One of the most significant winter storms/blizzards on record slammed this 24-county South Central Nebraska area during the first two days of February, with the vast majority of impacts occurring on Tuesday the 2nd as a crippling combination of heavy snow and strong winds brought travel and commerce to a halt. Among numerous other road closures, Interstate 80 was shut down for roughly 24 hours between Lincoln and North Platte. In terms of snow totals alone, this ranked as the second-biggest storm on record for Grand Island (18.3 inches) and was the fourth-largest, two-day storm on record at Hastings (15.7). During the height of the storm during the pre-dawn and daytime hours of the 2nd, sustained winds across most of the area averaged 30-40 MPH with gusts commonly 40-50 MPH, initially out of the northeast but gradually shifting more north-northwest with time. Factoring in the widespread impacts of blizzard/whiteout conditions and drifting snow over such a large area, this was easily the worst winter storm to impact South Central Nebraska in over six years, since the Christmas Blizzard of 2009. Just in Hall County alone, snow removal and other public works related costs tallied over $438,000. Given that this storm primarily struck on Feb. 2nd, many will remember it as the Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2016.
According to dozens of NWS cooperative observers, the majority of the 24-county area accumulated snow totals between 10-16, with a few of the highest official amounts featuring 18.3 at Grand Island, 18.0 at Wilsonville and 16.5 at Holdrege. Only the extreme southeast corner of the local area was spared the worst conditions, as much of Fillmore and especially Thayer counties only saw 5-8 inches. Also in the Thayer County area, winds were not quite as intense through most of the event, with less in the way of true-blizzard conditions. In terms of liquid equivalent precipitation, this storm helped propel many locations to a top-10 wettest meteorological winter on record thanks to liquid totals ranging from 0.70-1.60 in most places, and as high as 1.81 in Grand Island.
Breaking down the timing and meteorological background of this two-day event, the initial bands of generally light snow started sneaking into the area from the southwest during the pre-dawn and daytime hours of the 1st, driven mainly by broad mid-level lift well out ahead of the primary large-scale trough approaching from the Intermountain West. By sunset, several western counties such as Furnas, Gosper and Phelps had already picked up 2-4 of snow, but winds were still fairly light with sustained speeds generally around 15 MPH. By around midnight, additional bands of light to moderate snow had boosted totals as high as 7 in far southwestern locations such as Cambridge, but most of South Central Nebraska had 2 or less. During the pre-dawn hours of the 2nd, conditions went downhill fast as an organized, large band of moderate to heavy snow lifted across the area from south-to-north, driven by increasing synoptic-scale forcing to the north of a powerful, closed mid-level low churning into southwestern Kansas. At the same time, northeast winds ramped up considerably in response to surface low pressure deepening to around 994 millibars over central Kansas by daybreak. By 6-7 a.m., full-blown blizzard conditions were solidly in place across most of the local area, with 11.8 of snow reported at Cambridge, 10 at Holdrege and 6 at places such as Grand Island, Hastings and Osceola. During the day, blizzard conditions raged on across most of the area as the nearly vertically-stacked, powerhouse low pressure system tracked to the NE/KS/IA/MO border area by sunset. Central locations such as Grand Island ended up receiving some of the highest snow totals as they spent the most time under enhanced snow bands within the main deformation zone on the backside of the departing low. In contrast, far southeast counties (namely Thayer) saw reduced snow coverage/intensity as a mid-level dry slot nosed up from the south. By mid-evening, the vast majority of accumulating snow had ended as the surface and upper-level storm system departed into Iowa. However, travel remained treacherous thanks to northerly winds still gusting 35-45 MPH. Fortunately, winds eased considerably during the overnight hours, and by daybreak on the 3rd sustained speeds were down to 10-15 MPH in most areas.
From a forecast perspective, this event was an overall victory. The initial Winter Storm Watch came out nearly three days in advance of the worst conditions and the first Blizzard and Winter Storm Warnings were issued over 36 hours before the main impacts began. In addition, although the details certainly evolved with time, this was one of those fairly rare instances when computer models correctly latched onto the likelihood for a high-impact winter storm more than a week in advance.