Winter Storm in Nebraska, January 28, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in Nebraska, January 28, 2001
Start: 2001-01-28T02:00
End: 2001-01-28T14:00
Location: Nebraska

January 28, 2001 · NWS OAX · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 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: 5

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 OAX wrote it up.

Snow, locally heavy, and freezing rain moved into extreme southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa early Sunday morning, 1/28/01, and continued into the afternoon hours. This winter weather event preceded another winter storm which hit most of the rest of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa later Sunday night and Monday. Although southeast Nebraska and far southwest Iowa received some additional snow and freezing rain from that second event, amounts were much less than what locations farther north received. For the Sunday event in extreme southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa, heavier snow amounts included 6 to 7 inches in the Auburn, Nebraska area, around 6 inches in Clarinda, Iowa and around 4 inches at Falls City.

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 Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 27, 2:30 PM CST, 11 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 2:30 PM CST, 11 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
230 PM CST SAT JAN 27 2001

MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM IS SNOW...SPCLY IN LTR PDS.  ETA AND AVN ARE
IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE DVLPMT OF A MAJOR CYCLONE THAT IS
XPCD TO DVLP SUN INTO MON.  BEFORE MAIN SHRTWV TROF ENERGY ROTS ARND
BASE OF CLOSED UPR LO ON MON...PIECES OF ENERGY GET EJECTED INTO KS
AND NEB STARTING TNGT INTO SUN.  THE MAIN FCST PROB FOR TNGT INTO
SUN IN THE SE IS WHETHER THERE CAN BE ENOUGH SATURATION IN THE
VERTICAL COLUMN TO HAVE SNOW.  ATTM...SFC HIGH IS LOCD OVR NERN KS
AND IS XPCD TO SHIFT SEWD OVRNGT.  ETA MDL SNDGS ALSO INDC THAT DRY
AIR MAY NOT ALLOW FOR A SATURATED COLUNN FOR SNW.  HWVR...ETA APPRS
TO BE A BIT DRY WITH MSTR.   WITH LTST MESOETA INDCG .1 TO .2 LIQUID
PRECIP TNGT WITH A SHARP CUTOFF FURTHER N...WL PUT A WNTR WX
ADVISORY LATE FOR MIXED PRECIP TNGT SRN ZNS.

FOR SUN...CHC OF MIXED PRECIP CONTS OVR SERN NEB WITH LGT SNW
FURTHER N. ONLY NERN NEB IS XPCD TO BE PRECIP FREE.  TEMPS SHUD BE
COOLER THAN NGM MOS DUE TO SNW CVR WITH TEMPS IN THE 20S.  AS FIRST
SHRTWV TROF LIFTS OUT DURG THE AFTN AND ERN NEB IS IN DRY SLOT
...PRECIP SHUD DMNSH.

MON...STG DYNAMICS WITH TROF LIFTING NEGLY MAY ALLOW FOR SGNFCT
SNOWFALL TO OCR PSBLY IN THE OAX CWA.  STG UPR JET CORE SHIFTS EWD
INTO WRN MO.  SFC LO DPNS AS IT TRACKS FM NRN AR TO SERN IA.  THERE
IS SOME QUESTION WHETHER PRECIP WILL BGN AS A MIXTURE OR ALL SNW.
AVN MDL INDCS MUCH WRM AIR WRAPPING ARND UPR LO.  ATTM...BELIEVE
THIS MAY BE OVRDONE BY AVN.  ATTM...IT APPRS THAT THE DEFORMATION ZN
MAY DVLP SOMEWHERE OVR SERN OR E CNTRL NEB.   SNOW LOOKS LIKE WILL
DVLP LATE MRNG AND CONT THUT THE DY AND NGT.  LGT SNW WL THEN DMNSH
ON TUE.  THERE MAY EVEN BE CNVTV SNOW WITH THIS SYS ON MON DUE TO
STEEP 700-300 LAPSE RATES.  WL NOT ISSUE WATCH ATTM FOR THE
EVENT...BUT IF LTST TREND OF MDLS CONTS...A WATCH WILL BE WARRANTED.
SPS WL BE ISSUED EMPHASIZING PSBLTY OF HVY SNW ON MON.

MON NGT...SNW CONTS DURG THE NGT...GRADUALLY TAPERING OFF ON TUE
MRNG.  MOST SNOW ON MON NGT WL BE IN DEFORMATION ZN ON BACK SIDE OF
LOW.

NEW EXTDD IS CLOSE TO PREVIOUS FCST.  WL KEEP TEMPS ON THE LOW SIDE
OF NCEP GUIDANCE DUE TO EXPCD CONSISTANT SNW CVR.

.OMA...WINTER WX ADVISORY LATE TNGT INTO TMW NEZ088>093
B SMITH

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Pawnee

When: January 28, 2:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Pawnee forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.132, -96.237 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Johnson

When: January 28, 2:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Johnson forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.393, -96.265 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Nemaha

When: January 28, 2:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Nemaha forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.388, -95.850 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Otoe

When: January 28, 2:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Otoe forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.649, -96.135 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Richardson

When: January 28, 2:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Richardson forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.125, -95.717 (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

Every storm in Nebraska in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, January 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: 5227773, 5227774, 5227775, 5227776, 5227777.