A unseasonably cold upper level system brought snow, or sleet that changed to snow to much of eastern Nebraska. The cold air rushed into northeast Nebraska during the morning of May 1st, causing rain to change to snow north of Norfolk before the morning commute.
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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 OAX wrote it up.
A unseasonably cold upper level system brought snow, or sleet that changed to snow to much of eastern Nebraska. The cold air rushed into northeast Nebraska during the morning of May 1st, causing rain to change to snow north of Norfolk before the morning commute. Otherwise the rain changed to sleet or snow late on May 1st and continued into the early morning hours of May 2nd. Snow and sleet intensities were enhanced by scattered thunderstorms that moved across the area. Snowfall totals of 1 to 3 inches fell over most of the region with a swath of 3 to 5 inches reported from near Lincoln and Wahoo northeast through Omaha and Blair. The snow and sleet created slushy and rutted roads and winds gusting over 20 mph combined with poor visibilities in moderate snow making for a period of difficult driving conditions which caused some vehicles to slide into ditches.
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 May 1, 2:47 AM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 347 AM CDT WED MAY 1 2013 .DISCUSSION... COMPLEX FCST TO SAY THE LEAST OVER THE NEXT 48 HRS OR SO...ALL IN PART TO INTENSE COLD FRONT SWEEPING THRU THE REGION. LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE...BROAD UPPER TROF OVER THE WRN CONUS THIS MORNING WILL QUICKLY SHARPEN AS IT APPROACHES THE CNTRL PLAINS. GOOD MODEL AGREEMENT STILL THAT THE TROF WILL EVENTUALLY CLOSE OFF AROUND 12Z FRI...ECM AND CMC OVER NEB...NAM ALONG THE NEB/KS BORDER...AND GFS ALONG KS/OK BORDER. MOST PRESSING ISSUE AT THE MOMENT IS TIMING PCPN TYPE CHANGE AS INTENSE CAA SWEEPS INTO THE CNTRL PLAINS. HARD TO BELIEVE THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR SNOW ACCUMULATION THIS LATE IN THE SEASON...BUT NEVERTHELESS...MODELS SUGGEST OTHERWISE. REGIONAL 88D MOSAIC LOOP IS SHOWING TWO DISTINCT BANDS OF PCPN...ONE EXTENDED ACROSS THE PANHANDLE INTO SRN SD...AND THE OTHER FROM S-CNTRL NEB TO SERN MN. TREND THOUGH LAST COUPLE HOURS SHOWING PCPN IS STARTING TO FILL IN...BECOMING MORE WIDESPREAD. 06Z SFC OBS OVER THE PANHANDLE...KIBM/KBFF/KAIA...SHOW CHANGE OVER TO SN HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE. KCDR THOUGH STILL REPORTING RA. USING COMBINATION OF BUFKIT SOUNDINGS/COBB DATA...VERTICAL COLUMN TEMP PROFILES SUPPORT CHANGE OVER TO RA/SN THIS EVENING AT KOFK...THEN AFTER MIDNIGHT AT KOMA/KLNK. INITIAL MIX MAY INCLUDE PERIODS OF SLEET. DETERMINING ACCUMULATION AMOUNTS ARE PROBLEMATIC AS WELL. BIG QUESTION IS WHETHER INFLUX OF COLD AIR BE QUICK/STRONG ENOUGH TO CHILL GROUND TEMP DOWN TO EVEN SUPPORT SN ACCUMULATING. FOR NOW...BELIEVE DOMINATE PCPN TYPE WILL BE RA/SN MIX. WITH A RELATIVELY WARM GROUND TO CONTEND WITH...BELIEVE MAIN ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE RESTRICTED TO GRASSY AREAS...MAYBE UP TO AN INCH OR SO. AS FOR LIQUID TOTALS...VERY MOIST ENVIRONMENT IN COMBINATION WITH FORCING VIA STOUT 250-850MB DIFF DIVG/SIGNIFICANT AGEOSTROPHIC LIFT ALONG DEEP FRONTOGETIC ZONE/DPVA...ALL SUGGEST POTENTIAL FOR VERY GENEROUS RAIN TOTALS ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA. EARLY NEXT WEEK THEN...PCPN POTENTIAL HEAVILY DEPENDENT UPON PROXIMITY OF CLOSED UPPER LOW AND EVENTUAL TRAJECTORY. AS MENTIONED...ECM/CMC LIFTS THE SYSTEM NWD WHILE THE GFS MOVES IT EAST...THUS CONFIDENCE IS QUITE LOW. HOWEVER...THINK IT IS REASONABLE TO AT LEAST GO WITH SMALL POPS IN THE LATTER FCST PDS. DEE && .AVIATION...06Z TAFS FOR KOFK...KLNK AND KOMA. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE EARLY THIS MORNING AND TRANSITION TO MORE RAIN OVERNIGHT...WITH THE BEST COVERAGE AT KOFK THROUGH 12Z. DETERIORATING CONDITIONS ARE FORECAST THROUGH 12Z WITH CIGS AND VISIBILITIES BECOMING MVFR FOR MUCH OF WEDNESDAY. NORTH WINDS 14 TO 22KT WITH HIGHER GUSTS WILL THROUGH THE PERIOD AND WILL MENTION LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR AT KOMA AND KLNK. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 419 AM CDT WED MAY 1 2013 IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-011700- 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- 419 AM CDT WED MAY 1 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST IOWA...WEST CENTRAL IOWA...EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA...NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WIDESPREAD RAIN WILL GRADUALLY TURN TO A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW LATER THIS AFTERNOON...WITH A RAIN AND SNOW MIX PREVAILING TONIGHT. THERE MAY BE PERIODS OF SLEET OVERNIGHT AS WELL. ANY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FOR THE MOST PART ARE EXPECTED TO BE ON GRASSY AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW MAY LINGER ON THURSDAY MAINLY OVER SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA. LOW TEMPERATURES MAY FALL TO THE FREEZING MARK FRIDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NEBRASKA 1134 PM CDT TUE APR 30 2013 NEZ065-010500- SEWARD NE- 1134 PM CDT TUE APR 30 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SEWARD COUNTY UNTIL 1200 AM CDT... AT 1131 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM NORTHEAST OF WACO TO 6 MILES EAST OF MCCOOL JUNCTION...OR ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 9 MILES NORTHEAST OF YORK TO 41 MILES WEST OF LINCOLN. THE LINE WAS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF PENNIES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... SEWARD...MILFORD...UTICA...BEAVER CROSSING...STAPLEHURST...GARLAND... PLEASANT DALE...BEE...GOEHNER AND TAMORA. LAT...LON 4104 9737 4105 9692 4074 9691 4074 9737 TIME...MOT...LOC 0431Z 242DEG 35KT 4093 9747 4075 9747 CHERMOK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
10 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Rain changed to a period of heavy snow during the morning hours of May 1st. This brought isolated reports of around 6 inches across parts of the county, including the Coleridge area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, May 2013
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: 438497, 438481, 438482, 438483, 438484, 438485, 438486, 438487, 438488, 438489.