Commute time... do you know where your scraper is?

Roads aren't terrible so far tonight (5pm). Many areas experienced some heavy sleet as well as "thundersleet" mixed with a bit of snow during the afternoon. This quickly changed roads from wet, to slushy. Temperatures will continue to drop as we head through the evening, which could make many of those roadways freeze. Keep in mind, roads are usually in good shape until the air temperature reaches 28 degrees. Then slippery spots start to appear, and at 26 degrees, roads begin to freeze.

Luckily, because we have seen quite a bit of sleet mixed in with the rain and temperatures above 28 degrees, road treatments have actually done fairly well so far. Also, the heaviest of the freezing rain and sleet appears to have shifted southeast of Kansas City. This should allow road crews to make a decent assault on things this evening.

THEN... attention turns toward Thursday afternoon and night. Our storm system is stronger than first anticipated, and now appears to be taking a track a bit further north. Of the two computer models I've had a chance to look at briefly, both have pinpointed a significant band of snow to form from Wichita to Ft. Scott, to Sedalia. Significant in the vicinity of 6-8 inches of snow or more very quickly Thursday afternoon and night in these areas. 4-6 inches in Kansas City. Keep in mind this is a FIRST LOOK. The air is going to be very cold, which would bump rain/snow equivilants up to 1:15 or 1:20. This could result in much more than those values. I'll give an in-depth look at things for the podcast update later tonight. FYI... this should go up between 11:30 and midnight.

Be safe out there if you plan to be on the roads. Make sure you listen to the podcast late tonight or tomorrow morning for the latest on upcoming snow chances.