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Severe Weather in the Central and Southern Plains; Rain and Mountain Snow in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies

A powerful storm is expected to bring periods of heavy rain, gusty winds, and the potential for severe thunderstorms throughout the southern to central Plains through Monday. Widespread precipitation and heavy mountain snow is expected across the Northwest and northern Rockies through Monday. Up to a foot of snow is possible across the higher elevations of the Cascades and northern Rockies. Read More >

- For an interactive/customizable view of daily, monthly, year-to-date etc. precipitation data, please see the NWS AHPS site:  https://water.weather.gov/precip

For an archive of monthly/annual precipitation maps for the NWS Hastings area, please see the following page: https://www.weather.gov/gid/AnnualPrecipitationHistory


2018 Precipitation Summary for the Entire 30-county NWS Hastings coverage area (including 24 counties in central and south central NE):  
2018 as a whole was a wetter-than-normal year, as roughly 99 PERCENT of the 30-county NWS Hastings coverage area observed at least slightly ABOVE NORMAL precipitation. More specifically, most places finished somewhere between 2-6" above normal. That being said, these annual totals were somewhat skewed by an unusually wet December, which ranked among the Top-3 wettest on record in most places. In some ways, this resulted in the year as a whole looking a bit wetter than it otherwise might have seemed through the typical "rainy season" and agricultural growing season. 

In terms of the outright-wettest and driest official NWS stations within our 6 Kansas counties, 4WNW Plainville (Rooks County) led the way with 39.55", while Logan (Phillips County) was lowest at 30.08" (albeit still well above normal).

When taking into account 30-year normals (and not just the "raw" totals), a few of the overall-wettest official NWS stations (versus normal) in our entire coverage area included: 4WNW Plainville KS (an incredible 14.12" above normal!), Belgrade (11.47" above normal), Covert KS (11.11" above normal) and Jewell KS (10.88" above normal)! In fact, the Plainville station recorded its 3rd-wettest year on record (out of 114). Of the very FEW official NWS cooperative observer sites that were barely drier-than-normal in 2018, they included mainly just a couple of far eastern locations: Geneva (0.47" below normal) and Hebron (0.15" below normal). 

As for the official Tri Cities airport sites at Grand Island, Hastings, and Kearney, all three were 3-6" above normal for the year. While Hastings had the highest actual total (31.06"), Kearney was farthest above its annual normal with 31.01" (5.78" above normal). 


IN SUMMARY: 2018 was an overall-wet year, with the vast majority of the NWS Hastings area receiving between 100-130% of normal annual precipitation. 


2018 ANNUAL PRECIPITATION MAP
(ENTIRE NWS HASTINGS COVERAGE AREA)

Click Image To Enlarge

 



2018 NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
NWS COOPERATIVE OBSERVER PRECIPITATION

(for 6 counties in the NWS Hastings coverage area)

(see bottom tables for winter 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasonal snowfall)


The highest reported amount under each month indicated in BLUE, the lowest amount in RED.

According to 30-year data from NCEI 1981-2010, normal annual precipitation across this six-county area generally ranges from
24-27", with the highest amounts favoring the eastern counties (Jewell/Mitchell).

Station Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2018 Total
Alton 2SW 0.41 0.29 1.11 0.77 MSG MSG MSG MSG MSG MSG MSG MSG MSG
Beloit 0.17 0.50 0.51 1.09 7.48 3.67 3.80 2.49 5.71 6.02 1.12 3.45 36.01
Burr Oak 1N 0.40 0.46 0.97 0.81 3.31 5.67 2.98 3.64 4.57 5.68 0.59 3.20 32.28
Cawker City 0.31 0.39 0.74 0.92 3.56 5.34 3.03 2.02 7.10 6.21 1.39 3.40 34.41
Covert Rural 0.59 0.20 1.12 0.72 4.89 4.38 4.94 3.78 5.41 6.58 1.78 3.67 38.06
Glen Elder Dam 0.40 0.29 0.55 0.87 3.83 4.26 4.36 2.01 5.94 6.52 0.85 3.31 33.19
Ionia 0.25 0.40 0.76 0.90 3.16 7.73 4.88 2.15 5.40 6.21 0.94 3.19 35.97
Jewell 0.24 0.38 0.88 0.99 3.95 5.70 4.06 3.41 6.69 6.50 0.89 4.01 37.70
Kirwin Dam 0.37 0.45 1.10 1.07 5.76 2.10 5.23 4.09 3.50 4.95 0.62 3.09 32.33
Lebanon 0.26 0.39 1.31 0.80 3.31 7.77 4.38 2.94 4.40 4.60 0.85 3.18 34.19
Logan 0.61 0.46 0.76 0.89 5.43 2.94 6.91 3.35 1.42 3.80 0.56 2.95 30.08
Lovewell Dam 0.19 0.39 0.86 0.90 3.32 6.42 3.94 5.30 6.78 5.73 0.65 3.42 37.90
Natoma 0.50 0.18 0.72 0.74 4.04 5.61 4.51 5.20 5.19 6.35 1.09 2.93 37.06
Phillipsburg 0.70 0.14 0.93 0.89 8.26 2.10 6.75 4.40 1.90 MSG 0.55 2.75 MSG
Plainville 4WNW 1.06 0.30 1.04 0.98 5.35 7.40 6.16 4.53 4.00 5.18 1.15 2.40 39.55
Smith Center 0.32 0.31 1.05 0.91 2.62 6.33 3.98 3.25 3.88 4.61 0.62 3.16 31.04
Webster Dam 0.83 0.23 0.72 0.67 6.67 7.37 4.30 3.60 3.95 4.59 0.67 3.57 37.17

