April 1, 2018: No April Fool's Joke! Heavy Snow Blankets Parts Of South Central Nebraska On Easter Sunday

Overview:

An upper level disturbance sliding across the Central Plains brought a narrow band of heavy snow to portions of the NWS Hastings coverage area (see map here) Saturday night into at least the first half of the day on Easter Sunday (also April Fool's Day).

Snowfall started working into the area from the west-northwest shortly before midnight, spreading east-southeast across the heart of south central Nebraska by 2 AM. The heaviest snowfall set up in a narrow band approximately 20-30 miles wide, running roughly from Gosper County to the Fillmore/Thayer County line. In this band, snowfall totals of 6 to 11 inches were common.

Snowfall totals quickly dropped off south of this band, with locations running along/south of a Beaver City, Nebraska to Burr Oak, Kansas line receiving little if any snow. North of the heaviest band, totals tapered off more gradually, with locations including Ord and York topping out at just over 1 inch.

Thankfully, wind was not a significant factor with this snowfall. East-northeast winds topped out around 10 MPH, helping keep significant reductions in visibility confined to the narrow band of heaviest snow. While some slick spots occurred, especially into the early morning hours of Sunday/Easter morning, by mid-late afternoon snow had melted off of area roadways and travel impacts were minimal/if any.

(Please refer to the tabs below for more detailed information regarding this event, including maps, tables and photos from our social media pages)

NWS Radar loop from 10 PM on Mar. 31 through 2 PM on Apr. 1. The NWS Hastings coverage area is within the orange outlined area labeled "GID" and Interstate highways are the red lines.

Snow
Photos

Snowfall Information:

The image of storm total snow amounts below was compiled from a combination of reports from
NWS Cooperative Observers and the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)

Storm total (48 hour) snowfall image ending the morning of April 2nd. NOTE: This image a "general estimate" of totals and may not be exact at every location on this map.

The table of storm total snow amounts below was compiled from a combination of reports from
NWS Cooperative Observers and the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)

Location	Snowfall (inches)
2 WSW Tobias	8.0
Minden	8.0
2 ENE Juniata	7.5
Holdrege	6.0
6 ESE Clay Center	5.5
NWS Hastings (4 N Hastings)	5.1
Geneva	5.0
8 S Elwood	4.7
Miller	4.6
7 E Cozad	4.5
Hebron	4.0
Kearney	3.8
Arcadia	3.1
1 E Lexington	2.8
4 SW Bladen	2.5
1 ENE McCool Junction	2.5
4 N Litchefield	2.3
Grand Island	2.0
Ord	1.8
Aurora	1.6
3 N York	1.5

The table below is of "unofficial" snow amounts from various sources, including public and social media.

Location	Snowfall (inches)
Carleton	11.0
3 N Belvidere	10.8
Bruning	9.5
5 N Lawrence	8.5
6 ESE Pauline	8.5
3 S Deweese	8.0
Shickley	8.0
Axtell	8.0
1 W Alexandria	7.5
Blue Hill	7.5
Heartwell	7.0
Davenport	7.0
1 NNE Pauline	6.5
Gothenburg	4.0
Stockham	4.0
1 ESE Doniphan	4.0

Photos:


Pauline, NE photo by Jesse Wirtes	Axtell, NE photo by Shawn Thames	Fairfield, NE photo by Don Olson


Shickley, NE photo by John Plock	Pauline, NE photo by Jesse Wirtes	Edgar, NE photo by Shayla Fuller	Hastings, NE photo by Shawn Rossi


Johnson Lake, NE photo by Kathy Larson	Loomis, NE photo by Charles Rowell	Phelps County photo by Joyce Voigt


Gibbon, NE photo by Denise Fenster	Gothenburg, NE photo by Adam Bean	Hastings, NE photo by Joyce Lovett	Hastings, NE photo by Tiffany Peck


2 South of Aurora, NE photo by Angie Himmelberg Ziggafoos	3 South of Bruning, NE photo by Michelle Naiman Sybrant	8 South of Glenvil, NE photo by Mark Haba	Hastings, NE photo by Rachael Eizabeth Mehaffie

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