A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 20 to 40 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across much of western and north central Nebraska.
Every event with a place to put it; 22 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.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 20 to 40 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across much of western and north central Nebraska.
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 31, 2:42 PM MST, 4 hours 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 342 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011 .SYNOPSIS... H5 TROUGH OVER THE DAKOTAS ASSOCIATED WITH 1050MB SURFACE HIGH OVER MONTANA. MAJOR TROUGH OVER FOUR CORNERS WILL BE EJECTING ONTO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS TONIGHT. && .DISCUSSION... MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT THIS AFTERNOON AND HAVE GOOD CONFIDENCE IN FORECAST. WEAK BAND OF SNOW SET UP BETWEEN NORTH PLATTE AND BROKEN BOW THIS AFTERNOON WITH AROUND A QUARTER OF INCH PER HOUR SNOWFALL RATES. WE WILL REMAIN ON NORTHERN PERIPHERY OF SOUTHERN PLAINS SYSTEM. LIGHT SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER WESTERN NEBRASKA TONIGHT WITH AROUND AN INCH TO TWO INCHES OF ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION OVER SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA GENERALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80. THE MAIN CONCERN WILL BE THE FALLING TEMPERATURES TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY WITH NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUTS TO AROUND 30MPH OVERNIGHT. THIS WILL CREATE DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS. WINDS AND TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO CREATE DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS THROUGH THURSDAY. LIGHT SNOW TO END THROUGH THE DAY ON TUESDAY. SOME SLIGHT WARMUP THURSDAY AND FRIDAY AND SOME QUESTION AS TO WHET HER OR NOT A COOL DOWN FOR NEXT WEEKEND. MAINLY DRY. && .AVIATION... CONDITIONS WILL GRADUALLY IMPROVE TONIGHT ACROSS WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA...AS DRIER ARCTIC AIR CONTINUES TO WORK INTO THE REGION. THROUGH THE EVENING HOWEVER...AREAS OF MVFR AND IFR CAN BE EXPECTED WITHIN SNOW BANDS. SURFACE WINDS WILL REMAIN GUSTY...WITH SUSTAINED SPEEDS AROUND 18 KTS AND GUSTS TO 30 KTS POSSIBLE. THIS WILL LEAD TO SOME BLSN AT THE TAF SITES THROUGH THE NIGHT. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WIND CHILL WARNING UNTIL NOON CST/11 AM MST/ WEDNESDAY FOR NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094. && SHORT TERM/EXTENDED...POWER AVIATION...TAYLOR
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 645 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-011130- 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- 645 PM CST MON JAN 31 2011 /545 PM MST MON JAN 31 2011/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. LIGHT SNOW WILL TAPER OFF TO FLURRIES OVERNIGHT WITH ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS UNDER AN INCH. BITTERLY COLD AIR...COUPLED WITH NORTHERLY WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH...WILL PRODUCE WIND CHILLS OF 30 TO 45 BELOW ZERO OVERNIGHT. A WIND CHILL WARNING IS IN EFFECT AND VENTURING OUTSIDE TONIGHT IS NOT RECOMMENDED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. FLURRIES AND DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS CAN BE EXPECTED TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING. PLEASE TAKE THE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT YOURSELF...PETS AND LIVESTOCK FROM THE EXTREME COLD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. && THIS PRODUCT IS NOW AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER... HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATOLOGICAL INFORMATION...AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/NORTHPLATTE CLB
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
22 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Sheridan County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Western Cherry County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Thomas County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Hooker County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Eastern Cherry County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Keya Paha County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Brown County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Rock County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Boyd County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Holt County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 30 to 40 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Blaine County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 30 to 40 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Loup County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 30 to 40 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Custer County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Garfield County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Wheeler County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph during the late evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Grant County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the late evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across McPherson County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the late evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 35 below zero across Logan County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the late evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Arthur County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the late evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Keith County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the late evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Deuel County.
A bitter cold arctic air mass with temperatures in the single digits below zero combined with northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph during the late evening hours on January 31st. This produced dangerous wind chill values of 30 below to 40 below zero across Garden County.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, January 2011
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: 271529, 271530, 271532, 271533, 271538, 271539, 271540, 271541, 271545, 271546, 271542, 271543, 271544, 271547, 271548, 271526, 271534, 271537, 271520, 271522, 271523, 271524.