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New Year's Day Weather History/Extremes
For Grand Island, NE
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New Year's Day ushers in the climatologically-coldest month of the year - January. However, when examining weather over the past 100+ years, one quickly finds that considerable variability often exists from one year to the next across south central Nebraska and north central Kansas. Just in the past 30 years, New Year's Day high temperatures in Grand Island have ranged from 4° to 61°! The tables below feature a wealth of New Year's Day weather and climate information specifically for Grand Island, Nebraska, where January weather records date back to 1896.
Temperatures: According to the entire period of record, the warmest New Year's Day on record was 64° in 1939 and the coldest low temperature was a bone-chilling -23° in 1974. Only 15-of-121 New Year's Days on record (12%) have featured high temperatures of 50° or warmer, with the most recent one in 2004 at 60°. On the other end of the thermometer, only 18-of-122 New Year's Days on record (15%) have featured highs of 15° or colder, but interestingly, three of these have just occurred within the last five years (2022, 2019, 2018)! However, nothing in recent years topped New Year's 1974 in terms of brutal cold, with a high temperature of only 2° and the aforementioned record-setting low of -23°.
Precipitation/Snowfall: As for wintry precipitation, there really isn't anything "major" in the record books associated with New Year's Day itself. Although much of the local region was dealing with the aftermath of an historical ice storm on New Year's Day 2007, nearly all of the actual precipitation from that storm fell a few days prior (mainly Dec. 29-30, 2006). Snowfall-wise, there are no major winter storms to speak of, with a daily total of "only" 5.4" in 1948 leading the way. Somewhat surprisingly, measurable snow has fallen on New Year's Day only TWICE in the last 23 years, but one of these was just last year with 1.5" (see more details below). As for a few of the higher snow totals when combining New Year's Eve and New Year's Day together, those two days in 1994-95 featured 6.2" of snow in Grand Island, with 3.0" actually falling on New Year's Day 1995. This 1994-1995 event ranks as the second largest two-day combination of New Year's Eve + New Year's Day snow on record, trailing only 7.0" in 1931-1932.
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** New Year's Day 2022 Weather Recap (snowy and FRIGID!) **
Following a pair of seasonable/uneventful New Year's Days in 2020-2021, New Year's Day 2022 took a snowy and FRIGID turn!
The Snow:
A modest total of 1.5" accumulated at Central Nebraska Regional Airport mainly between 7am-1pm. Although this was less snow than expected, it nonetheless made for some dicey travel as snow was whipped around by northerly winds gusting as high as 30-35 MPH. This was the first measurable New Year's Day snow in eight years (since 0.7" in 2014) and was actually the most New Year's Day snow in 27 years (since 3.0" in 1995).
The Bitter Cold:
With a high temperature of only 6º and a low of -4º, the day as a whole averaged out as the 8th-coldest New Year's Day on record (albeit not as cold as New Year's Day 2018 only four years prior). These very cold temperatures combined with the aforementioned gusty north winds to drive wind chill values down into the -15º to -25º range for most of the day.
