Nebraska, 2001

Ice Storm in Nebraska, February 23 to 24, 2001

February 23 to 24, 2001 · NWS GID · 18 events in 18 counties and zones

The combination of freezing drizzle and freezing rain coated roads, trees and power lines with a solid layer of ice during the overnight hours of February 23rd. Untreated roads, which included most secondary highways and county roads, were literally impassable due to the ice.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 18 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
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
18

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 happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

The combination of freezing drizzle and freezing rain coated roads, trees and power lines with a solid layer of ice during the overnight hours of February 23rd. Untreated roads, which included most secondary highways and county roads, were literally impassable due to the ice. Sporadic, but brief, power outages were reported. Temperatures rose above 32 degrees the next morning and alleviated the ice buildup.

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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 23, 3:37 PM CST, 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 23, 3:37 PM CST, 23 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
337 PM CST FRI FEB 23 2001

UPPER AIR ANALYSIS AND WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATING POWERFUL TROUGH
DIGGING THROUGH THE SOUTHWEST UNITED STATES...WITH A CLOSED
CIRCULATION ALREADY EVIDENT IN CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA. COLD -30 500 MB
AIR WAS EMBEDDED WITHIN THIS CIRCULATION. CLASSIC S-SHAPED LEAF
PATTERN AND STRONG DIFFLUENCE NOTED OUT AHEAD OF THIS APPROACHING
SYSTEM. PER 850 ANALYSIS...7C/0C T/TD 850 MB AIR WAS MAKING ITS WAY
NORTHWARD TOWARD THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BORDER.

MIDDAY SURFACE ANALYSIS DEPICTING A COMPLEX SCENARIO. LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEM WAS NOTED IN SOUTHEAST COLORADO...WITH A WARM FRONT ALONG
THE KANSAS-OKLAHOMA BORDER. ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE AREA WAS OBSERVED IN
WESTERN COLORADO...WITH YET ANOTHER CIRCULATION IN SOUTHEAST
WYOMING. FROM THE LATTER...A WARM FRONT WAS POSITIONED ALONG THE
NEBRASKA-KANSAS BORDER.

AFTER TALKING WITH LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS AND RECEIVING
REPORTS OF QUARTER INCH ICE ACCUMULATIONS LATE THIS AFTERNOON...IN
ADDITION TO A COUPLE OF REPORTED POWER OUTAGES...HAVE OPTED TO GO
WITH AN ICE STORM WARNING FOR MUCH OF THE NEBRASKA CWA TONIGHT.
COPIOUS MOISTURE STILL FEEDING INTO THE REGION AND SURFACE
TEMPERATURES NOT REALLY GOING MUCH OF ANYWHERE...SO WITH 0.30
TO 0.40 INCH LIQUID EQUIVALENTS POSSIBLE...ICE ACCUMULATION LOOKS TO
CONTINUE TONIGHT FOR MUCH OF THE NEBRASKA CWA.

ENOUGH WARM AIR SHOULD BE IN PLACE BY TOMORROW MORNING TO KEEP MUCH
OF THE PRECIPITATION IN THE FORM OF RAIN SOUTH. BORDERLINE RA/FZRA
THREAT LOOKS TO BE IN NORTHERN/NORTHWESTERN MOST COUNTIES OF THE CWA.
DRY SLOT WORKING IN SHOULD SOMEWHAT LIMIT PRECIPITATION BY LATE
TOMORROW MORNING...THUS AN ADVISORY PROBABLY WOULDNT BE NEEDED FOR
THE FIRST PART OF THE DAY. A BREAK IF YOU WILL...BEFORE CHANGE OVER
TO SNOW WITH DEFORMATION BAND SNOW APPROACHING SATURDAY EVENING.
BEST SHOT FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW BY EARLY SUNDAY MORNING IS STILL
NORTH OF THE TRI-CITIES. INSTABILITY PARAMETERS WOULD SUGGEST THAT
MENTION OF THUNDER IS PRUDENT IN THE EASTERN ZONES ON SATURDAY...PER
STEEP LAPSE RATES...SURFACE BASED LIS AND APPROACHING COLD AIR POOL.

IN THE EXTENDED...PER 00Z MRF AND UKMET...GOOD SHOT FOR SNOW FROM
MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY AS A CLIPPER AND ASSOCIATED COLD
FRONT IS EXPECTED TO DROP THROUGH THE UPPER MIDWEST.

COORDINATED WITH LBF...OAX AND GLD.

.GID...ICE STORM WARNING TONIGHT ALL OF NEBRASKA CWA EXCEPT THOSE
       COUNTIES BORDERING KANSAS.

       FREEZING RAIN ADVISORY TONIGHT FOR NEBRASKA COUNTIES BORDERING
       KANSAS...AND PHILLIPS...SMITH AND JEWELL COUNTIES IN KANSAS.

       WINTER STORM WATCH SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY NIGHT FOR
       AREAS NORTH AND WEST OF GRAND ISLAND.

       WINTER STORM WATCH SATURDAY NIGHT FOR GRAND ISLAND...HASTINGS
       AND AREAS FURTHER TO THE EAST.

GUYER

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

18 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Ice Storm, Adams

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Adams forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.525, -98.501 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Buffalo

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Buffalo forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.855, -99.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Clay

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Clay forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.524, -98.051 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Dawson

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Dawson forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.870, -99.820 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Fillmore

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Fillmore forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.525, -97.596 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Gosper

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Gosper forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.515, -99.831 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Greeley

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Greeley forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.567, -98.521 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Hall

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Hall forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.873, -98.502 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Hamilton

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Hamilton forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.874, -98.023 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Howard

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Howard forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.220, -98.517 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Kearney

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Kearney forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.507, -98.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Merrick

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Merrick forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.170, -98.038 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Nance

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Nance forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.397, -97.992 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Phelps

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Phelps forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.511, -99.414 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Polk

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Polk forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.187, -97.568 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Sherman

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Sherman forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.221, -98.976 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Valley

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
Valley forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
41.567, -98.982 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, York

When
February 23, 4:00 PM CST to February 24, 12:00 PM CST
Where
York forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.873, -97.597 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Ice Storm
Freezing rain accumulating a quarter inch or more of ice, or less where it caused significant damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Nebraska in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, February 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: 5231042, 5231043, 5231044, 5231045, 5231046, 5231047, 5231048, 5231049, 5231050, 5231051, 5231052, 5231053, 5231054, 5231055, 5231056, 5231057, 5231349, 5231350.