From BMX excellent writeup also mentioning low level trough and PWAT's like I was mentioning last night
Models are now exhibiting some interesting trends with an Arctic
vortex moving southward over the Northern CONUS on Tuesday. All
guidance is suggesting a slower progression and more of the trough
axis digging farther west across the Plains. Though model QPF is
still not very impressive as the Arctic front moves through our
area, the slower and more amplified nature of the upper-level
trough may yield a greater window of opportunity for moisture
return. Also, thermal gradients are slowly tightening with each
model run, and there is now more evidence of slight warm advection
in the 850-500mb layer. An 850mb trough appears more pronounced
and appears to strengthen over the forecast area as indicated by
the ECMWF. The NAM and ECMWF also show a late surge of enhanced
PWATS across the southern half of the area Tuesday night into
Wednesday morning. If there is enough lift remaining as this
moisture meets with the Arctic front, snow could become enhanced.
All of these factors are suggest that we are teetering on the edge
of potentially significant impacts, especially with temperatures
well below freezing. Model parameterization as it pertains to QPF
output may not be handling the situation very well. In fact, the
GFS shows fully saturated profiles in locations that receive no
QPF. My hunch is that QPF will trend upward as we approach the
event as models begin to resolve crucial features, but this
requires the aforementioned trends to continue with future models
runs. For now we are showing snowfall amounts up to 1/2 inch
north and west of I-59, tapering to trace amounts farther south.
Temperatures in the 20s should yield snow ratios of 15:1, and a
slight increase in QPF could yield considerably more snowfall.
http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&product=AFD&issuedby=BMX