Ice Storm — Merrick, Nebraska

2006-12-29 to 2006-12-31 · Merrick, Nebraska

Wider weather episode

A wide variety of significant winter weather began impacting portions of south central Nebraska during the day on Friday (12/29) and continued through Saturday night (12/30), before exiting the area on Sunday (12/31). Freezing rain, sleet, and snow began Friday afternoon in portions of Dawson county, with snowfall amounts as high as 9 inches. By Friday night most of the precipitation had turned to sleet and freezing rain, pressing further east to around highway 281. This led to significant ice accumulations which continued through Saturday night. The areas just west of Grand Island and Hastings received significant ice accrual from the storm, with up to an inch of ice reported from Wood River and Juniata. Many locations received at least one half inch of ice. The deposits of ice have caused widespread tree damage, along with power outages, and damage to power lines and poles.

Snowfall reports up to Sunday morning showed the heaviest snowfall fell west of a line from Greeley to Alma. Several small towns were running via generators. The town of Holdrege was expecting to finally have the transmission lines repaired and switched from generator to commercial power on January 17.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 9911. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.