A storm system diving into the southern Plains on the evening of Wednesday January 20th was just close enough to allow for some snow over parts of southeast Nebraska. A surface boundary extending north from the system to near the Kansas and Nebraska border provided a focus for a concentrated area of heavy snowfall in Jefferson County.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 OAX wrote it up.
A storm system diving into the southern Plains on the evening of Wednesday January 20th was just close enough to allow for some snow over parts of southeast Nebraska. A surface boundary extending north from the system to near the Kansas and Nebraska border provided a focus for a concentrated area of heavy snowfall in Jefferson County. The heavy snowfall ended by morning on the 21st, but resulted in difficult travel conditions from the significant snowfall.
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 Jan 20, 5:43 PM CST, 1 hour 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 543 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016 .SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY) ISSUED AT 315 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016 THE MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS IN THE SHORT TERM IS THE POTENTIAL FOR LIGHT SNOW...AND HOW MUCH SNOW. FOR TONIGHT...POTENTIAL IS HIGHEST OVER SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. PRIMARY FEATURES NOTED FROM THE 12Z UPPER AIR CHARTS INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING. AT 300 MB...AT 125 KNOT JET MAX WAS PUNCHING SOUTHEAST FROM NEVADA. AT 500 MB...SEVERAL SHORTWAVE TROUGHS WERE NOTED FROM OUR AREA WEST...WITH 12 HOUR HEIGHT FALLS OF 50-70 METERS FROM MONTANA DOWN INTO NEW MEXICO DEPICTING THE STRONGEST WAVE. 850 MB CHART SHOWED A GENERAL LACK OF MOISTURE IN OUR AREA. ZERO DEGREE C ISOTHERM AT 850 MB EXTENDED FROM PARTS OF EASTERN KANSAS UP INTO CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. WARMER AIR WAS TO THE WEST. WATER VAPOR LOOP CONFIRMED A FAIRLY STRONG WAVE FROM WESTERN KANSAS DOWN INTO THE TEXAS PANHANDLE AND ANOTHER WAVE MOVING TOWARD WESTERN COLORADO. SURFACE ANALYSIS AT 21Z SHOWED HIGH PRESSURE OVER ILLINOIS AND LOW PRESSURE BACK OVER THE HIGH PLAINS. OUR AREA WAS IN SOUTHERLY FLOW...WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE 20S AND DEWPOINTS NOT FAR BEHIND. 18Z KOAX SOUNDING SHOWED LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...MAINLY BELOW 880 MB...AND A DRY LAYER ABOVE THAT. SHORT RANGE MODEL TRENDS SUGGEST PCPN WILL TRY TO SPREAD INTO OUR WESTERN AND SOUTHERN ZONES THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. EXTENT OF DRY AIR CURRENTLY OVER THE AREA NOW (AS MENTIONED IN THE PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED KOAX SOUNDING) WILL HAVE SOME IMPACT ON HOW FAR EAST THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BE ABLE TO SATURATE TONIGHT. THIS SHOULD OCCUR MOSTLY IN AREAS SOUTH AND WEST OF LINCOLN...WITH SOME SNOW ACCUMULATION LIKELY THERE. MODEL FCST REFLECTIVITIES ARE NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE...KEEPING HIGHEST RETURNS TO OUR SOUTHWEST. WE GENERALLY LOOK FOR 1 TO 3 INCHES FOR PARTS OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY AS WELL AS POINTS TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST OF THERE. DID NOT FEEL A HEADLINE WAS NEEDED AT THIS POINT. USED A BLEND OF NAM/GFS/ECMWF FOR THINKING ON THURSDAY. THE MAIN FORCING AND LIFT WILL STAY OUT OF OUR AREA THURSDAY...BUT SOME LIGHT SNOW AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE. THERMAL PROFILES STILL HINT THAT SOME POTENTIAL FOR LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE IN SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA LATE TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. SOME LIGHT SNOW COULD SPREAD OVER THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO THURSDAY NIGHT AS WELL. HIGHS SHOULD BE MAINLY 20S THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...THEN LOWER AND MID 30S FOR SATURDAY AS RIDGE ALOFT BUILDS EAST FROM THE ROCKIES. .LONG TERM...(SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY) ISSUED AT 315 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016 MID LEVEL RIDGE OVER OUR AREA WILL BE FLATTENING AT THE START OF THIS PERIOD...WITH A SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVING ACROSS THE WESTERN STATES. THAT WAVE WILL PUSH EASTWARD ACROSS OUR AREA FOR SUNDAY INTO MONDAY...WITH A CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW. HIGHS FROM SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WILL BE IN THE 20S AND 30S WITH LOWS MOSTLY IN THE TEENS. && .AVIATION...(00Z TAFS FOR KOFK...KLNK AND KOMA.) ISSUED AT 533 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016 MVFR TO IFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OVERNIGHT AS UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS NORTHEAST KANSAS. SNOW WILL TRY TO SPREAD NORTHEAST FROM THIS SYSTEM BUT WILL ENCOUNTER DRY AIR WHICH MAY ONLY RESULT IN A FEW FLURRIES AT KOMA AND KOFK. SOME LIGHT SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE AT KLNK THURSDAY 12-18Z. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...NONE. IA...NONE. && SHORT TERM...MILLER LONG TERM...MILLER AVIATION...KERN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 400 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016 NEZ078-088>093-211200- SALINE-JEFFERSON-GAGE-JOHNSON-NEMAHA-PAWNEE-RICHARDSON- 400 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND THURSDAY LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO SPREAD INTO SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA TONIGHT. LIGHT SNOW IS ALSO POSSIBLE THURSDAY. TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE. THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME PATCHY FREEZING DRIZZLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE IS A CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT OR THURSDAY. IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034- 042>045-050>053-065>068-211200- 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- 400 PM CST WED JAN 20 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST IOWA...WEST CENTRAL IOWA...EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA...NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND THURSDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY THERE IS A CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT OR WEDNESDAY.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous reports of heavy snowfall were received from Jefferson County. The emergency manager measured 9.1 inches in Fairbury, but other reports included 6 inches in Daykin, 7 inches in Endicott, and 6 inches in Steele City.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, January 2016
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: 609593.