Boy, That Midwest Snowstorm Overperformed

As skies cleared in Iowa, southeastern South Dakota
and northeastern Nebraska Saturday, you could
see the deep snowcover in the region in this real
color satellite image. Click on the pic to make it bigger and easier to see.

Most forecasters thought a snowstorm sweeping across the Midwest would drop a large amount of snow, despite only a so-so supply of moisture to the system.

It would be an energetic low pressure system, so a large area would get 4 to 10 inches of snow, forecasters said.

Well, this was even more wild than that. This was one dump of snow from South Dakota to Michigan.

Snow totals were HUGE Friday and Saturday. Here's some for instances: There was 18 inches of snow in Tea, South Dakota, which is a little south of Sioux Falls. George, Iowa got 17 inches, Waterloo, Iowa picked up 12.7 inches.

Footville, Wisconsin got 17 inches and Howell, Michigan picked up 16.5 inches.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota had its seond snowiest November day on record with 7.2 inches. (The southern side of that city got a lot more, but this was the official reading at the airport) Chicago also had its second heaviest November snowstorm with 11.5 inches.

Chicago O'Hare airport briefly shut down amid zero visibility in very heavy snow and blowing snow Saturday afternoon.

In general, the Midwest often misses out on big snows during El Nino years. But as this storm demonstrates, snowstorms can still sneak into the region even when overall weather patterns don't favor it.

There's no rest for the weary out in the Midwest either. A new storm emerging from the Rocky Mountains threatens to spread a stripe of snow, sleet and freezing rain in parts of the region Wednesday and Thanksgiving.