Winter Storm — Douglas, Nebraska

2009-12-07 to 2009-12-09 · Douglas, Nebraska

Event narrative

Snowfall of 8 to 12 inches fell across much of the county from this storm with a little over 12 inches measured at the NWS office in Valley, 9.4 inches measured at Omaha Eppley and around 10.5 inches measured in Bennington and at Boystown. The snow began during the late evening of 12/7 and continued into the early morning hours of 12/9. Winds were not that strong when the snow started, but north winds increased during the afternoon of 12/8 and especially that evening into the next morning. Frequent wind gusts of 40 mph or more were observed with a peak gust of 52 mph measured by the ASOS at Omaha Eppley. The winds produced considerable blowing and drifting snow with blizzard conditions during the evening and early morning hours of the 8th and 9th. Some county roads were drifted shut and interstate on-ramps and residential roads were difficult to keep open.

An elderly man was found dead outside an Omaha apartment complex late on the 8th after he had sought help for car trouble and then evidently sat down in a chair outdoors, according to police. A 28-year-old woman was killed late on the 8th when she was hit by a snowplow that was backing up outside of her southwest Omaha apartment complex and a 63-year-old man died of a heart attack on the 9th after shoveling snow outside of his northwest Omaha home. The weight of the snow damaged several roofs of businesses in Omaha and also caused the city to spend over $500,000 in equipment rental for snow removal besides over $1 million in actual snow removal expenses.

Wider weather episode

A large and relatively slow moving storm brought a prolonged winter storm and even, for a time, blizzard conditions to eastern Nebraska and western Iowa from late on Dec. 7th through the early morning hours of Dec. 9th. The storm was driven by an upper level disturbance that tracked from the west coast across the Rockies and deepened over the Mississippi River Valley. The heaviest snow fell in advance of when the stronger winds arrived, mainly during the morning and afternoon of Dec. 8th. However, as north winds increased to 30 to 50 mph during the night of the 8th and early on the 9th, visibilities frequently dropped to near zero, especially in open areas. Considerable drifting snow also occurred, in many cases closing roads back shut almost as fast as they could be opened. This prompted many counties to pull snow plows off the roads for a while during the night of the 8th and early on the 9th. Many schools were closed for 3 days because of the storm; due the forecast of heavy snow to begin on the 7th, because of poor visibilities and roads that were drifted shut on the 8th and still some closed roads and bitter cold wind chills which followed the storm on the 9th. An elderly Omaha man was found dead during the evening of the 8th when he apparently had car trouble and returned to his apartment and was found dead sitting down in a chair outside.

Total snowfall from the storm was 6 to 15 inches over most of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Higher amounts in eastern Nebraska included 15 inches in Union, 14 inches in Columbus, around 12 inches at the NWS in Valley, at Tekamah, Uehling, Steele City and Weeping Water. In western Iowa heavier amounts included 12 inches in Clarinda and Hastings and around 11 inches in Harlan, Red Oak and Little Sioux.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 200527. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.