issued at 02:44UTC. Source: NWS. UPDATE

• A major winter storm moving across the Midwest eastward through the Northeast followed by another plunge of Arctic air [polar vortex III] into the heart of the U.S.

• Flash flooding in the Tennessee Valley could occur due to heavy rain can  ahead of a cold front

• Another winter storm is shaping up in the center of the nation and will spread eastward into the Northeast during the short-range forecast period.

• A massive surge of frigid air from the Arctic that is following this storm system will lower temperatures by more than 40 degrees below normal in the High Plains.

“Kansas City and eastern Kansas is going to get a lot of snow,” said a meteorologist at the NWS Storm Prediction Center. “It’s remarkable weather. Winter is entrenched. It doesn’t appear to be wanting to go anywhere.”

A Foot of Snow in Kansas: “Unprecedented Event”

Kansas City had received about 8 inches of snow by late Tuesday, as forecasters  warned of up to a foot of snow across  more than two dozen states that are so far impacted by the deadly storm.

This event is unprecedented because only about 3 percent of the winter storms that hit Kansas City dump more than 6 inches of snow, Reuters reported another NWS meteorologist as saying.

At least two people were killed on Tuesday in a weather-related car crash in Kansas, one of hundreds of road collisions across Kansas and Missouri,  officials said.

Flight Cancellation and Delays

More than 5,000 flights into, within, or out of the United States have been canceled since Sunday, and at least 14,000 others delayed (source flight aware.com), impacting an estimated 2 million air travelers.

Related Links

• State of Emergency Declared in New Jersey on February 4, 2014