Name: Winter Storm in Nebraska, April 11, 2001
Start: 2001-04-11T05:00
End: 2001-04-11T16:00
Location: Nebraska

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $400,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Cheyenne, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 11, 2:15 AM MST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 11, 2:15 AM MST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
315 AM MDT WED APR 11 2001

CLASSIC SPRING SNOW STORM OVR PARTS OF THE FA.  88-D SHOWING BANDS
OF HEAVIER PCPN CONT TO ROTATE COUNTER CLOCKWISE INTO THE AREA.  HVY
SNOW AT TIMES IN CYS /5 INCHES ON THE GROUND/...BUT CHANGEOVER
SLOWER BELOW 5000 FEET.  MODELS HAVE BASICALLY COME IN LINE WITH A
GENERAL SOLUTION...W/ ETA/AVN COMPROMISE PROBABLY THE BEST FCST W/
THIS EVENT THE PAST 48HRS.  MID/UPR LOW OVR OVR SOUTH-CENTRAL CO WL
PUSH INTO ERN NEBRASKA BY THIS EVENING.  SWATH OF HEAVIER PCPN WL BE
JUST LEFT OF THE TRACK ...MAINLY FROM NE COLORADO INTO SRN
NEBRASKA.  IMPRESSIVE ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE ON THE 300K SFC THRU ERLY
AFTN OVR THE WRN PANHANDLE.  SATURATION IN THE LOWEST LAYERS...SO
WET BULBING NOT REALLY IN PLAY.  THERMAL TROF W/ H7 TEMPS ARND MINUS
9 DEGC SWINGS INTO THE PANHANDLE SHORTLY AFTER 12Z.  FREEZING LVL
SHOULD CONT TO COME DOWN...AND WOULD EXPECT PCPN TO CHANGEOVER TO
ALL SNOW ACRS THE PANHANDLE BY SUNRISE.  ACCUM/S MAY BE MORE
DIFFICULT OVR THIS AREA GIVEN A VERY WET GROUND AND TEMPS AOA 32
DEGF.  W/ WARNING ALREADY IN PLACE OVR THE AREA...DO NOT WANT TO
PULL A FLIP FLOP...SO WL LEAVE THE WARNING UP OVR SRN PARTS OF THE
PANHANDLE WHERE THE MSTR IS DEEPER.  WL DOWNGRADE WARNING TO AN
ADVISORY OVR THE NRN PANHANDLE WHERE SNOW ACCUM/S WL BE LIGHTER.
BIGGEST PROBLEM WL BE THE WIND...WHICH SHOULD GUST OVR 35 MPH AT
TIMES AS SFC LOW DEEPENS AND PULLS INTO NEBRASKA.

FURTHER WEST OVR WY...BEST UPWARD DYNAMICS DECR BY MID/LATE MORNING
...SO WL CARRY THE HIGH LITES THRU THE MORNING HOURS.  MOST OF THE
PCPN WL BE SOUTH OF CONVERSE/NIOBRARA COUNTIES...SO WL CANCEL
ADVISORY IN THOSE AREAS.  GIVEN THE 5 INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND
AT CYS...WL UP SNOW AMTS TO 6-10 INCHES.  WL ALSO UP MTNS TO 8-14
INCHES /ESP THE LAR RANGE/.  S/WV RIDGING MOVES INTO THE AREA
TONIGHT AND MOST OF THE PCPN SHOULD END.  THERE MAY BE A FEW SNW
SHWERS OVR WRN AREAS/MTNS OVERNIGHT AS FLOW BACKS TO THE SOUTHWEST
AHEAD OF NEXT TROF.  THIS TROF DAMPENS OUT QUITE A BIT AS IT MOVES
INTO THE AREA ON THU.  WL GO W/ MAINLY SCT POPS...EXCEPT LIKELY IN
THE MTNS.

PCPN CHANCES ON FRI LOOK LOWER THAN PREVIOUS RUNS W/ MORE ZONAL FLOW
OVER THE FA.  BECAUSE OF THIS...WL CHANGE LIKELY TO CHANCE
WORDING.

.CYS...
WY...WINTER STORM WARNING SOUTHEAST MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS THIS
     MORNING.      ZONES 63..64..66..67..69..70.
     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THIS MORNING SOUTH CENTRAL.
     ZONES 62..65.

NE...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TODAY.  ZONES 1>3.
     WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY.  ZONES 19>21..54..55.

JK
!

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Banner

When: April 11, 5:00 AM MST to 4:00 PM MST
Where: Banner forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 41.546, -103.710 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong winds and snow combined to produce near-blizzard conditions over much of the southern Nebraska Panhandle, resulting in power outages and many road closures.Interstate 80 was closed over all the panhandle with all roads out of Kimball and Sidney, NE, also closed. Many power poles were knocked down. Snow amounts of 6 to 8 inches were common.

Winter Storm, Cheyenne

When: April 11, 5:00 AM MST to 4:00 PM MST
Where: Cheyenne forecast zone
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 41.220, -102.995 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Kimball

When: April 11, 5:00 AM MST to 4:00 PM MST
Where: Kimball forecast zone
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 41.198, -103.715 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Nebraska in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, April 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5237210, 5237211, 5237212.