Nov. 2017: Precipitation/Temperature Summary For Our 30-County Coverage Area (South Central NE/North Central KS)

Recap of November 2017 Weather for the 30-county NWS Hastings Coverage Area: 

- Precipitation: One word pretty much sums up November: DRY! Literally the entire 30-county local area saw below normal precipitation, with most places receiving no more than 0.10-0.30", or roughly 5-30% of normal amounts! Essentially, there were really only two precipitation "events". The first was light snow that targeted counties mainly north of Interstate 80 on the morning of the 7th. The second was a more widespread area of light to locally moderate rain (and even a few embedded thunderstorms) from the evening of the 17th into the morning of the 18th. While most places received no more than 0.20" on this night, a narrow corridor running roughly from Buffalo-northern Hall-Polk counties received as much as 0.30-0.60", including 0.51" at the Grand Island airport. Following are a few of the highest November precipitation totals per NWS/CoCoRaHS observers (please note that many of these totals technically include a little precip that fell on Oct. 31): 0.62" at Stromsburg, 0.59" at Riverdale, 0.60" two miles southeast of Marquette and 0.51" at Grand Island airport. On the extremely dry side of things included the following official NWS observers/stations: 0.05" at Phillipsburg KS, 0.06" two miles west of Genoa and 0.07" at Wilsonville and Harlan Lake.

- Snowfall: Technically, there was only one minor snow "event" during November, occurring mainly on the morning of the 7th and primarily affecting Nebraska counties along and north of Interstate 80. While most affected locations received no more than 1", the NWS observer near Arcadia reported 2.5".  Note: Because most NWS observers report for a 24-hour period ending around 7AM, many official November snow totals also included the Oct. 31 event (see October story narrative for details). As a result, the highest official NWS November snow total in our coverage area was 4.4" near Arcadia. 

- Temperatures: It was truly a "tale of two months". Officially, November as a whole averaged 1.5 to 3º above normal across most of the area. However, this fails to tell the story of a month that began quite cold and ended very warm. More specifically, the first 10 days averaged well-below normal, with several days seeing highs only in the 30s/40s (especially in Nebraska counties). In fact, many places saw one of the Top-10 coldest starts to November on record. Thereafter, temperatures moderated mid-month, setting the stage for a remarkably mild finish. For much of the area, the final 8 to 9 days as a whole ranked among the Top-3 warmest on record, with several days reaching the 60s/70s and even a few 80s south. At both Grand Island and Hastings, new daily record highs were set on the 23rd, 24th, and 27th, with the 23rd featuring the warmest Thanksgiving holiday on record at Grand Island (72º), and likely at several other sites as well.  As for monthly extremes per official NWS observers/stations, some of the warmest readings (all during the last week) featured 83° near both Plainville and Alton KS, 82° at Beloit KS and Beaver City, and 81º at Burr Oak KS. On the opposite end of the thermometer, the coldest lows in most places occurred on the 21st/22nd, featuring as chilly as 7º at Greeley, 9° at Aurora airport and 10º at York airport and Superior. 

- Severe Thunderstorms/High Wind Events: There were no severe thunderstorms during the month, and in fact there was very little thunderstorm activity at all, with the main exception being some sporadic non-severe storms on the evening of the 17th. As for non-thunderstorm high wind events, it was also a relatively benign month. However, the 24th was quite windy from the northwest behind a surging cold front, as most of the area saw peak gusts of at least 50 MPH, and as high as 58 MPH at Ord airport.  

2017 Nebraska Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 45 sites)
2017 Kansas Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 18 sites)
(for the 2017 tables, data for the previous month usually gets updated by around the 15th of the current month)

2016 Nebraska Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 45 sites)
2016 Kansas Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 18 sites)