Winter Weather — Furnas, Nebraska

2024-03-07 to 2024-03-08 · Furnas, Nebraska

Event narrative

Snowfall amounts ranged from a trace to 3 inches across the county.

Wider weather episode

Mainly between midnight and 2 p.m. on Friday the 8th, several snow bands of varying intensity gradually shifted from west-to-east and north-to-south across South Central Nebraska, prompting highly variable snow amounts, with some places hardly seeing a flake while others were slammed with localized heavier bands that dumped at least 6-10 inches. In addition, north winds commonly sustained 15-25 MPH and gusting 30-35 MPH prompted significantly reduced visibility within the heaviest bands, including near-blizzard conditions with visibility down to one-half to one-quarter mile for brief periods. Despite some winter weather impacts within parts of this 24-county area, western parts of South Central Nebraska barely missed out on higher impacts, as an incredible snow band of at least 12-17 buried parts of nearby Lincoln/Custer counties. Primarily due to this very heavy snow just west and northwest of the local area, but also with some contribution from snow within South Central Nebraska itself, Interstate 80 closed from Kearney westward to Ogallala for much of the day before reopening later in the afternoon. As for snow amounts within this 24-county domain, measurements from dozens of NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers, along with NOHRSC analysis and visible satellite data, clearly revealed a complex and varied tapestry. However, for the most part, the overall-highest totals (widespread 1-5 and localized 6+) fell within counties along the Interstate 80 and Highway 6 corridors. This included the Tri Cities (Grand Island/Hastings/Kearney), where official NWS observations registered between 2-4. However, within these two rows of counties, there were three distinct, very localized patches of real estate that piled up notably higher totals into the 6-10 range (visible satellite imagery from the 10th clearly revealed these particular areas, given that snow had largely melted away from the rest of South Central Nebraska by that time). These small zones of heaviest snow were as follows: 1) a portion of northern Buffalo County, where totals between 6-10 fell in the Miller/Pleasanton areas...2) roughly the northwestern quadrant of Adams County, where as much as 10 was reported in the Juniata area...3) although lacking any official ground-truth measurements, satellite data confirmed that a narrow, west-east sliver of Fillmore County (generally in the Fairmont area) likely also picked up at least 6. Meanwhile, within counties both north of Interstate 80 and also south of Highway 6, totals primarily ranged from only a dusting up to around 3. In fact, the majority of the following counties saw merely a trace to one-half inch: Greeley, Howard, Nance, Merrick, Polk...along with mainly southern parts of Nuckolls and Thayer. Adding to the complexity of snow measurements was the fact that high temperatures climbed into the mid 30s to low-40s (F) on the afternoon of the 8th after snow ended, causing some it to melt before it could be fully accounted for.

Taking a closer look at event timing and meteorological background, for far western areas (areas near/west of Highway 183), the majority of snow accumulated between midnight and sunrise. However, for especially those hardest-hit counties along the Interstate 80/Highway 6 corridors, it was more of an even-split between pre-dawn and daylight snowfall. While the majority of South Central Nebraska saw snow fizzle down to little more than flurries by noon, one final, west-east oriented band of heavier snow sank southward across primarily Adams/Clay/Fillmore counties between 12-2 p.m. before diminishing in intensity. Scattered flurries hung on here or there a few hours longer, but by this time all truly accumulating snow had ended. In the big picture of the mid-upper levels the main player was a large-scale, positively tilted trough lumbering across the entire central United States. However, on the finer scale over Nebraska, things were complicated by difficult-to-resolve, smaller-scale waves embedded within the larger-scale trough, along with transient areas of mid-level frontogenetical banding that clearly drove the aforementioned bullseyes of heavy snow. Things were more straightforward at the surface, as the moderately-strong north winds were driven by a decent pressure gradient between a roughly 1028 millibar high centered over the Dakotas and a roughly 1004 millibar low over central Texas. Temperatures within South Central Nebraska through most of this event hovered between 25-30 F.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1167888. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.