Winter Weather — Hamilton, Nebraska

2019-02-19 to 2019-02-20 · Hamilton, Nebraska

Event narrative

An Indiana man (a passenger in a Jeep) sustained fatal injuries from an 11-vehicle pileup (mostly involving semi trucks) on eastbound Interstate 80 between Giltner and Aurora, near mile marker 328. The crash occurred around 9:10 a.m., around the time the last light flurries of the snow were ending. In addition to the fatality, two other non life-threatening injuries occurred. The State Patrol attributed slick road conditions to the accident, which closed the eastbound lanes for about three hours.

Based on snowfall reports from nearby counties and NOHRSC snowfall analysis maps, most of Hamilton County likely received 2-4 of snow.

Wider weather episode

For the third time in five days, South Central Nebraska saw a moderate snow event, this one peaking in intensity on the late afternoon-evening of Tuesday the 19th and lingering into the morning of Wednesday the 20th before ending. On a positive note, in most areas this one again only featured modest-impacts, with accumulations primarily only in the 2-5 range, and blowing/drifting held to a relative minimum thanks to easterly winds only averaging (at most) 10-15 MPH. However, this event was unfortunately marred by a deadly multi-vehicle accident along Interstate 80 in Hamilton County that actually occurred around the time of the very last flurries on the morning of the 20th. An Indiana man (a passenger in a Jeep) sustained fatal injuries from an 11-vehicle pileup between the Giltner and Aurora exits, mostly involving semi trucks. The State Patrol attributed slick road conditions to the accident.

Focusing more specifically on snowfall totals, some of the highest per dozens of CoCoRaHS and NWS cooperative observers featured 5.7 at Greeley, 5.5 near Genoa, 5.1 at Ord and 4.6 at St. Paul. However, amounts over 4 were the exception across the 24-county as a whole, with most places (including the Tri Cities) tallying between 2.5 and 4.0. Timing-wise, the vast majority of accumulation occurred between 5 p.m. on the 19th and 5 a.m. on the 20th, with only pockets of light snow/flurries lingering through mid-morning before ending. In the mid-upper levels, this event was driven by a potent shortwave trough swinging north-northeast through the Central Plains, along the front-side of a larger-scale, high-amplitude trough anchored over the Rockies. At the surface, temperatures averaged 15-20 F during most of the snow, with the aforementioned, relatively-light easterly winds fostered by return-flow around the western fringes of an expansive ridge centered over the northeastern United States.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 808917. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.