An upper level storm system lifted out of the desert Southwest and began moving into western and north central Nebraska Saturday afternoon. Snow became heavy at times by late Saturday afternoon and continued Saturday night.
Every event with a place to put it; 8 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS LBF wrote it up.
An upper level storm system lifted out of the desert Southwest and began moving into western and north central Nebraska Saturday afternoon. Snow became heavy at times by late Saturday afternoon and continued Saturday night. Light snow lingered across the area into Sunday afternoon as the winter weather system exited the region. Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 5 to 9 inches in the counties which were under a heavy snow warning.
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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 20, 3:24 AM CST, 9 hours 36 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 324 AM CST SAT JAN 20 2007 .DISCUSSION... UPPER LOW SPINNING JUST INTO SW ARIZONA ATTM WHERE 00Z H5 ANALYSIS HAD THE LARGEST HGHT FALLS. HGHT FALLS NOT TOO IMPRESSIVE EAST OF ROCKIES ATTM AND LLVL JET NOT REALLY GETTING CRANKED UP YET...BUT WILL NEED TO...TO GET THE MOISTURE DOWN ALONG SOUTHERN PLAINS INTO NEBRASKA. KLBF RAOB SHOWING LESS THAN A TWO TENTHS PW WHICH IS THE CASE AS FAR SOUTH AS DDC. NAM/GFS IN SIMILAR AGREEMENT THAT THIS MOISTURE SHOULD RIDE UP ON SOMEWHERE NEAR THE 290K SFC INTO SOUTHERN CWA BY MID AFTERNOON. ROAB ALSO SHOWING WILL NEED QUITE A BIT OF TOP DOWN TO EITHER SATURATE OR START SOME KIND OF SEEDER-FEEDER TYPE PROCESS. SHOULD SEE A GOOD BAND OF SNOW LIFT NORTH OUT OF KANSAS BY 00Z HOWEVER AS STRONGEST UPPER SUPPORT ARRIVES AHEAD OF LOW EJECTING INTO VCNTY OF SE COLORADO. THIS BROAD QG FORCING SHOULD MOVE ACROSS CWA THROUGH EARLY MORNING HOURS BRINING BEST ACCUMULATING SNOW TO EASTERN AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF CWA THROUGH MID MORNING BEFORE DECOUPLING WITH UPPER SUPPORT AS SHOWN BY AGEO CIRCULAITON IN X SECTION...LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO BE POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY EVENING BUT ACCUMULATIONS OF LESS THAN AN INCH. SYSTEM NOW IN THE PAC NW WILL ROTATE INTO EASTERN GREAT BASIN AND SERVE A KICKER TO THE SOUTHERN STREAM SYSTEM KEEPING THINGS FAIRLY PROGRESSIVE...THUS CONCERN FOR WARNING CRIT SNOWS ARE TEMPERED. HAVE GONE WITH SNOW ADVISORY FOR 3-5 INCH SNOW RANGE...WITH AMOUNTS GENERALLY MORE TOWARD THE LOWER END OF RANGE. SECOND WAVE WILL CONTINUE TO LEAD TO FAIRLY GOOD LIFT ACROSS NORTHWEST CWA ON SUNDAY...WITH ACCULATING SNOW CONTINUING HERE THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON. IN ADDITION LOW TO MID LEVEL FLOW AROUND BLACK HILLS COULD POTENTIALLY SET UP DECENT CONVERGENT ZONE ACROSS FAR NW CORNER OF CWA AND LEAD TO HIGHER SNOW AMOUNTS IN PINE RIDGE AREA. HAVE EXTENDED SNOW ADVISORY TO THESE AREAS KEEPING THE 3-5 INCH RANGE IN MIND WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS IN FAVORED AREA OVER SHERIDAN COUNTY AND LESS EASTWARD. VTN MAY ONLY SEE AROUND 2 INCHES BUT FARTHER SOUTH EXPECTING MORE. SNOW SHOULD TAPER OFF SIGNIFICANTLY AFTER 00Z MONDAY AS WESTERN SYSTEM DIGS INTO SW CONUS. NEXT PCPN CHANCE MAY COME TUE EVENING AS CLIPPER TYPE SYSTEM MOVE THOUGH NORTHERN PLAINS. WINDS HAVE BEEN MORE OF CONCERN THAN PCPN WITH THESE SYSTEM OF LATE AND WILL NOT FOCUS ON THAT SYSTEM TONIGHT. TEMPS AT OR BELOW GUIDANCE THROUGH DAY 5. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SNOW ADVISORY FROM 3 PM CST /2 PM MST/ THIS AFTERNOON TO 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ SUNDAY FOR NEZ056>059-069>071. SNOW ADVISORY FROM 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ THIS EVENING TO 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ SUNDAY FOR NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-094. && 13
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 550 AM CST SAT JAN 20 2007 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-211200- SHERIDAN-EASTERN CHERRY-KEYA PAHA-BOYD-BROWN-ROCK-HOLT-GARDEN- GRANT-HOOKER-THOMAS-BLAINE-LOUP-GARFIELD-WHEELER-ARTHUR-MCPHERSON- LOGAN-CUSTER-DEUEL-KEITH-PERKINS-LINCOLN-CHASE-HAYES-FRONTIER- WESTERN CHERRY- 550 AM CST SAT JAN 20 2007 /450 AM MST SAT JAN 20 2007/ THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY FOR ALL OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. THIS ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. SNOW WILL ADVANCE RAPIDLY NORTHWARD TODAY AND SPREAD INTO SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD NORTH TONIGHT. WINDS WILL REMAIN FAIRLY LIGHT AT 15 MPH OR LESS. SOME OF THE SNOW WILL BLOW OFF ROADS IN OPEN AREAS. THUS SIGNIFICANT TRAVEL PROBLEMS ARE NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW WILL CONTINUE SUNDAY AND NORTH WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 15 TO 25 MPH. MUCH OF THIS SNOW WILL BLOW OFF ROADS IN OPEN AREAS HOWEVER UNPAVED ROADS IN THE SAND HILLS COULD BECOME DRIFTED WITH SOFT PACKED SNOW DRIFTS OVER 1 FOOT IN SOME AREAS. THESE ROADS SHOULD STILL BE PASSABLE FOR MOST ORDINARY VEHICLES HOWEVER CAUTION IS ADVISED AS LOCALLY...CONDITIONS COULD WORSEN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS AND SNOWFALL RATES AT ANY TIME DURING THE EVENT. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER... HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE (ALL LOWERCASE) CDC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Snow measurements taken by CO-OP observers verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches across Hayes County by 6 am CST.
Snow measurements taken by CO-OP observers verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches across Frontier County by 6 am CST.
Snow measurements taken at the NWS office at North Platte and phone calls to CO-OP observers verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches across Lincoln County by 6 am CST.
Phone calls to CO-OP observers and the local police department in Custer County verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches by 6 am CST. The highest snowfall amount was 9 inches in Oconto, NE.
Snow measurements taken by CO-OP observers verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches across Chase County by 5 am MST.
Snow measurements taken by CO-OP observers verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches across Loup County by 6 am CST.
Snow measurements taken by CO-OP observers verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches across Garfield County by 9 am CST.
Snow measurements taken by CO-OP observers verified snowfall amounts reached at least 6 inches across Wheeler County by 9 am CST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, January 2007
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: 5046, 5047, 5043, 5042, 5044, 5048, 5049, 5050.