As of this afternoon, this is the latest report:
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THURSDAY.
* TIMING... PERIODS OF LIGHT SNOW AND EVEN SOME FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL AFFECT THE AREA THIS EVENING... WITH PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW AND SLEET DEVELOPING LATE TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING. SOME FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE CLOSER TO THE OKLAHOMA BORDER ON THURSDAY MORNING.
* SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATION... TOTALS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH THE 12 TO 18 INCH RANGE ACROSS CENTRAL KANSAS BY THURSDAY EVENING. STORM TOTALS ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS WILL VARY GREATLY FROM NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA... RANGING FROM 12 TO 15 INCHES IN THE HUTCHINSON AND NEWTON AREAS... TO 6 TO 8 INCHES NEAR THE OKLAHOMA BORDER. STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL ACROSS GREATER WICHITA IS EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 9 TO 13 INCHES BY THURSDAY EVENING.
* ICE ACCUMULATIONS... EXCEEDING ONE-QUARTER INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR THE OKLAHOMA BORDER COUNTIES OF SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS... WITH LIGHTER ACCUMULATIONS FURTHER NORTH.
Ah, so my town of Newton finally gets a mention by name in the warning reports.
It is currently 3:58 PM. For the moment, it has stopped snowing -- it slowed down to flurries a little more than an hour ago, and then finally tapered off completely.
This is, as they're calling it, the "first wave," the outer edges of a storm that's going to completely smack the area tonight and tomorrow, as you can see in the warning above.
I got up around 11AM, and there was already a little over two inches on the ground, with it coming down fast. By 1PM, there were four, with the winds roaring and creating near white-out conditions. People are getting into accidents all over the place, as evidenced by the constant stream of ambulance sirens I heard earlier this afternoon. The roads, houses, and other structures are covered the thickest, with the grass slowly picking up more accumulation with each squall. This is a photo taken out my front window at 2PM:
Not too bad yet, no, but the most snow I've seen here at the house (already) in the past year or so. It's hard to see in the photo, but it was stil snowing when I took said picture. Note how my neighbors across the street have already shoveled their driveway out. Hah. Hahahah. Hah.
By the time I was awake enough to check my email, I saw that the university had already canceled all of its evening classes, starting at 4:30 PM. This impressed me; I wasn't expecting this, though I probably should have. If the evening classes are canceled, it's a good bet that the entire university will be closed tomorrow -- especially if Wichita gets that 9 to 13 inches they're predicting. This, of course, doesn't affect me anyhow -- when I saw how hard it was coming down earlier, coupled with the fact that this isn't even the worst part of the storm, it totally solidified my decision to cancel my classes tomorrow. I'm not going out in that, and definitely not going out in it when it's 3x or 4x worse than it is now once the main storm hits tonight. It's a good bet that the university will close. I'd put money on it, actually.
As for me, well, as I mentioned before, the car is in the garage and I have more than enough food and other necessities to wait until all of this shit blows over and melts off.
Here's the email I just sent to my students:
Okay, folks, well, here's the message you've been waiting for (or were expecting with great anticipation) from me: both of my classes tomorrow are cancelled. I already have several inches of grody snow and ice here in Newton, with a storm total of 12-15 inches expected for up here when it's all said and done. Therefore, even if the university remains open tomorrow, I'm not going to risk my life (or, by proxy, any of yours) by coming in, and you all get an extra day off from English 102.My friend Zedral, who was a GTA at WVU when we were both students there, told me that she wasn't allowed to cancel class as a GTA or it would lead to immediate revocation of her assistantship -- they always had to find someone to "cover" for them. This is absolutely stunning to me, especially as the weather in West Virginia is much, much worse in the winter than it is here, and the roads there get much more treacherous much more quickly. When I was an undergrad, I also had GTAs cancel class all the time -- the sociology and anthropology GTAs were notorious for it. Maybe it was just Zedral's department, or something.
So, class, especially those of you in workshop group 1: hang tight. I'll adjust the schedule and timeline for the remainder of this unit, will sort out what we'll do for workshop week over the course of the next few days, and will let you know here what our plan of attack will be as soon as I can get it all plotted out.
I also encourage you to keep checking the main [school] website, as there's a good chance the university will be closed tomorrow. The NWS is calling for 9-13 inches over the next 24 hours or so in Wichita, and as they've already cancelled classes for the rest of this evening, there is a strong possibility the administration will do the same for tomorrow. Be sure to watch your emails for other updates, as well -- I'm sure that I'm not the only professor who will cancel class tomorrow if the university doesn't close.
Hang in there and stay warm, folks!
Mr. [Me]
I also tend to have a good rapport with my students, as you can see in my tone with the message above; for example, yesterday, when I told them of my engagement, my second class gave me a standing ovation with applause -- which I was absolutely not expecting at all. It was a bit jarring, actually, though in a good way.
Anyway.
I've mentioned before that people in this state get a little nutty when the weather goes south, and this storm is no exception. The local news channels are running around-the-clock coverage of school closings for tomorrow (read: 90% of everything in this area already) and latest snowfall projections, which haven't been changing that much from before unless they're updating them to say we'll get more than previously thought. For people in Kansas, you'd think a snowstorm was the end of the world. Our state's governor, Sam Brownback, has already declared a state of emergency for all counties in the state -- hours upon hours before the bulk of the storm actually hits us. I don't think this is a bad idea, actually, because it puts all of the road crews and the like on alert, but still.
As much as I actually have a bit of time to watch if I wanted to, I'm avoiding the television for the foreseeable future. I'd rather not be bombarded with hype and fearmongering. Yes, it's going to snow. Yes, schools are probably going to be closed. No, it's not going to be any fun. But eh. That's weather, that's life. It happens. I may be a "weather nerd," but I can get all the information I need online.
As it comes in, of course, I'll keep you all informed of any updates and my own status here (as long as I have power, anyway). Woo! Snow daaaay!
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