Top Weather Events of 2017

Major Ice Storm:  January 15-16th 

The most significant ice storm in ten years arrived January 15th and 16th as a potent storm system lifted north from the southern plains. Cold air at the surface and warm air above the surface allowed the precipitation to predominantly fall as freezing rain. Ice accumulations from the freezing rain were significant, with the highest amounts of 0.25 inch to 0.75 inch occurring across north central Kansas. South central Nebraska also saw noteworthy ice accumulations of 0.10 inch to 0.50 inch. Impacts of the storm were minimized due to the brunt of the storm arriving on a holiday, Martin Luther King Junior Day and several businesses and schools were closed for the holiday. Surface temperatures near the freezing point, the lack of strong winds and pre-treated main roads also helped minimize the storm impacts. The ice caused very slick conditions on untreated surfaces, minor tree and power line damage, however there were no long lasting power outages. Once the storm system departed, temperatures dropped to the teens and 20s overnight, causing refreezing on outdoor surfaces.  Several schools remained closed January 17th as side roads, paring lots and sheltered areas remained slick during the morning commute. Temperatures rebounded to the 35 to 45 degree range January 17th and melted the ice. The melting and falling ice from trees, power lines and towers created dangerous conditions at times. Ice which fell from the KSNB station north of Hastings, NE broke a windshield in the parking lot.

New Daily precipitation records were set at Grand Island and Hastings for January 16th.

Grand Island:  New precipitation record of 0.68 inch broke the previous record of 0.30 inch set in 1932.

Hastings:  New precipitation record of 0.53 inch which broke the previous record of 0.35 inch set in 1980.

Climatologically, January is the driest month of the year, with most areas of south central Nebraska and north central Kansas only averaging 0.40 inch to 0.60 inch for the month. Precipitation (melted ice, sleet, snow) with this storm system was plentiful in the 0.2 inch to 1.0 inch range in south central Nebraska and even more significant totals of 1 to 2 inches across north central Kansas. For this two day event, many locations exceeded what they typically see for the entire month of January!

Osceola, NE Photo by John McKinney	Ruskin, NE Photo by Janyssa Taylor	Osborne, KS Photo by Kaelan Cameron	Jewell, KS Photo by Sadie Hayden

Late Season Snow:  April 30th - May 1st

A rare, late season winter storm produced a swath of heavy snowfall of heavy snowfall of 6 to 12 inches along and west of a line from Ord to Sumner to Arapahoe, NE, while snow amounts of two inches or greater accumulated west of a line from Spalding to Kearney to Stamford, NE. The combination of the heavy snow and northerly wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph produced near blizzard conditions at times. Power outages occurred primarily in rural areas as the heavy, wet snow built up on power lines and winds remained strong as the snow fell. This late winter storm will go down in history as one of the most significant late season snow storms on record. 

Visible Weather Satellite Image on May 1st	Near Gibbon, NE Photo by Kailey Thyne	South of Cambridge, NE Photo by Jerry Colson	South of Riverdale, NE Photo by Scott Wilson

Severe Thunderstorms Produce Baseball Size Hail and Wind Gusts over 70 mph:  June 13th
 

Severe thunderstorms tracked across portions of south central Nebraska and north central Kansas, dumping large hail to baseball size and producing thunderstorm wind gusts of 70 mph or greater. The largest hail of baseball size fell southwest of Hastings in the Juniata and Holstein areas with storms producing hail to tennis ball size on the southwest side of Hastings and within Grand Island.  Agra, KS saw hail to golf ball size with ping pong ball size hail occurring in Red Cloud, Lawrence and north of Kensington, KS.  Intense wind gusts also accompanied the storms with an unofficial wind gust of 92 mph reported from a home weather station seven miles east of Clarks, NE and 72 mph wind gust was recorded three miles west of Bradshaw. 
 

