Winter Weather — Webster, Nebraska

2024-03-25 to 2024-03-26 · Webster, Nebraska

Event narrative

Measured and estimated snowfall totals ranged from 1 to 4 inches.

Wider weather episode

During mainly a 28-hour period centered between 3 a.m. CDT on Monday the 25th and 7 a.m. CDT on Tuesday the 26th, the 24-county South Central Nebraska area endured its last hurrah of wintry precipitation for the 2023-24 season (preceded by its first brief taste of severe thunderstorms on Sunday the 24th). While all locations saw at least minimal snow and a glaze of ice (along with relentless north-northwest winds frequently gusting at least 35-50 MPH), there was a considerable west-east disparity in snow amounts and overall impacts. By far the worst impacts concentrated within most counties west of Highway 281 (along with Greeley/Howard counties along 281). These 11 counties not only picked up the overall-highest snowfall of 3-8 inches, but also endured intermittent blizzard conditions...prompting the closure of Interstate 80 from Kearney westward to Ogallala for roughly 24 hours starting on the morning of the 25th. In addition, some power outages occurred (included one noted by the NWS Cooperative Observer in Greeley). To the east and south of the hardest-hit counties, snow totals and resultant impacts were lower, but certainly not zero. Within especially Hall, Adams, Webster, Franklin, Nuckolls and Thayer counties, snowfall of 1-3 was common, along with intermittent freezing drizzle. Finally, farther east yet, most counties along the Highway 81/Highway 14 corridors received very minimal snow (1 or less), but intermittent freezing drizzle especially during the late afternoon-evening of the 25th slickened some roads. As for official snow amounts within South Central Nebraska, a few of the highest measurements per dozens of NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers featured: 8 near Arcadia, 7 near Elba, 6.5 six miles southwest of Lexington and eight miles north-northeast of Scotia, and 6.4 in St. Paul. Across the Tri Cities, official totals ranged from 5 in Kearney, to only 2.2/1.9 at Grand Island and Hastings, respectively. Backing up a bit, although thunderstorms took a considerable backseat to the aforementioned wintry weather, the very early stages of this system prompted the first few Severe Thunderstorm Warnings of 2024 within South Central Nebraska. Between 4-7 p.m. CDT on Sunday the 24th, there were a few instances of mainly dime to nickel size hail within Furnas and Gosper counties, along with a few larger stones to half dollar size reported along Highway 283 in far southern Furnas County. This marginally-severe hail was fueled by modest CAPE of 500-1000 J/kg, although instability quickly dwindled after dark as increasingly-colder air poured in.

Delving deeper into this event's meteorological background and timing, the main feature in the mid-upper levels was a large-scale trough that tracked along a path centered from Colorado on the afternoon of the 24th, into the heart of Nebraska/Kansas on the 25th, and to Iowa by daybreak on the 26th. At the surface, a strong low pressure center (ranging mainly 986-992 millibars) progressed from far southeastern Colorado on the afternoon of the 24th, to northeast Kansas by daybreak on the 25th, to the IA/MN/WI border area by the morning of the 26th. With South Central Nebraska positioned slightly north-through-west of this low pressure track, strong north-northwest winds were the norm...driving the intermittent blizzard conditions. Temperatures within the area through most of the snow event were between 20-30 F. Although the primary upper level/surface features were fairly straightforward, the resultant precipitation bands were a bit complex, with the vast majority of snow falling in two distinct rounds with a multi-hour break in between (especially within the hardest hit western/northern counties). First off, an initial expansive precipitation shield...which started as rain/embedded thunderstorms but gradually transitioned to snow (especially west of Highway 281)...enveloped South Central Nebraska mainly between 4 p.m. CDT on the 24th and 9 a.m. CDT on the 25th. During this time, the vast majority of the 24-county area accumulated between 0.50-1.50 of total liquid equivalent precipitation (rain+snow), with snowfall of 1-4 common in western/northern counties. Then, primarily between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. CDT on the 25th, there was a distinct, area-wide lull in accumulating snow , although pockets of freezing drizzle were noted. Finally, between 3 p.m. CDT on the 25th and 7 a.m. on the 26th, a widespread snow shield (with embedded bands of varying intensity) redeveloped and pivoted over the area, before gradually departing the domain from west to between 1 a.m. CDT and sunrise. In the wake of this storm, the fresh snow cover did not blanket the landscape for long, as high temperatures into the 40s on the 27th and 60s on the 28th sparked a rapid melt.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1169597. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.