January 2025 Storm Chasing Recap

This major winter storm would present a challenge in how best to maximize the documentation of the highest impacts, while still being able to make it eastward for the next day. I decided to stay on the southern end of the critical temperatures for icing (29°F or below) so that I could simply move south into above-freezing temperatures that would be safer to reposition east in. I left St. Louis at 10PM Friday night and made it to McPherson, Kansas at daybreak as the first rounds of freezing drizzle began overspreading the area. I eventually moved south into the northern Wichita metro where temperatures had fallen below critical, icing bridges from the heavier freezing rain. I captured this footage at Park City:

I moved east through El Dorado to Iola, but encountered to further issues. I made the planned move south to I-44 in Joplin, and ended the night at Marshfield, MO.

Started the day in Marshfield, MO at 1AM. I dropped the 12 miles south to use Highway 61 across the southern part of the state to safely get to the zone of the highest expected icing totals in the Cape Girardeau area. Upon finding little icing there, I moved north to Perryville where I found more substantial ice accretions of nearly 1/2 inch, breaking tree branches across the town.