2 miles southwest of Hastings, NE Photo by Nicki Butler	2 miles north of Grand Island, NE Photo by Jeanne Mettinbrink	Near York, NE Photo by Jeff Frame	Osceola, NE Photo by Steve Kumpf

Flooding and Baseball Size Hail:  August 15-16th

Thunderstorms produced widespread heavy rainfall of 2 to 4 inches in areas generally along and north of Interstate 80 in south central Nebraska. Pockets of sgnificantly higher rainfall amounts of 5 to 8 inches of rain fell across portions of Polk, Nance, Valley, Hamilton, Hall and northern Adams Counties. Some of the highest rainfall amounts include 8.37 inches five miles northeast of Osceola, 6.95 inches in Osceola which set a new all time 24 hour record for this NWS Cooperative Observing site. Heavy rainfall of 6.7 inches was recorded five miles southeast of Phillips and 6.0 inches was reported five miles north of Aurora.  The heavy rainfall caused areas of flooding which affected numerous rural roads, agricultural areas and rivers. 

In addition to the significant rain, extremely large hail to the size of baseballs accompanied some of the storms. Fullerton, NE was hit the hardest by the large, baseball size hail. Thunderstorm wind gusts of 70 mph were reported near Loup City, NE, while in north central Kansas, the Phillipsburg airport measured a 67 mph wind gust.
 

Fullerton, NE Photo by Nance County Emergency Manager	Fullerton, NE Photo by Tessa Nelson	Flooding in Osceola, NE Photo by Patricia Mentink	Flooding in Osceola, NE Photo by Osceola Fire Department

2017 Climate Extremes (from a combo of official NWS observations and CoCoRaHS/NeRAIN observers):

Hottest temperatures of 2017 (all occurred on July 21)

• 111 degrees...Webster Dam KS
• 109 degrees...4WNW of Plainville KS
• 108 degrees...Smith Center KS - 2SW of Alton KS
• 107 degrees...Kirwin Dam KS 
• 106 degrees...Beaver City - Glen Elder Lake KS 

Coldest temperatures of 2017 (all occurred on Dec. 27 unless specified)

• -20 degrees...Lexington airport (Jan. 6) - 3N of York
• -19 degrees...Kearney airport
• -18 degrees...Ravenna
• -17 degrees...Greeley - Aurora airport - Grand Island airport (Dec. 26)
• -16 degrees...Gothenburg (Jan. 6)

Highest 24 hour rain totals (most sites report for a 7AM-7AM period)

• 8.37"...5NE of Osceola on Aug. 16
• 6.95"...Osceola (in town) on Aug. 16
• 5.55"...Wilcox on July 18
• 5.36"...1NW of Giltner on Aug. 16
• 5.07"...3WSW of Genoa on Aug. 16

Highest 24 hour snowfall totals - all occurred during the April 30-May 1 storm (most sites report for a 7AM-7AM period)

• 12.0"...6SW of Lexington 
• 10.0"...10NNE of Arapahoe - 4ESE of Sumner 
•   8.5"...9NW of Ord
•   8.0"...2W of Arcadia and 6W of Elyria 

Nebraska Tri-Cities Extremes and Totals (Grand Island, Hastings, and Kearney airports)

• Hottest temperature: 102 degrees at Grand Island on July 6
• Coldest temperature: -19 degrees at Kearney on Dec. 27 
• Highest calendar day rainfall total: 3.05" at Grand Island on Oct. 2
• Highest calendar day snow total: 4.8" at Grand Island on Dec. 23
• Annual 2017 Precipitation totals: - Grand Island:   30.39" (3.73 above normal)
                                                       - Hastings:       30.67" (3.56 above normal)
                                                       - Kearney:       25.54" (0.31" above normal)   

Of interest:

• Across the majority of our coverage area, 9-of-12 months featured above-normal temperatures!  The only three months that averaged below normal were May, August and December, although December barely slipped below normal on the last few days and not at all sites. 
   
• At Grand Island and Hastings, 2017 was the overall-wettest year since 2008. It was a different story at Kearney, with roughly 5" LESS precipitation than the other two cities. 
   
• At Kearney, Grand Island and Hastings, August was the 5th, 7th and 8th-coolest on record, respectively.