A slow-moving storm front flowed through the tri-state region last week, depositing eight or more inches across the region and up to 16 inches where snowfall was locally heavy. Eleven inches fell south of Kimball in the 96 hours following the storm’s onset Wednesday evening. The laborious melting and measuring process showed 0.53 inches of liquid water in that 11 inches.



Though the storm brought relatively large snowfalls to the region, temperatures and winds were reasonably mild. Daytime highs during the storm ranged up into the low 40’s at times, and overnight lows fell only into the mid- to upper teens, with a Sunday night excursion to minus 7.



Livestock producers had to pay close attention to calving herds but the relatively benign storm caused little death loss. With new snow blanketing corn stalks and rangeland, producers who had been supplementing winter graze will need to begin feeding a more complete ration, and will likely have to continue until spring green-up.



Across the remainder of the Plains, conditions have been largely dry and cold. Wheat fields seem to be over-wintering well, and new fallen snow cover should aid the wheat in areas where plantingsw ave been exposed to drying winds.



In the western U.S. a band of rain and snow showers moved through southern California and the Southwest, but the Pacific Northwest has enjoyed moderate temperatures and little precipitation in the past week.



Solid snow cover continues to blanket the ground across the Corn Belt with light to moderate snowfall adding to winter’s accumulation this week. Parts of Indiana and Ohio experienced rainfall as temperatures climbed above freezing, but the western Corn Belt remained cold with temperatures plunging to zero in some areas.





For the complete article see the 02-26-2010 issue.

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