With the upcoming 2015-2016 winter season soon upon us (ready or not!), it's time to rewind to last winter and take a look back at the 2014-2015 snowfall season across the 30-county NWS Hastings coverage area, which officially ended back on June 30th (for climatological record purposes, the annual snowfall season runs from July 1st of one year through June 30th of the following year). 
 

Following below are graphics and tables that reflect totals, departures from normal/average etc. for the 2014-2015 snowfall season. Before continuing though, and in order to give last season's snow totals some perspective, official 30-year NCEI normals/averages from 1981-2010 suggest that "normal"/average seasonal snowfall within the local area is:

• 26-30" for most Nebraska counties along and north of Interstate 80
• 20-28" for most Nebraska counties between Interstate 80 and the Kansas border
• 17-23" for the North Central Kansas area

• Geographically, there was roughly a southwest (less snow) versus northeast (more snow) split across the local 30-county area (see graphics below). In general, most locations northeast of a line extending from near Ravenna-Hastings-Hebron totaled 17-25" for the season. In contrast, most places southwest of this line (including North Central Kansas) only received amounts in the 7-17" range.

• Per NWS Cooperative Observers: Within the 24 South Central Nebraska counties of the NWS Hastings area, the highest 2014-2015 seasonal snowfall was 30.9" at St. Paul (Howard County), and the lowest total was merely 6.5" in Franklin (Franklin County).

• Per NWS Cooperative Observers: Within the six North Central Kansas counties covered by NWS Hastings, the highest 2014-2015 seasonal snowfall was 16.0" at Covert (Osborne County), and the lowest total was just 5.3" at Webster Dam (Rooks County). 

• In the Nebraska Tri Cities of Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney, almost half of the entire season's snow fell during a five-day period from Jan. 31-Feb. 4 (see below for more details).

• In terms of "notable", widespread snow events across the area last winter, there were primarily only two:

  • Over the weekend of Jan. 31-Feb. 1, the majority of the local area received at least 2-4" of snow, with most counties near and especially east of the Highway 281 corridor reporting noticeably higher totals generally in the 6-8" range. Per NWS cooperative observers, a few of the highest totals featured 9.0" four miles north of Aurora and 8.4" three miles northeast of Shelby.

  • A few days later on Feb. 4, a "quick-hitting" storm brought a northwest-to-southeast band of snow across the heart of the local area, with the highest amounts in the 4-8" range (and locally higher) targeting a roughly 30-mile wide corridor running from the Sherman County area, then east-southeast through the St. Paul, Grand Island, Central City, Aurora, Osceola and York areas. Within the heart of this band, a few of the highest official snow totals featured 8.7" four miles north of Aurora, 8.2" at Ravenna and 6.1" at Grand Island airport.

  2014-2015 Snowfall Season Event Web Stories
  (Click HERE for archive to all web stories)

  Jan. 7, 2015	Highest Atmospheric Sea Level Pressure On Record At Grand Island
  Jan 31-Feb. 1, 2015:	6-9" Of Snow Falls Across Portions Of South Central Nebraska
  Feb. 4, 2015:	4-9" Of Snow Falls Near And North Of Interstate 80