 



WINTER 2017-2018 NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
COOPERATIVE OBSERVER SNOWFALL

The highest reported amount under each month indicated in BLUE, the lowest amount in RED.
T* indicated hail was reported during the month.

Station Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Season
Alton 2SW 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 3.0 5.0 T 1.0 0.0 11.0
Beloit 0.0 0.0 T 1.5 3.0 7.5 0.0 T 0.0 12.0
Burr Oak 1N 0.0 0.0 0.2 2.6 5.7 8.6 T 3.2 0.0 20.3
Cawker City 0.0 0.0 T 1.0 1.0 3.9 0.0 1.7 0.0 7.6
Covert Rural 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.0 7.5 2.5 1.0 0.0 0.0 15.0
Glen Elder Dam 0.0 0.0 T 1.0 1.0 MSG 0.0 MSG 0.0 MSG
Ionia 0.0 0.0 T 1.1 1.9 6.2 T 1.7 0.0 10.9
Jewell 0.0 0.0 T 1.5 4.2 7.0 1.0 2.0 0.0 15.7
Kirwin Dam 0.0 0.0 T 1.5 3.0 6.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.9
Lebanon 0.0 0.0 0.1 1.7 3.5 7.8 T 2.5 0.0 15.6
Logan T* T T 2.0 5.0 7.0 T 1.0 0.0 15.0
Lovewell Dam 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.4 1.0 MSG 0.0 MSG 0.0 MSG
Natoma 0.0 0.0 1.0 2.5 6.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 14.5
Phillipsburg 0.0 0.0 0.7 1.3 5.1 0.9 0.1 1.0 0.0 9.1
Plainville 4WNW 0.0 0.0 0.3 4.0 10.8 4.8 2.3 0.7 0.0 22.9
Smith Center 0.0 0.0 0.2 2.0 3.5 7.6 T 2.0 0.0 15.3
Webster Dam 0.0 0.0 T 3.5 5.0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 12.5

 



WINTER 2018-2019 NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
COOPERATIVE OBSERVER SNOWFALL

The highest reported amount under each month indicated in BLUE, the lowest amount in RED.
T* indicated hail was reported during the month.

Station Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Season
Beloit 0.0 0.5 9.5 3.0 9.0 13.1 3.0 0.0 0.0  38.1
Burr Oak 1N 0.0 1.4 4.6 1.6 8.1 11.7 6.5 T T* 33.9
Cawker City 0.0 2.0 7.5 1.0 5.6 9.5 3.0 0.0 0.0 28.6
Covert Rural 0.0 3.0 5.0 8.5 10.0 13.0 5.1 0.0 0.0 44.6
Glen Elder Dam 0.0 T 5.0 2.0 5.9 MSG MSG 0.0 0.0 MSG 
Ionia 0.0 2.5 7.4 2.2 5.7 10.4 4.5 T 0.0 32.7
Jewell 0.0 2.0 9.0 6.0 7.0 MSG MSG 2.0 0.0 MSG
Kirwin Dam 0.0 MSG 3.5 2.3 7.3 10.8 3.0 0.5 0.0 MSG
Lebanon 0.0 2.0 6.2 4.0 7.4 11.8 7.1 T T* 38.5
Logan 0.0 1.5 3.0 4.0 6.0 6.0 4.0 1.0 T* 25.5
Lovewell Dam 0.0 1.0 4.0 2.0 8.5 11.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 28.5
Natoma 0.0 3.0 7.5 3.0 7.0 10.0 4.4 T 0.0 34.9
Phillipsburg 0.0 MSG MSG 2.9 6.6 9.1 3.1 1.5 0.0 MSG
Plainville 4WNW 0.0 3.1 12.1 2.8 10.6 12.3 5.5 T T* 46.4
Smith Center 0.0 1.2 5.8 2.4 7.0 12.4 7.0 1.0 0.0 36.8
Webster Dam 0.0 1.1 3.7 MSG 9.1 9.7 MSG T 0.0 MSG

 
( )... Partial month total due to some missing data

MSG...Missing due to incomplete and/or inaccurate data

(*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.ncei.noaa.gov)

 

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