Between the afternoon of Friday the 9th and the evening of Saturday the 10th, two completely separate rounds of Advisory-worthy snow affected parts of the 24-county South Central Nebraska area, making for an active couple days of winter weather despite only modest impacts. Interestingly, the two snow events overlapped minimally in area, with the first round focused mainly within northern and…
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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 GID wrote it up.
Between the afternoon of Friday the 9th and the evening of Saturday the 10th, two completely separate rounds of Advisory-worthy snow affected parts of the 24-county South Central Nebraska area, making for an active couple days of winter weather despite only modest impacts. Interestingly, the two snow events overlapped minimally in area, with the first round focused mainly within northern and central counties, and the second one across the south. This event summary discusses round 1, which occurred between the afternoon of the 9th and the pre-dawn hours of the 10th:
This first round of snow primarily affected areas north of Highway 6, and especially counties along and north of Interstate 80, which reported a fairly widespread coverage of 2-4 and isolated higher amounts to around 5. According to reports from NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS and official NWS cooperative observers, some of the highest totals featured: 5 northwest of Greeley, 4.7 west of Arcadia, 4.2 at Grand Island airport and 3.6 at Ravenna. Other official Tri Cities totals included 2.3 at Kearney and only 1.7 at the Hastings NWS office. Although not overly-strong, sustained north winds averaged 10-20 MPH with some higher gusts, causing at least minor blowing and drifting of the fluffy snow. Timing-wise, while some northern counties received minor accumulation early in the afternoon of the 9th, the primary west-east oriented snow band got going in the north between 4-6 PM before gradually slipping southward across the Interstate 80 corridor through the evening. Between midnight and 2 AM on the 10th, this snow band weakened and shifted east of the local area, signaling the end of round 1. Aloft, a large-scale, broad trough was in place over much of the United States with a series of jet streaks passing directly over Nebraska. This setup yielded a concentrated swath of mid-level frontogenesis, which in turn promoted the rather narrow, west-east oriented snow band that dropped the majority of accumulation. At the surface, the fluffy nature of the flakes was supported by a very cold airmass with temperatures only in the single digits above zero F. The breezy north winds resulted from steady pressure rises emanating southward across the Central Plains from high pressure in Montana and the Dakotas.
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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 9, 5:52 AM CST, 3 hours 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hastings NE 552 AM CST Fri Feb 9 2018 .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) Issued at 423 AM CST Fri Feb 9 2018 Arctic front has passed through with noticeable gusts. Band of light snow falling apart/moving east, with perhaps another small band making its way to the central CWA this morning, but with little if any accumulation. Any wintry mix should be essentially done this morning as the elevated warm layer continues to cool quickly, and we seem to be fairly saturated where snow would fall today. This jet streak-driven snow will return this afternoon and evening, but could be a little more significant, laying down perhaps an inch or two mainly in our north. If precip makes it far enough south, we could even see some light freezing drizzle where deeper saturation is more in question through this evening, but the very lowest level looks to be on the dry side, so not looking like a sure bet by any means. In fact, we might be just too cold at the surface to support much freezing drizzle at all, and therefore ended any chance of it after midnight. By after midnight tonight, precip should be primarily snow. Oddly enough, ECMWF seems to be doing quite well with short-term jet- driven snow in general, and cuts off most snow by late tonight. Upped amounts of snow a bit in the north, but not as confident with this as the future snow potential coming up for Saturday afternoon and night in the south. Went mostly with CONSShort for temps today, with temperatures nearly nowhere from morning lows with continued cold air advection and sky cover. Highs will be in the 10 to 20 degree range. .