High-resolution visible satellite image of the narrow Kansas snow stripe on Feb. 26, 2020.
An intense band of snow in Kansas on Tuesday could be seen from aircraft and weather satellites as a bizarre pencil-thin strip of snowpack.
The snowband developed over western Nebraska and northern Kansas on Monday night and continued into Tuesday.
Radar loop from Feb. 24 - 25, 2020, showing the development of the narrow band of heavy snow over parts of Kansas.
There were a number of reports of over 6 inches of snow within that band, including a 13-inch total near Sylvan Grove, Kansas, and 9 inches in Canton, about 50 miles north of Wichita, according to the National Weather Service.
The heavy snow lead to a number of traffic accidents and prompted a shutdown of a stretch of Interstate 70 west of Salina, Kansas, Tuesday morning.
Once skies cleared Wednesday, the bizarre, small-scale nature of this snowband could be seen from space.
Satellite images showed the pencil-thin snow stripe virtually bisecting a part of the Sunflower State.
The stripe, stretching from northeast of Wichita into far northwest Kansas, was only 7 to 15 miles wide, according to estimates from NASA Worldview. The skinny nature of this single band is similar to the width of lake-effect snowbands in the Great Lakes.
Because the stripe was so narrow, its entire width could be seen from flights over Kansas on Wednesday.
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As temperatures warmed into the 30s and 40s Wednesday, you could see the snow stripe shrink from its edges inward in satellite loops as areas with less snow experienced complete melting first.
This GOES-East visible satellite loop shows the stripe of Kansas snow cover, denoted by black arrows, gradually shrunk on Feb. 26, 2020, as temperatures warmed above freezing.
This skinny snowband was caused by an upper-level area of low pressure, which focused a narrow zone of intensely lifting moist air in the atmosphere over Kansas.
These more intense snowbands are often embedded in larger areas of snow in more expansive snowstorms and are sometimes accompanied by thunder and lightning.
They can lead to much heavier snow totals over small distances, often complicating snowfall forecasts.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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