Winter Storm Blair: Blizzard To The Plains, Snow From The Rockies To The Mid-Atlantic (RECAP)

W​inter Storm Blair was the first coast-to-coast snowstorm of 2025, bringing heavy snow to Kansas City, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.

At least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm that shut down interstates, caused thousands of airport delays and racked up more than 350,000 power outages from Kansas, Missouri and Illinois into Virginia, Washington and Maryland.

D​ay by Day Summary

T​he cyclone that became Winter Storm Blair arrived in the Pacific Northwest late in the day on Friday, January 3, where it brought fresh snow to the Cascades and Sierra before moving inland and southeastward through the Rockies the following day.

B​efore the storm departed, it dropped more than 20 inches of fresh snow in the Wasatch Front in Utah. This was enough that avalanche crews triggered avalanches to protect people from further uncontrolled slides. Whether there were slides or not, driving through the Cottonwood Canyons saw stopped or very slow travel.

T​he storm matured and strengthened as it reached the Plains on January 4th. Flurries and drizzle picked up late in the day across Kansas and Missouri. Much of I-70 through Kansas became extremely slick and traffic came to a standstill. As much as 0.66 inches of ice accumulated in Central Kansas. Chasers saw several vehicles and a tractor trailer spin on an icy overpass in Wichita.

Freezing rain slowed travel in parts of Kansas and Missouri, including the Wichita and Kansas City metro areas where frozen roads caused crashes and slideoffs.

The Kansas City airport was temporarily closed late Saturday and parts of Interstate 70 were closed Saturday afternoon. The Kansas City Chiefs were delayed by the weather en route to their game. At least 11 inches of snow fell in town – It was the heaviest snowstorm in Kansas City since February 1993.

T​hunder accompanied a mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow in central Kansas early Sunday, January 5, including Wichita. By then snow had spread from Rapid City to Cincinnati with the most impressive snowfall occurring near Wichita, Kansas City and into St. Louis by the morning hours.

(​NEWS AS IT HAPPENED: January 5)

Blizzard criteria was reached in Topeka, Salina, Dodge City, Russell, and Gardner, Kansas; and in St. Joseph, Missouri. Kansas City experienced near-blizzard conditions. For some, this snow topped the icy conditions from the day before. Interstate 70 was closed in several Kansas counties.

Kansas City picked up 11 inches, making it the heaviest snowstorm there since February 1993. Topeka, Kansas, saw its fourth-largest two-day snowfall with a total of 14.1 inches.

T​he top storm total was 18 inches at three locations in northeast Kansas.

S​now, freezing rain, and sleet stretched eastward to the Ohio Valley late in the day, snarling plans and coating everything in Louisville, Cincinnati and Indianapolis. Snow began in the mid-Atlantic after nightfall as the Plains began to dig out.

T​he storm's messy precipitation led to interstate closures in Kentucky, including I-64 and I-75, and knocked out power to nearly 100,000 customers from Missouri to Kentucky. A portion of Interstate 70 was also closed in southern Illinois.

F​arther west, in Cincinnati, the storm total has hit 10.4 inches.

(​NEWS AS IT HAPPENED: January 6)

B​y the morning of January 6, Blair's snow stretched from southern Illinois to the Atlantic coast in the Delmarva and into New Jersey and Long Island. Ice continued to pour down in parts of Virginia and North Carolina. P​ower outages topped 350,000 customers from Texas to Virginia, but gradually fell through the day.

T​he Jacksonville Jaguars, like the Chiefs, were delayed by weather, but instead of being on their own turf, the Jaguars were stuck in Indianapolis after their game. Their flight back to Florida was delayed by an overtime and then seven hours in the snow. They finally arrived Monday morning. They joined more than 1,800 other flights delayed in Washington, Baltimore, St. Louis and Chicago, according to online tracker Flightaware.com.

B​altimore and Washington, D.C. both reported moderate to heavy snow with visibility of a half mile or less at times, and snow lasted in the mid-Atlantic through much of the day. Schools and offices were closed in DC and throughout the mid-Atlantic on Monday. Several school districts in the DC area canceled school again on Tuesday, but parts of Kentucky, including Louisville, saw school cancelations continue to at least Thursday, Jan. 9.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had officially tallied up 7.2 inches. Some locations in the Washington, D.C. to Baltimore region saw 4 to 10 inches of snowfall.

T​his new snow offered up another opportunity to continue a long-running tradition of snowball fights on Meridian Hill in DC. You can watch them here.

T​he last of Blair's snowflakes fell in New Jersey after sunset as the winter storm moved into the Atlantic.