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Thursday) Issued at 423 AM CST Fri Feb 9 2018 For the most part, Saturday morning looks like a lull of precipitation, with the next wave of jet-induced snow to be focused in the south by afternoon and evening. Generally upped snow amounts a tad, but still looks like a solid one to three inches with locally 4 inch amounts. Generally on the dry side for most of the rest of the long term with below normal temperatures, with the pattern continuing to be stubbornly cold, with a generally troughy upper pattern in our realm, and any hint of a subtropical ridge pushed well to the south. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z KGRI/KEAR TAFS through 12Z Saturday) Issued at 540 AM CST Fri Feb 9 2018 Tricky forecast for visibility as snow may come in and out of MVFR this morning, but ceilings should be solidly MVFR. Snow should be a bit more persistent this evening. Wind gusts should let up by late afternoon as the arctic cold front moves farther south and the surface pressure gradient slackens. Snow should taper off after midnight. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...None. KS...None. && SHORT TERM...Heinlein LONG TERM...Heinlein AVIATION...Heinlein
Hazardous Weather Outlook...CORRECTED National Weather Service Hastings NE 644 AM CST Fri Feb 9 2018 KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087- 101200- Phillips-Smith-Jewell-Rooks-Osborne-Mitchell-Valley-Greeley-Nance- Sherman-Howard-Merrick-Polk-Dawson-Buffalo-Hall-Hamilton-York- Gosper-Phelps-Kearney-Adams-Clay-Fillmore-Furnas-Harlan-Franklin- Webster-Nuckolls-Thayer- 644 AM CST Fri Feb 9 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for south central Nebraska and portions of north central Kansas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. A Flood Advisory remains in effect for the Platte River in the Elm Creek and Odessa areas due to an ice jam. Please refer to the latest advisory message for further details. Light snow will be possible today, but especially later in the afternoon and into the evening, north of Interstate 80. Snow amounts tonight will be in the one to three inch range with locally higher amounts possible. Again, most of the snow tonight will be north of Interstate 80. There is a slight chance of light freezing drizzle this evening over north central Kansas, but any occurrence should be very short-lived with very little if any icing on roadways. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday. Additional light snow will be possible mainly Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening, but that snow should be heavier south of Highway 6. Storm total snowfall amounts by Saturday night should generally range from 1 to 3 inches with some locally higher amounts possible. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report snowfall amounts to the National Weather Service. && More information may be obtained at the following web page: https://www.weather.gov/hastings Heinlein
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
12 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A snowfall total of 4.7 inches occurred 2 miles west of Arcadia and 3.3 inches fell in Ord.
A snowfall total of 2.0 inches occurred in Loup City. Also, 3.1 inches was reported 2 miles northwest of Rockville through CoCoRaHS. Also, a public report of 3.0 inches in Hazard was received via Facebook.
A snowfall total of 2.8 inches occurred in Greeley. Also, a CoCoRaHS report of 5.0 inches occurred 6 miles west northwest of Greeley.
A snowfall total of 2.7 inches occurred in St. Paul.
A snowfall total of 4.0 inches was reported 1.6 miles west of Palmer.
A snowfall total of 3.5 inches occurred 2 miles southwest of Genoa, and a total of 2.0 inches fell in Belgrade.
A snowfall total of 2.9 inches occurred 3 miles northeast of Shelby, and 2.5 inches fell in Osceola.
A snowfall total of 3.5 inches was reported from CoCoRaHS 3 miles north northeast of Johnson Lake. And also, a public report of 3.0 inches in Gothenburg was reported via Facebook.
A snowfall total of 3.6 inches fell in Ravenna and 2.3 inches fell in Kearney. Also, a public report was received of 4.0 inches falling 4 miles west northwest of Ravenna.
A snowfall total of 4.2 inches fell at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island. Also, an NWS employee measured 2.7 inches of snow 1 mile east southeast of Doniphan.
A snowfall total of 2.4 inches occurred four miles north of Aurora.
A snowfall total of 2.2 inches occurred 3 miles north of York and 1.9 inches fell in Bradshaw.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, February 2018
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: 741688, 741691, 741690, 741693, 742276, 741695, 741701, 741702, 741704, 741705, 741706, 741708.