A Look Back At The 2015-16 Snowfall Season (With Area Totals and Graphics)

With the upcoming 2016-2017 winter season soon upon us (ready or not!), it's time to rewind to last winter and take a look back at the 2015-2016 snowfall season across the 30-county NWS Hastings coverage area (for climatological record purposes, the annual snowfall season officially 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 2015-2016 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

The 2015-2016 snowfall season was highlighted/defined by the following:

With only limited exceptions (see maps and tables below), the majority of the NWS Hastings coverage area actually had a fairly "normal" amount of snow last winter (meaning most places ended up within 3-6" of normal). If anything, most Nebraska counties averaged a few inches above normal, but nothing too "dramatic". The biggest exception to the near-normal theme was in the extreme southeast corner of our local area (especially Mitchell County KS) where totals averaged over 10" below normal.

Geographically, although this is NOT the case every winter, last winter actually featured what most people might tend to expect, with the overall-highest amounts focused in northern portions of the local area (mainly north of Interstate 80) while the lowest amounts fell in southern counties (mainly North Central Kansas). In general, most local Nebraska counties received somewhere between 22-35", while most local Kansas counties measured between 10-20".
Per NWS Cooperative Observers: Within the 24 South Central Nebraska counties of the NWS Hastings area, the highest 2015-2016 seasonal snowfall was 41.3" at Ord (Valley County), and the lowest total was 17.4" in Naponee (Franklin County).
Per NWS Cooperative Observers: Within the six North Central Kansas counties covered by NWS Hastings, the highest 2015-2016 seasonal snowfall was 19.9" at Phillipsburg (Phillips County), and the lowest total was just 6.5" at Beloit (Mitchell County).
In the Nebraska Tri Cities of Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney, roughly half of the entire season's snow fell during the "Groundhog Day Blizzard" of Feb. 1-2 (see below for more details).

In terms of "notable, big-time" snow events across the area last winter, there was really only one: The "Groundhog Day Blizzard" of Feb. 1-2 that crippled the majority of the NWS Hastings area with generally 8-18" of snow and considerable wind/drifting please refer to the web story links below for more details on the most significant winter weather events of last season

2015-2016 Snowfall Season Event Web Stories
(Click HERE for archive to all web stories)

March 23-24, 2016:	Winter Storm and Strong Winds Affect The Area
Feb. 1-2, 2016:	Major Winter Storm/Blizzard Cripples Most of The Area
Nov. 16-17, 2015:	EF1 Tornado Strikes Furnas County...Followed By Accumulating Snow

Click on image for larger version.


2015-16 Seasonal Snowfall	2015-16 Snowfall Departure From Normal

WINTER 2015-2016 NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
COOPERATIVE OBSERVER SNOWFALL
* The highest reported amount under each month indicated in BLUE, the lowest amount in RED.

Station	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Season
Alton 2SW	0.0	0.0	T	1.0	4.5	5.0	0.9	0.0	0.0	11.4
Beloit	0.0	0.0	T	T	6.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	6.5
Burr Oak 1N	0.0	0.0	0.4	2.9	5.9	9.8	0.2	0.0	0.0	19.2
Cawker City	0.0	0.0	T	0.5	4.0	3.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	7.8
Covert Rural	0.0	0.0	T	5.0	4.0	8.5	1.0	0.0	0.0	18.5
Glen Elder Lake	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.0	MSG	2.0	MSG	0.0	0.0	MSG
Ionia	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.7	6.9	5.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	14.2
Jewell	0.0	0.0	1.3	1.0	6.7	5.5	T	0.0	0.0	14.5
Kirwin Dam	0.0	0.0	T	MSG	MSG	7.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	MSG
Lebanon	0.0	0.0	T	3.8	4.6	10.2	T	0.0	0.0	18.6
Logan	0.0	0.0	T	2.0	5.0	10.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	17.5
Lovewell Dam	0.0	0.0	0.3	MSG	MSG	6.0	MSG	0.0	0.0	MSG
Natoma	0.0	0.0	T	3.0	4.8	8.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	16.8
Phillipsburg	0.0	0.0	0.3	5.0	2.4	12.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	19.9
Plainville 4WNW	0.0	0.0	0.7	4.6	5.1	8.4	1.0	0.0	0.0	19.8
Smith Center	0.0	0.0	0.8	3.3	5.5	8.6	0.5	0.0	0.0	18.7
Webster Dam	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	3.2	10.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	14.5

WINTER 2015-2016 SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
COOPERATIVE OBSERVER SNOWFALL
* The highest reported amount under each month indicated in BLUE, the lowest amount in RED.