| Grand Island NE |
Max Temperature |
Min Temperature |
Precipitation |
| 30-Year Normals (1991-2020) |
36 |
16 |
0.02 |
| 10-Year Averages (2013-2022) |
24.8 |
7.7 |
0.01 |
| Grand Island NE New Year's Day Extremes (Since 1896) |
| Warmest New Year's Day On Record (High Temp) |
64° in 1939 |
| Coldest New Year's Day On Record (High Temp) |
-6° in 1924 |
| Coldest Low Temperature |
-23° in 1974 |
| Warmest Low Temperature |
33° in 1998, 1992 |
| Most Liquid Equivalent Precipitation On Record |
0.52" in 1992 |
| Snowiest New Year's Day On Record |
5.4" in 1948 |
Top 5
Warmest Highs |
Top 5
Coldest Lows |
Top 5
Wettest |
Top 5
Snowfall |
Top 5
6 AM Snow Depth
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| 64° (1939) |
-23° (1974) |
0.52" (1992) |
5.4" (1948) |
16" (1969) |
| 61° (1997,1964) |
-16° (2018) |
0.50" (1960) |
4.2" (1960) |
15" (1974) |
| 60° (2004) |
-14° (1928,1924,1912) |
0.35" (1911) |
3.5" (1953) |
13" (2010) |
| 59° (1998) |
-12° (1979) |
0.31" (1953) |
3.0" (1995,1992) |
12" (1984) |
| 56° (1896) |
-10° (1969) |
0.30" (1910) |
2.0" (1919) |
7" (1953,1942) |
| The Last Time _____ Happened On New Year's Day? |
| Last time high temp was at least 50º: 60° in 2004 |
| Last time the high temp was 20° or colder: 14° in 2019 |
| Last time the high temp was 10° or colder: 6° in 2022 |
| Last time the low temp was 0° or colder: -4° in 2022 |
| Last time the low temp was 30° or warmer: 32° in 2006 |
| Last time measurable precipitation fell (0.01" or more): 0.09" in 2022 |
| Last time measurable snow fell (0.1" or more): 1.5" in 2022 |
| Last time it snowed at least 1": 1.5" in 2022 |
| Last time the 6 AM snow depth was at least 1": 3" in 2021 |
In the past 30 years...
- Since 1993, high temperatures on New Year's Day have ranged from 4° (2018) to 61° (1997)
- Since 1993, low temperatures on New Year's Day have ranged from -16° (2018) to 33° (1998)
- Since 1993, the high temperature on New Year's Day has reached 50° or higher only three times (2004,1998,1997)
- Since 1993, the low temperature on New Year's Day has fallen below 0° five times (2022, 2018, 2010, 2001,1995)
- Since 1993, measurable precipitation (0.01" or more) has fallen five times (led by 0.10" in 1999)
- Since 1993, measurable snow (0.1" or more) has fallen only four times (led by 3.0" in 1995)
- Since 1993, morning snow depth (at 6 AM) has been 1" or more 12 times (led by 13" in 2010)
Grand Island, NE - New Year's Day Summary...Last 10 Years
(2013-2022)
| Date |
Max Temperature |
Min Temperature |
Precipitation |
Snowfall |
Snow
Depth
(6AM) |
Weather Conditions |
| 1/1/2013 |
24 |
6 |
0.00 |
0.0 |
5 |
freezing fog in AM |
| 1/1/2014 |
16 |
6 |
0.05 |
0.7 |
0 |
snow during morning |
| 1/1/2015 |
33 |
7 |
0.00 |
0.0 |
1 |
sunny, light breezes |
| 1/1/2016 |
37 |
15 |
0.00 |
0.0 |
1 |
sunny, west breezes |
| 1/1/2017 |
39 |
23 |
0.00 |
0.0 |
0 |
cloudy, SE breezes |
| 1/1/2018 |
4 |
-16 |
0.00 |
0.0 |
4 |
4th-coldest!
(coldest since 1974) |
| 1/1/2019 |
14 |
4 |
0.00 |
0.0 |
1 |
mostly cloudy |
| 1/1/2020 |
39 |
25 |
Trace |
0.0 |
1 |
brief evening rain |
| 1/1/2021 |
36 |
11 |
0.00 |
0.0 |
3 |
dry, fairly "normal" |
| 1/1/2022 |
6 |
-4 |
0.09 |
1.5 |
T |
wind-blown snow
8th-coldest! |
| 10-Year Averages |
24.8 |
7.7 |
0.01 |
0.2 |
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| New Year's Day Extremes...Last 10 Years: Grand Island, NE (2013-2022) |
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| Warmest high temperature: 39° in 2017 |
| Coldest high temperature: 4° in 2018 (6th-coldest on record!) |
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| Coldest low temperature: -16° in 2018 (2nd-coldest on record!) |
| Warmest low temperature: 25° in 2020 |
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| Highest Precipitation: 0.09" in 2022 |
| Highest Snowfall: 1.5" in 2022 |
For more climate related information, check out the following websites:
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