Continued dry conditions in February, coupled with very warm temperatures, led to expansion of drought conditions across western and north central Nebraska in February. Locations in the western Sandhills, portions of southwestern Nebraska, the eastern Nebraska Panhandle and portions of north central Nebraska, saw drought conditions reaching severe (D2) and even extreme (D3) drought conditions by…
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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 LBF wrote it up.
Continued dry conditions in February, coupled with very warm temperatures, led to expansion of drought conditions across western and north central Nebraska in February. Locations in the western Sandhills, portions of southwestern Nebraska, the eastern Nebraska Panhandle and portions of north central Nebraska, saw drought conditions reaching severe (D2) and even extreme (D3) drought conditions by the end of February.
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, 11:39 PM CST, 21 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service North Platte NE 1139 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Snow will quickly exit north central Nebraska this evening, with dry conditions then expected into early next week. - Another round of light snow is possible Tuesday morning across north central Nebraska, though little to no accumulation is expected at this time. - Mild temperatures (40s to 50s) are expected for much of the upcoming week, with near record highs (middle to upper 60s) possible Thursday. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 320 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026 Currently, light to moderate snow continues to move quickly east across portions of north central Nebraska, leading to light accumulations of up to 1". Precipitation has largely ended for areas west of HWY 183, and these dry conditions are expected to continue into tonight and tomorrow. Temperatures range from the upper teens in north central Nebraska to the low 50s west of HWY 61. These warmer temperatures are found behind a frontal boundary pushing into the western Sandhills. For areas east of HWY 183, snow will persist for a few more hours and lead to light accumulations of around 1". With gusty south winds, some visibility concerns will continue as blowing snow can be expected as snow falls. Impacts from the snow has been minimal further west, as clearing skies and warming temperatures has rapidly melted any snow that fell earlier this morning and afternoon. Continued warm advection overnight boosts lows 10-20 degrees above those observed this morning, into the upper teens to 20s. Upper ridging then amplifies across the western CONUS as we head into Sunday, with northwest flow establishing aloft. This points to a return of drier conditions tomorrow, along with quickly moderating highs as westerly low-level flow strengthens. The boost in warm advection pushes highs into the upper 40s to 50s for areas west of HWY 183. Highs only climb into the upper 30s further east. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... Issued at 320 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026 Upper ridging remains the dominant feature as we head into early next week, as it remains in place across the western US. This will lead to temperatures above average each day, along with continued dry conditions. The lone exception to this could be on Tuesday morning, as a weak shortwave traverses the apex of the ridge and into the Dakotas. Guidance hints at a round of light snow in association with this, primarily across portions of north central Nebraska. Confidence in this remains low for now, with probabilities of >0.1" of snow only peaking around 20-30% along the HWY 20 corridor. Increasing this threshold to >0.5", and probabilities remain 10% or less for areas near the HWY 281 corridor. Trends will continue to be monitored, though impacts look to remain limited at best at this time. Attention then turns to an increasing threat for fire weather by late week. The day of greatest concern looks to be Thursday, as this will be the warmest of the forecast period. A growing number of ensemble members suggest anomalously warm highs for Thursday, with even the 50th percentile NBM painting records (upper 60s) for much of western and southwest Nebraska. The current forecast sits near the 25th percentile of the guidance envelope, and will almost certainly need to be adjusted upwards as confidence grows. The combination of these near record temperatures, dry conditions, and breezy northwest winds could lead to near- critical fire concerns for much of the area. The dry and mild conditions then look to persist into next weekend, albeit not quite as warm as Thursday. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z MONDAY/... Issued at 1139 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026 VFR conditions will continue through Sunday evening across all of western and north central Nebraska. Northwesterly LLWS is also expected until 13Z Sunday across portions of north central Nebraska including the KVTN terminal. Light westerly winds below 10kts overnight will become northwest by 17Z Sunday, with gusts to 20 kts at KVTN, diminishing to below 10kts by 21z. Light and variable winds after 23Z. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...Brown LONG TERM...Brown AVIATION...Roberg
Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED National Weather Service North Platte NE 616 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026 NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-020030- 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- 616 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026 /516 PM MST Sat Jan 31 2026/ This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of western and north central Nebraska. .DAY ONE...Tonight. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday. The probability for widespread hazardous weather is low. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
