National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

The last few days of 2010 finally brought the first widespread accumulating snow of the season to much of South Central Nebraska and North Central Kansas, as a powerful upper level low pressure system tracked across the region, following a path from northeast Colorado to southeast South Dakota. The first piece of this storm affected northwest parts of the NWS Hastings County Warning Area (CWA) with some light snow and freezing rain on Thursday, Dec. 30th. However, the main event affected the area during the pre-dawn and daytime hours on Friday, Dec. 31st, with accumulating snow ending in most places by early afternoon. Due to the fact that the main part of the storm tracked west-northwest of the area, the heaviest snow, strongest winds, and worst visibilities focused across northern and western Nebraska into the Dakotas. However, as seen in the map and list of snowfall reports below, the majority of the NWS Hastings CWA picked up a solid 1-3" of snow, with northwest areas generally from Ord to Gothenburg reporting higher amounts in the 4-6" range, resulting in a snow-covered start to the New Year.

Please note: The snowfall amounts listed below and depicted on the map are a mix of official measurements, along with approximations from law enforcement and spotters, and reflect the best available data. The map does not reflect snowfall totals outside the NWS Hastings CWA. 

THE TOTALS BELOW ARE SEPARATED BY AMOUNT...AND ARE INITIAL REPORTS   
OF ESTIMATED STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.  
 
SNOW REPORTS LISTED BY AMOUNT  
 
INCHES  LOCATION                 ST  COUNTY           TIME  
------  -----------------------  --  --------------   -------  
  6.00   ORD                      NE  VALLEY           0400 PM  
 
  4.50   5 NNW GOTHENBURG         NE  DAWSON           0400 PM  
 
  4.50   COZAD                    NE  DAWSON           0415 PM  
 
  4.00   RED CLOUD                NE  WEBSTER          0400 PM  
  
  4.00   GREELEY                  NE  GREELEY          0400 PM  
 
  4.00   2 W ORLEANS              NE  HARLAN           0600 PM  
 
  3.50   HOLDREGE                 NE  PHELPS           0600 PM  
 
  3.00   GRAND ISLAND             NE  HALL             0600 PM  
 
  3.00   BEAVER CITY              NE  FURNAS           0400 PM  
 
  3.00   KEARNEY                  NE  BUFFALO          0400 PM  
 
  3.00   FULLERTON                NE  NANCE            0400 PM  
 
  3.00   LOUP CITY                NE  SHERMAN          0400 PM  
 
  3.00   ST. PAUL                 NE  HOWARD           0600 PM  
 
  3.00   MINDEN                   NE  KEARNEY          0600 PM  
 
  2.50   OSBORNE                  KS  OSBORNE          0600 PM  
 
  2.40   HASTINGS                 NE  ADAMS            0400 PM  
 
  2.30   SMITH CENTER             KS  SMITH            0400 PM  
 
  2.00   ALTON                    KS  OSBORNE          0400 PM  
 
  2.00   8 S ELWOOD               NE  GOSPER           0400 PM  
 
  2.00   AURORA                   NE  HAMILTON         0600 PM  
 
  1.50   PHILLIPSBURG             KS  PHILLIPS         0600 PM  
 
  1.00   DAMAR                    KS  ROOKS            0600 PM  
 
  1.00   YORK                     NE  YORK             0600 PM  

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.TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON  
   
.DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.  
 
            ..REMARKS..  
 
0600 PM     SNOW             YORK                    40.87N 97.60W   
12/31/2010  E1.0 INCH        YORK               NE   TRAINED SPOTTER   
 
0600 PM     SNOW             DAMAR                   39.32N 99.58W   
12/31/2010  E1.0 INCH        ROOKS              KS   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0600 PM     SNOW             2 W ORLEANS             40.13N 99.49W   
12/31/2010  M4.0 INCH        HARLAN             NE   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0600 PM     SNOW             HOLDREGE                40.44N 99.38W   
12/31/2010  E3.5 INCH        PHELPS             NE   LAW ENFORCEMENT   
 
0600 PM     SNOW             MINDEN                  40.50N 98.95W   
12/31/2010  E3.0 INCH        KEARNEY            NE   LAW ENFORCEMENT   
 
0600 PM     SNOW             ST. PAUL                41.21N 98.46W   
12/31/2010  E3.0 INCH        HOWARD             NE   LAW ENFORCEMENT   
 
0600 PM     SNOW             OSBORNE                 39.44N 98.70W   
12/31/2010  E2.5 INCH        OSBORNE            KS   TRAINED SPOTTER   
 
0600 PM     SNOW             AURORA                  40.87N 98.00W   
12/31/2010  E2.0 INCH        HAMILTON           NE   LAW ENFORCEMENT   
 
0600 PM     SNOW             PHILLIPSBURG            39.75N 99.32W   
12/31/2010  E1.5 INCH        PHILLIPS           KS   LAW ENFORCEMENT   
 
0415 PM     SNOW             COZAD                   40.86N 99.99W   
12/31/2010  E4.5 INCH        DAWSON             NE   TRAINED SPOTTER   
 
0400 PM     SNOW             8 S ELWOOD              40.47N 99.86W   
12/31/2010  E2.0 INCH        GOSPER             NE   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0400 PM     SNOW             ORD                     41.60N 98.93W   
12/31/2010  E6.0 INCH        VALLEY             NE   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0400 PM     SNOW             ALTON                   39.47N 98.95W   
12/31/2010  E2.0 INCH        OSBORNE            KS   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0400 PM     SNOW             SMITH CENTER            39.78N 98.78W   
12/31/2010  E2.3 INCH        SMITH              KS   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0400 PM     SNOW             GREELEY                 41.55N 98.53W   
12/31/2010  E4.0 INCH        GREELEY            NE   TRAINED SPOTTER   
 
0400 PM     SNOW             LOUP CITY               41.28N 98.97W   
12/31/2010  E3.0 INCH        SHERMAN            NE   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0400 PM     SNOW             FULLERTON               41.36N 97.97W   
12/31/2010  E3.0 INCH        NANCE              NE   CO-OP OBSERVER    
 
0400 PM     SNOW             HASTINGS                40.59N 98.39W   
12/31/2010  M2.4 INCH        ADAMS              NE   NWS EMPLOYEE      
 
0400 PM     SNOW             KEARNEY                 40.70N 99.08W   
12/31/2010  E3.0 INCH        BUFFALO            NE   LAW ENFORCEMENT       
 
0400 PM     SNOW             5 NNW GOTHENBURG        41.00N 100.20W  
12/31/2010  M4.5 INCH        DAWSON             NE   TRAINED SPOTTER   
 
0400 PM     SNOW             RED CLOUD               40.09N 98.52W   
12/31/2010  E4.0 INCH        WEBSTER            NE   TRAINED SPOTTER   
 
0400 PM     SNOW             BEAVER CITY             40.14N 99.83W   
12/31/2010  E3.0 INCH        FURNAS             NE   EMERGENCY MNGR    
  
0600 PM     SNOW             GRAND ISLAND            40.92N 98.37W   
12/31/2010  M3.0 INCH        HALL               NE   CO-OP OBSERVER    

This page was composed by the staff at the National Weather Service in Hastings, Nebraska.