Winter Storm in Nebraska, January 3 to 4, 2004

Name: Winter Storm in Nebraska, January 3 to 4, 2004
Start: 2004-01-03T18:00
End: 2004-01-04T09:00
Location: Nebraska

January 3 to 4, 2004 · NWS GID · 14 events in 14 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 14 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: 14

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.

After a balmy start to the year with temperatures in the 60s on New Year's Day, the region quickly plummeted into winter with the first widespread snowfall. The snow fell over the course of about 24 hours and in two separate bursts. The first snow swath fell from north of Minden to about York by midday on the 3rd. Snow then redeveloped by evening and continued overnight before ending by noon on the 4th. A wide swath of 6 to 8 inches fell along and either side of Interstate 80. Trumbull reported 9 inches of snow, Hastings about 8 inches, and Henderson 6 to 8 inches.In the case of areas west of Holdrege, this snow was the first significant precipitation since early October. Specifically, Oxford had received precipitation on only 8 days since October 1st and just a trace during the month of December. So the 6 inches of fresh snow was certainly a welcome site in Oxford and other areas of drought stricken south-central Nebraska.Once the snow had stopped, the coldest air of the season settled across the area. Temperatures fell well below zero by the 6th. Minden dropped to 19 degrees below zero and Lexington bottomed out at 26 degrees below zero.

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 Jan 3, 1:24 PM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 3, 1:24 PM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
124 PM CST SAT JAN 3 2004

.DISCUSSION...MESOSCALE DEVELOPMENTS THIS AFTN PROMPTING AN UPGRADE
OF ADVISORY AREA OVR SC NEB TO A WARNING. COLD CONVEYOR BELT
DEVELOPMENT WELL UNDERWAY PER PROFILERS AND TAPPING INTO MUCH
BETTER LL MSTR OUT E. 700 MB FRONTOGENESIS ANCHORED ALG A LINE FM
YUMA COUNTY CO TO YORK CO NEB W/STOUT ORTHOGONAL FLW AT 700MB NOTED
AT RWD AHD OF EJECTING LEAD IMPULSE OVR NE CO. EVOLUTION THIS AM
SHOWS SOME UNDERESTIMATION OF 12Z MODELS ESP CONSIDERING 0 QPF UNTIL
AFT 00Z. IN ANY CASE...INCREASING LARGE SCALE ASCENT AHD OF EMERGING
MAIN UPR TROF...FVRBL DENDRITIC GROWTH LAYER...INCREASING MID LVL
DEFORMATION AS MID LVL CIRCULATION PINCHES OFF OVR NRN KS...AND
PLUME OF STEEP MID LVL LAPSE RATES ADVTG OUT IN ASSOCN/W SW ITSELF
ALL POINT TO SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TONIGHT ALG A HDE TO JYR
LINE. DEFINITELY A CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL WITHIN DEFORMATION ZONE
OVERNIGHT AND HOPE 8 INCH MENTION IN WARNING COVERS IT WHERE MORNING
SNOWFALL FELL (NEARLY 3 INCHES HERE). 06Z MESOETA WHICH NAILED
SNOWBAND THIS MORNING INDICATED EVEN A BIT MORE JUST SOUTH OF I-80.
OTHERWISE EXPECT SNOWFALL TO TAPER TO FLURRIES SUN AM AND ARCTIC
WEDGE OVR THE DAKOTAS GETS PULLED S BEHIND DEPARTING UPR TROF SUN
NIGHT AND MONDAY. HAVE CONTINUED TRENDING COLDER INTO MON WHICH MAY
NOT BE ENOUGH GIVEN SNOWFALL TO OCCUR BEFORE HAND AND OBSERVED TEMPS
IN NDAK. WILL CONT MENTION OF FLURRIES W/ARRIVAL OF ARCTIC BOUNDARY
LATE SUN NIGHT AND MAINLY MON AM.

OTHERWISE LONG TERM PROBLEMS RELEGATED TO RTN WAA BY WED AND
POTENTIAL FOR LIGHT SNOW THEN AND DEGREE OF TEMP MODERATION OVR
MODIFYING ARCTIC WEDGE AND NEW SNOW COVER. POPS WERE REMOVED YDA FOR
WED AND WILL AVOID FLIP FLOPPING BACK AT THE MOMENT GIVEN SOME
TIMING UNCERTAINTIES. AS FOR TEMPS...WILL REMAIN PESSIMISTIC
W/PROGGED WARMUP AS GOING GRIDS REFLECT.

THANKS TO SURROUNDING WFOS FOR COORD THIS AFTN.

&&

.GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...NONE.
KS...NONE.

&&

T

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 3, 4:27 PM CST, 1 hour 33 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
427 PM CST SAT JAN 3 2004

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-041200-
ADAMS-BUFFALO-CLAY-DAWSON-FILLMORE-FRANKLIN-FURNAS-GOSPER-GREELEY-
HALL-HAMILTON-HARLAN-HOWARD-JEWELL-KEARNEY-MERRICK-MITCHELL-NANCE-
NUCKOLLS-OSBORNE-PHELPS-PHILLIPS-POLK-ROOKS-SHERMAN-SMITH-THAYER-
VALLEY-WEBSTER-YORK-
427 PM CST SAT JAN 3 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT OVER A PORTION OF SOUTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA UNTIL NOON SUNDAY...WITH A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN
EFFECT UNTIL NOON SUNDAY FOR THE REST OF THE AREA. THE CHANCE FOR
ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING AS A STORM
SYSTEM MOVES OFF THE ROCKIES AND ACROSS THE PLAINS.

IT APPEARS THAT THE MOST SNOW WILL FALL IN AN AREA FROM BEAVER CITY
TO POLK. THIS WOULD INCLUDE THE TRI CITIES AND YORK. SNOW INTENSITY
SHOULD PICK UP LATER THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE OVERNIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

DRAMATICALLY COLDER TEMPERATURES WILL AFFECT THE AREA THROUGH THE
WEEKEND WITH HIGHS ON SUNDAY CHANGING LITTLE THROUGH THE DAY. WITH
NEW SNOW AND COLD AIR IN PLACE...OVERNIGHT LOWS SUNDAY AND MONDAY
WILL DROP INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE ZERO.

SOME MODERATION OF TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED AFTER MIDWEEK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

EWALD/16

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

14 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Adams

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Adams forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.525, -98.501 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Buffalo

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Buffalo forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.855, -99.075 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Clay

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Clay forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.524, -98.051 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Fillmore

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Fillmore forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.525, -97.596 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Franklin

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Franklin forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.176, -98.953 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Furnas

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Furnas forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.177, -99.912 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Gosper

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Gosper forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.515, -99.831 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Hall

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Hall forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.873, -98.502 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Hamilton

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Hamilton forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.874, -98.023 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Harlan

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Harlan forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.177, -99.405 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Kearney

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Kearney forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.507, -98.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Phelps

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Phelps forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.511, -99.414 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Webster

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM CST
Where: Webster forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.176, -98.500 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, York

When: January 3, 6:00 PM CST to January 4, 9:00 AM 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

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 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Nebraska, January 2004

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: 5383510, 5383511, 5383512, 5383513, 5383514, 5383515, 5383516, 5383517, 5383518, 5383519, 5383520, 5383521, 5383522, 5383523.