An upper level disturbance dropping southeast across the plains caused weak low pressure to develop over northeast Kansas. The low developed ahead of an Arctic cold front that was also dropping southeast across the area.
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The episode as NWS OAX wrote it up.
An upper level disturbance dropping southeast across the plains caused weak low pressure to develop over northeast Kansas. The low developed ahead of an Arctic cold front that was also dropping southeast across the area. The combination of these systems caused snow to develop from southeast Nebraska into southwest Iowa. Although sparse moisture limited most snow amounts to just an inch or two, a narrow band of heavier snow persisted for several hours over southwest Iowa. Under this band...6 inches of snow fell in Sidney, Iowa which is in central Fremont county, and 5.5 inches was reported at Shenandoah, which sits on the Fremont/Page county line. Snow amounts to the north tapered off to less than an inch at Red Oak and to around 4 inches to the east in Clarinda.
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 Mar 6, 9:33 PM CST, 2 hours 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 933 PM CST THU MAR 6 2008 .UPDATE... NEW GRIDS AND FORECAST PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN ISSUED. && .DISCUSSION... COLD FRONT HAD MADE PROGRESS TO A KOLU TO KSUX LINE THRU 03Z. THE RADAR HAD PICKED UP TWO DISTINCT AREAS OF PRECIP THROUGH THE EVENING...ONE ACROSS CENTRAL NEBRASKA MOVING TOWARD SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND THE OTHER ACROSS SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA MOVING TOWARD NORTHWEST IOWA. IN BETWEEN...SOME LIGHT SNOW HAD DEVELOPED BEHIND THE FRONT...BUT NOT MUCH ACCUMULATION. NEW 00Z NAM SEEMED TO PICK UP ON THIS TREND AS WELL...SUGGESTING THAT SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND NORTHWEST IOWA HAVE THE BEST POTENTIAL FOR SEEING UP TO AN INCH OF SNOW AND THIS SEEMS REASONABLE GIVEN 88D TRENDS. ADJUSTED WEATHER GRIDS TO INCORPORATE THIS THINKING...WITH GENERALLY JUST A TENTH OR TWO OF AN INCH IN BETWEEN FROM KOFK TO KFET TO KOMA TO KCBF TO KRDK AND KICL. KBIE TO KFNB SEEMS TO HAVE THE BEST POTENTIAL FOR PICKING UP AN INCH OVERNIGHT...AND AREAS FROM KTQE TO KSUX TO KHNR COULD SEE A HALF INCH OF SO. THE OMAHA METRO WILL PROBABLY BE IN BETWEEN THE TWO SYSTEMS WITH JUST A COUPLE OF TENTHS OF AN INCH...WITH NEARBY LOCATIONS OF KTQE AND KPMV EACH PICKING UP A HALF INCH POSSIBLY. && .AVIATION... THE FRONT AS ARRIVED WITH LIGHT SNOW AT KOFK...RIGHT ON SCHEDULE. THE FRONT SHOULD MAKE PROGRESS TO KOMA AROUND 06Z/07Z WITH SNOW DEVELOPING. PRECIP SHOULD MOVE INTO THE KLNK AREA A BIT SOONER...BY 04Z/05Z. HAVE PUT IN A 3 TO 4 HOUR WINDOW FOR LIGHT SNOW WITH TEMPORARY IFR CIGS...BUT THEN CLEARING OUT FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST. COULD ALSO SEE SOME STRATOCU REDEVELOP TOMORROW GIVEN STEEP LAPSE RATES WITH COLD AIR ALOFT...SIMILAR TO WHAT HAPPENED ACROSS NORTH DAKOTA TODAY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 348 PM CST THU MAR 6 2008/ SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY A STRONG ARCTIC FRONT WILL PUSH RAPIDLY SOUTH THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. MODELS ARE CONSISTENT WITH CURRENT OBS IN DEVELOPING A BAND OF LIGHT POST FRONTAL SNOW WITH SUBSTANTIAL LOW AND MID LEVEL LIFT. HOWEVER...EXPECT EVENT TO BE OF SHORT DURATION IN ANY ONE PLACE... AND AMOUNTS SHOULD REMAIN WELL UNDER AN INCH UNLIKE SOME MODEL QPF HAS SUGGESTED. THE CORE OF THE COLDEST AIR IS LOCATED OVER EASTERN ND...WHERE TEMPS HAVE STRUGGLED TO REACH ZERO THIS AFTN. THE CORE WILL ADVECT NEAR AND JUST EAST OF OUR AREA DURING THE DAY FRIDAY. THERE WILL BE SOME MODIFICATION AS MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA SHOULD HAVE LITTLE OR NO SNOW COVER...BUT WILL STILL BE A VERY COLD DAY. LOWERED TEMPS IN THE NORTH TONIGHT AND ACROSS THE WHOLE AREA FRIDAY...MOST IN THE WEST. FRIDAY NIGHT THE HIGH