Station	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Season
Arcadia	0.0	0.0	6.5	7.5	MSG	11.0	2.5	0.0	0.0	MSG
Aurora 4N	0.0	0.0	4.4	4.6	5.1	12.3	1.6	T	0.0	28.0
Beaver City	0.0	0.0	4.5	4.5	1.0	15.0	T	0.0	0.0	25.0
Belgrade	0.0	0.0	2.5	5.3	5.6	12.2	6.3	T	0.0	31.9
Blue Hill 4SW	0.0	0.0	T	4.0	3.4	14.3	0.7	0.0	0.0	22.4
Bradshaw	0.0	0.0	2.1	5.4	6.9	10.4	1.0	0.0	0.0	25.8
Bruning	0.0	0.0	1.3	MSG	11.1	8.0	T	0.0	0.0	MSG
Cambridge	0.0	0.0	6.6	5.9	1.6	13.2	0.5	0.0	0.0	27.8
Lexington 6SSE (Canaday)	0.0	0.0	6.3	4.8	2.8	10.2	0.5	0.0	0.0	24.6
Central City	0.0	0.0	4.7	2.5	3.6	12.7	2.0	0.0	0.0	25.5
Clay Center 6ESE	0.0	0.0	0.3	4.9	5.1	7.7	0.2	0.0	0.0	18.2
Clay Center	0.0	0.0	0.1	7.3	7.8	12.1	T	0.0	0.0	27.3
Cozad	0.0	0.0	0.5	4.2	2.8	14.8	1.3	0.0	0.0	23.6
Edison	0.0	0.0	3.0	3.0	1.4	12.5	T	0.0	0.0	19.9
Elwood 8S	0.0	0.0	5.7	8.6	1.6	15.6	0.5	0.0	0.0	32.0
Franklin	0.0	0.0	0.5	4.0	2.0	11.5	1.0	0.0	0.0	19.0
Geneva	0.0	0.0	2.3	7.0	10.0	8.5	T	T	0.0	27.8
Genoa 2W	0.0	0.0	3.7	2.0	12.4	12.3	3.0	0.0	0.0	33.4
Grand Island Airport	0.0	0.0	5.6	2.4	4.6	18.6	2.6	0.0	0.0	33.8
Greeley	0.0	0.0	1.7	10.4	2.4	13.6	4.0	T	0.0	32.1
Gresham 3W	0.0	0.0	T	3.5	7.0	11.5	2.0	0.0	0.0	24.0
Harlan County Lake	0.0	0.0	1.0	3.5	2.2	12.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	19.7
Hastings NWS	0.0	0.0	4.2	4.6	5.5	16.0	2.1	0.0	0.0	32.4
Hebron	0.0	0.0	0.7	2.8	9.5	5.5	T	0.0	0.0	18.5
Holdrege	0.0	0.0	2.8	2.0	7.8	16.5	2.5	0.0	0.0	31.6
Hubbell	0.0	0.0	1.0	3.0	12.0	6.0	T	0.0	0.0	22.0
Kearney Airport	0.0	0.0	4.5	1.7	4.0	11.0	3.0	0.0	0.0	24.2
Loup City	0.0	0.0	1.6	6.6	3.5	13.6	1.0	0.0	0.0	26.3
Miller	0.0	0.0	6.8	5.8	5.0	10.2	0.9	0.0	0.0	28.7
Minden	0.0	0.0	1.5	3.0	4.5	15.0	4.0	0.0	0.0	28.0
Naponee	0.0	0.0	T	2.4	2.5	10.7	1.8	0.0	0.0	17.4
Ord	0.0	0.0	5.5	10.5	5.3	12.0	8.0	T	0.0	41.3
Osceola	0.0	0.0	3.6	5.9	6.8	12.1	4.0	T	0.0	32.4
Oxford 6NNW	0.0	0.0	3.3	4.1	2.4	12.1	1.0	0.0	0.0	22.9
Polk	0.0	0.0	3.0	3.8	4.0	11.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	22.3
Ravenna	0.0	0.0	4.5	4.3	3.9	12.2	2.0	0.0	0.0	26.9
Red Cloud	0.0	0.0	T	3.0	3.5	MSG	T	0.0	0.0	MSG
St. Paul	0.0	0.0	3.5	4.1	5.7	14.3	3.2	0.0	0.0	30.8
Shelby 3NE	0.0	0.0	5.1	7.7	9.5	13.3	2.9	0.0	0.0	38.5
Shickley 4S	0.0	0.0	T	2.0	8.0	8.5	T	0.0	0.0	18.5
Superior	0.0	0.0	0.1	4.0	8.3	12.5	T	0.0	0.0	24.9
Wilsonville	0.0	0.0	5.0	5.0	0.5	18.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	29.0
York 3N	0.0	0.0	1.2	6.5	8.0	12.8	2.7	T	0.0	31.2

MSG...All or part of data for the month/season is either missing or considered unrepresentative

(*Please Note: All climate data presented here are preliminary and have not undergone final quality control by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Therefore, these data are subject to revision. Final and certified climate data can be accessed at: WWW.NCDC.NOAA.GOV)

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