Winter Weather — Hall, Nebraska

2018-04-01 · Hall, Nebraska

Event narrative

A snowfall total of 4.0 inches was measured one mile east southeast of Doniphan. Also, a public report of 2.7 inches occurred 3 miles west southwest of Grand Island. Snow and slick roads contributed to a fatal automobile accident in the morning in Grand Island.

Wider weather episode

Snow is not usually associated with Easter, but this Sunday looked and felt a lot more like winter than early spring across South Central Nebraska...albeit more so in some places than others. While most of the 24-county area received at least a dusting up to a few inches, a fairly narrow, roughly 15-25 mile wide corridor accumulated markedly higher amounts ranging generally 4-11. The heart of this band was oriented west-northwest to east-southeast, centered roughly along a line from Elwood-Minden-Blue Hill-Bruning. According to reports from a variety of official and unofficial sources, some of the highest totals concentrated near the Fillmore-Thayer County line, featuring: 11.0 at Carleton, 10.8 near Belvidere and 9.5 near Shickley. Totals from a few larger towns in and near this main band included: 8 in Minden and 6 in Holdrege, Blue Hill and Clay Center. Lower amounts within the northern and southern fringes of the band included: 5.1 at NWS Hastings, 3.8 at Kearney and 3.4 in Hebron. Despite fairly hefty snow amounts in some spots, this event was relatively low impact, with little-to-no blowing and drifting thanks to winds averaging 10 MPH-or-less. However, slick roads did contribute to a single-fatality traffic accident on the northeast side of Grand Island.

As for timing, the majority of snow accumulated during the pre-dawn hours, starting in western counties around midnight and steadily spreading east within a few hours. After daybreak, mainly light snow hung on several more hours, ending in the west generally between 10 AM-noon CDT, and vacating far southeast areas around Hebron by 2 PM CDT. Turning to the meteorology behind this Easter event, this was a fairly textbook case of pronounced mid-level frontogenesis migrating across the Central Plains in broad west-northwest flow, especially evident around 700 millibars. At the surface, a sharp cold front had passed through on March 31st, ushering in an unseasonably-cold airmass. By the time snow broke out, a strong high pressure system (nearly 1030 millibars) settled into the region, keeping winds light. Although not record-breaking, high temperatures on the 1st averaged around 30 degrees below normal, with most of South Central Nebraska only topping out a few degrees either side of 30 F.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 752857. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.