15 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions, transitioned to severe (D2) drought conditions over the eastern quarter of Boyd County by the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought conditions persisted.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions, deteriorated to severe (D2) drought conditions over the eastern third of Holt County by the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought persisted through the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Atkinson 3SW reported 0.07 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.63 inches below the normal of 0.70 inches. The cooperative observer at O'Neill reported a trace of precipitation for February. This was 0.67 inches below the normal of 0.67 inches.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions deteriorated to severe (D2) drought over far southern and far southwestern portions of Lincoln County in February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought conditions were present. The cooperative observer at Hershey 5 SSE reported 0.26 inches of precipitation in February. This was 0.17 inches below the normal of 0.43 inches. The cooperative observer at Wallace 2W reported 0.09 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.47 inches below the normal of 0.56 inches. At the North Platte Regional Airport, 0.32 inches of precipitation was reported. This was 0.25 inches below the normal of 0.57 inches. The cooperative observer at Brady reported 0.34 inches of precipitation for February.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions, deteriorated to severe (D2) drought conditions over the northern half of Hayes County by the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought persisted. The cooperative observer at Hayes Center reported 0.03 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.50 inches below the normal of 0.53 inches.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions, deteriorated to severe (D2) drought conditions over the northwestern quarter of Frontier County by the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought persisted through the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Curtis reported 0.02 inches of precipitation in February. This was 0.49 inches below the normal of 0.51 inches. The cooperative observer at Eustis 2NW reported 0.13 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.71 inches below the normal of 0.84 inches.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across most of the southern half of Sheridan County through the end of February. Across the northern half of the county, Moderate (D1) drought conditions persisted. A small portion of far southwestern Sheridan County, transitioned from severe (D2) to extreme (D3) drought conditions by the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Gordon 6N reported 0.32 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.30 inches below the normal of 0.62 inches.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across the southwestern corner of Western Cherry County through the end of February. The cooperative observer at Kilgore 1NE reported 0.30 inches of precipitation in February. The cooperative observer at Mullen 22N reported 0.05 inches of precipitation for February.
Severe (D2) drought conditions, deteriorated to extreme (D3) drought conditions over western, central and northwestern Garden County by the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) and severe (D2) drought conditions persisted through the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Crescent Lakes NWR reported 0.08 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.34 inches below the normal of 0.42 inches. The cooperative observer at Oshkosh 8SW reported 0.08 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.39 inches below the normal of 0.47 inches. The cooperative station at Oshkosh 10NE reported 0.19 inches of precipitation in February.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across all of Grant County through the end of February.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across the western half Hooker County through the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought persisted through the end of the month.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted across northwestern Arthur County through the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought conditions persisted. The cooperative observer at Arthur reported 0.12 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.35 inches below the normal of 0.47 inches.
Severe (D2) drought conditions persisted over the western quarter of Deuel County through the end of February. Moderate (D1) drought conditions were present over the remainder of Deuel County through the end of the month.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions deteriorated to severe (D2) drought conditions over the southern third of Keith County by the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought was present. The cooperative observer at Ogallala reported 0.26 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.32 inches below the normal of 0.58 inches. The cooperative observer at Kingsley Dam reported 0.33 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.28 inches below the normal of 0.61 inches.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions, deteriorated to severe (D2) drought conditions across all of Perkins County by the end of February.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions, deteriorated to severe (D2) drought conditions over the northern half of Chase County by the end of February. Over the remainder of the county, moderate (D1) drought conditions persisted through the end of the month. At the Imperial Airport, a trace of precipitation was reported. This was 0.36 inches below the normal of 0.36 inches. The cooperative observer at Imperial reported 0.05 inches of precipitation for February. This was 0.51 inches below the normal of 0.51 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nebraska in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Nebraska, February 2026
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: 1318934, 1318935, 1318951, 1318959, 1318961, 1318932, 1318933, 1318936, 1318938, 1318939, 1318940, 1318943, 1318947, 1318954, 1318957.