WILL PUSH SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA...AND RADIATION CONDITIONS SHOULD BE QUITE GOOD FOR A WHILE. THERE WILL BE AN INCREASE OF WINDS AND POSSIBLY HIGH CLOUDS IN THE WEST TOWARD MORNING. TEMPS WILL BE QUITE COLD...BUT PROBABLY REMAIN ABOVE ZERO UNLESS THERE IS MORE SNOW THAN FORECAST. LOWERED MAX TEMPS SUBSTANTIALLY ON SATURDAY. IT APPEARS THAT THERE WILL BE SOME WARM ADVECTION MID CLOUDS. JUST AS IMPORTANT...WITH SFC HIGH NOT FAR TO OUR EAST...EXPECT SFC FLOW TO HAVE AN EASTERLY COMPONENT UNLIKE THE SW FLOW CONSISTENTLY DEPICTED BY NAM. SW FLOW IS VERY UNLIKELY IN THIS SITUATION WITH SFC TROF OR WARM FRONT JUST TO THE WEST OF THE AREA. ANOTHER WEAK CLIPPER SYSTEM PASSES TO OUR EAST SATURDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY SUNDAY. CLOUD COVER SAT NIGHT SHOULD KEEP TEMPS UP SOMEWHAT. THEN THERE SHOULD BE MODEST COLD ADVECTION FOR A WHILE SUNDAY... KEEPING TEMPS FROM RECOVERING VERY RAPIDLY. EXPECT LIFT TO BE TOO WEAK AND TOO FAR EAST TO MENTION PRECIP WITH THIS SYSTEM. LONG TERM...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY SUNDAY NIGHT...THE FORECAST AREA WILL BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE TROF MOVING THROUGH THE GRTLKS/OH RIVER VALLEY. BY MONDAY MORNING...ANOTHER TROF WILL MOVE INTO THE NRN PLAINS. THE GFS SEEMS TO BE THE ODD MODEL OUT DEVELOPING A CLOSED LOW OVR WY AS THE ECMWF AND UKMET/CANADIAN DO NOT HAVE THIS FEATURE. THIS TROF BRINGS A WIND SHIFT THRU...WITH THE BEST PRECIP EAST OF OUR AREA. TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT A MID LEVEL RIDGE BUILDS IN...WITH THE FRONT PUSHING THRU WEDNESDAY. THE PRECIP APPEARS TO BE POST FRONTAL...THUS HAVE POPS IN WED NIGHT AND THU. THE GFS IS A BIT MORE DYNAMIC WITH A BIT MORE PRECIP AND A GOOD CHC FOR THUNDERSTORMS IN THE SE AND RAIN CHANGING TO SNOW. THE GFS HAS REINFORCING COLD AIR LAGS THE PRECIP WELL INTO THUR. UNTIL THIS CAN BE AGREED ON WITH THE OTHER MODELS...LEANED MORE WITH THE EMCWF. HPC WAS USING A BLEND OF THE ECM/CMC/GEM. HIGHS MON IN THE 40S AND 50S AND IN THE 50S TUESDAY WITH 40S AND 50S FOR WED AND THU. AVIATION... FOR TAF SITES KOMA...KLNK AND KOFK. EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS UNTIL FRONTAL PASSAGE BETWEEN 05Z AND 07Z. MVFR AND IFR CIGS AND VSBYS IN S- AFTER THAT THROUGH ABOUT 12Z. TIMING MAY NEED SOME ADJUSTMENT AS FRONTAL POSITION AT 19Z WAS ACROSS SOUTHERN SD. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. && DEWALD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 505 PM CST THU MAR 6 2008 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-071315- MONONA-HARRISON-SHELBY-POTTAWATTAMIE-MILLS-MONTGOMERY-FREMONT- PAGE-KNOX-CEDAR-THURSTON-ANTELOPE-PIERCE-WAYNE-BOONE-MADISON- STANTON-CUMING-BURT-PLATTE-COLFAX-DODGE-WASHINGTON-BUTLER- SAUNDERS-DOUGLAS-SARPY-SEWARD-LANCASTER-CASS-OTOE-SALINE- JEFFERSON-GAGE-JOHNSON-NEMAHA-PAWNEE-RICHARDSON- 505 PM CST THU MAR 6 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND FRIDAY ICE JAMS MAY FORM ON THE ELKHORN RIVER AS ICE MOVES DOWNSTREAM FROM WEST POINT THROUGH EASTERN DODGE COUNTY. THIS COULD RESULT IN AREAS OF MINOR LOWLAND FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY COLD WEATHER LASTING INTO SUNDAY MORNING MAY CAUSE CONTINUED ICE ACTION...AND LOWLAND FLOODING...ALONG THE ELKHORN RIVER. WARMER WEATHER LASTING MUCH OF NEXT WEEK WILL PROBABLY ALLOW THE ICE TO BE FLUSHED OUT. HOWEVER...THE WARMING MAY ALSO DISLODGE THE ICE ON THE PLATTE RIVER. IF THIS OCCURS...SECTIONS OF THE PLATTE RIVER FROM COLUMBUS...DOWNSTREAM PAST FREMONT...INTO WESTERN DOUGLAS COUNTY WILL BE SUBJECT TO ICE JAMS AND LOWLAND FLOODING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT OR FRIDAY. POLLACK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Six inches of snow was reported by the Coop Observer in Sidney, Iowa.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Iowa in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Iowa, March 2008
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: 74297.