Winter Weather — Cass, Nebraska

2010-02-14 to 2010-02-15 · Cass, Nebraska

Event narrative

Snow, mostly light, combined with northwest winds which increased to 25 to 35 mph. The strong winds and snow caused widespread blowing and drifting snow and poor visibilities beginning on 2/14. The visibilities occasionally dropped to near zero for an hour or two late in the morning of the 14th. The poor visibility caused a 25 car pileup on Interstate 80 near Ashland in which a 20-year-old female was killed when a semi-truck ran into her car which had pulled into the median to avoid other cars which had crashed. Another multi-car pileup was reported on Highway 34. After a temporary break in the afternoon and early evening on the 14th, visibilities deteriorated again late in the evening into the morning of the 15th as light snow picked back up and the strong winds persisted. The drifting snow, icy conditions and poor visibilities caused a pickup truck to roll early in the morning of the 15th killing a 57-year-old male. Snowfall from the storm was only a couple of inches, but extensive snow cover already in place allowed the new snow to easily drift over roads and create the poor visibilities.

Wider weather episode

A quick moving storm brought strong winds and blizzard or near-blizzard conditions to a large part of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on Feb. 14th and 15th. As low pressure aloft dropped southeast across eastern Nebraska early on the 14th, light to moderate snow developed over the region. As the system moved southeast of the area, northwest winds increased to 30 to 45 mph. The combination caused white-out conditions, which in some cases lasted for more than 3 hours, even though storm snow amounts were generally under 2 inches. During the height of the storm there were several multi-car pileups which caused road closures. They included ones on Interstate 80 near the Platte River, and on highways near Cedar Bluffs, Beatrice, David City, Alvo and Milford. The accident on Interstate 80 claimed one life. Another disturbance rotated down along the Missouri River late in the evening on the 14th bringing more light snow as the strong winds continued. Additional snowfall from this disturbance was generally under 1 inch. However, the strong winds continued to cause significant drifting snow in open areas causing more accidents, several of which were fatal, and also caused additional road closures. Many of the closed roads were in northeast Nebraska which also prompted the closure of several area schools.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 208256. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.