Winter Storm — Wayne, Nebraska

2024-01-07 to 2024-01-09 · Wayne, Nebraska

Event narrative

Public snowfall reports of 7 to 11 inches were received the days following this event. The highest snowfall report came out of Wayne where 11 inches of snow was measured. Wind gusts across the county were also estimated to range from 30 to 40 mph, using peak wind gusts from the Wayne METAR site and the Norfolk ASOS station. Those peak wind gusts were 35 miles per hour and 41 miles per hour respectively.

Wider weather episode

A longwave trough over the western CONUS moved out into the central Plains on 1/8. At the surface, a deep low-pressure system developed in the Texas panhandle the morning of the eighth and tracked east-northeast into the mid-Mississippi river valley by the morning of the ninth.

Beginning three in the morning on the eighth, a mesoscale band of snow set up extending from Jefferson County into Thurston County. This band persisted for four to five hours before the main round of snow moved into Eastern Nebraska and western Iowa from the south. While heavy snow fell across most of eastern Nebraska for the duration of the event, dry air across portions of east-central Nebraska and southwest Iowa in combination with warm ground temperatures significantly delayed the onset of accumulating snow in and around the Omaha metro. Moderate to heavy snow bands traversed eastern Nebraska and western Iowa after midnight on the ninth and lasted through the morning hours. Strong wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour on the back side of the storm system led to patchy blowing and drifting snow across the entire county warning area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1158305. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.