Feb. 2018: Weather/Climate Summary For Our 30-County Coverage Area (South Central NE/North Central KS)

Recap of February 2018 Weather for the 30-county NWS Hastings Coverage Area: 

February 2018 Precipitation

- Precipitation: Although all places at least received "something" during February, roughly 70% of the total coverage area measured at least slightly below normal precipitation. The overall-driest areas focused near and especially south of the NE/KS border, where several official north central KS stations received no more than 50-70% of their monthly normal. For the roughly 30% of the area that had slightly above normal precipitation (NO locations were significantly above normal), they were scattered throughout various portions of south central Nebraska, including the official Tri Cities airport sites at Grand Island/Hastings/Kearney. For all areas, February precipitation mainly consisted mainly of several minor snow/freezing drizzle events, with the majority of accumulations focused during the colder first half of the month. Per dozens of NWS/CoCoRaHS observers, a few of the highest monthly totals featured: 0.91" at Hebron, 0.82" at St. Paul, 0.77" two miles west of Arcadia and 0.75" at Grand Island airport. On the drier side of the spectrum, some of the lowest official monthly totals included: 0.14" at Phillipsburg KS, 0.18" at Natoma KS, 0.20" at Covert KS and 0.22" three miles west of Gresham. 

- Snowfall/Winter Precipitation: February was a somewhat interesting month snow-wise: While most areas received slightly-above-normal amounts in the 7-11" range, much of this snow fell over the course of several minor events, with few places seeing more than 3" in any particular 24-hour period. For many areas, the majority of snow fell early in the month, much of it on the 4th, 6th and 9th-11th. In terms of travel impacts, freezing drizzle and associated light icing might have caused more issues than snow over the course of the month, especially on the 18th, 22nd and 24th. Per official NWS observers, some of the highest February totals featured: 13.1" three miles northeast of Shelby, 12.1" at Hebron, 10.6" at Grand Island airport, and 10.4" two miles west of Arcadia. On the least-snowy side, a few of the lowest official monthly totals occurred in Osborne County KS, including 2" at Natoma and 2.5" near Covert. 

- Temperatures: Unlike recent months which featured very distinct stretches of colder versus warmer weather, February was mostly just consistently cold, especially through the first 24 days. At most official NWS stations, the month as a whole averaged a fairly-significant 5-8º below normal. Although not close to record-breaking, this was a Top-20 coldest February at some long-term stations, including at Hastings airport, where it was the 14th-coldest out of 106. Taking a closer look, the first half of the month was certainly colder than the second half. At Grand Island airport, the overall-coldest week focused between the 6th-12th, during which daily high temperatures only ranged from 10º to 26º. By far the most consistently-mild stretch of the month arrived at the very end from the 25th-28th, during which highs in the 40s/50s were common in most local Nebraska counties, and more so 50s/60s (and even some 70s) in local Kansas areas. As for monthly extremes per official NWS observers, the warmest highs in the entire coverage area occurred in north central KS on the 27th, including: 78º near Plainville, 76º at Beloit and 75º at Webster Dam. On the Nebraska side of the border, the warmest monthly high of 70º was recorded at Beaver City (on the 18th) and at Hebron and Superior (on the 27th). On the cold side of extremes, some of the most frigid lows (all of which occurred between the 7th-11th) featured: -13º at Red Cloud, -11º at Ord airport and -9º at Loup City. 

- Severe Thunderstorms/High Wind Events:  There was essentially no thunderstorm activity whatsoever within the local area during February, let alone severe storms. As for non-thunderstorm winds, at least by February standards, it was not an overly-windy month either. In fact, the official automated airport sensors at Grand Island, Hastings and Ord recorded peak monthly wind gusts "only" ranging between 43-50 MPH. For much of the local area, the overall-windiest day was Sunday the 18th, as strong and mild SOUTH winds gusted into the 40-50 MPH range for much of the daytime hours, before a sharp cold front arrived that night and brought an abrupt switch to cold, gusty north winds. 

2018 Nebraska Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 45 sites)
2018 Kansas Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 18 sites)
(for the 2018 tables, data for the previous month usually gets updated by around the 15th of the current month)

2017 Nebraska Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 45 sites)
2017 Kansas Cooperative Observer Precipitation Tables (around 18 sites)

Archived Precipitation Tables And Monthly Climate Stories