Arctic air settled into the Central U.S. early February. A cold front first moved through the area on Friday, February 5, 2021 bringing a long duration snow event. Most of the snow fell Friday night and Saturday night. Several locations saw 10 inches or more of snow on the ground over the 2 day period. An Arctic cold front moved through the area Saturday night, with the cold Arctic air mass remaining in place over the next week and a half. Many record breaking temperatures were seen over the week long frigid, Arctic, cold spell. Extremely dangerous wind chills prompted a week long Wind Chill Advisory, which was then upgraded to a Wind Chill Warning later in the week across western and north central Nebraska. Brutally cold temperatures created hardship on young livestock and impacted many residents across the region with rolling blackouts. Record breaking low temperatures and record breaking low maximum high temperatures were seen at several climate sites. Some of these record lows had been set back in the early 1900s.
Most of the heaviest snowfall occurred across central into portions of north central Nebraska, where a band of snow set up in nearly the same location both Friday night and Saturday night. Below is a map of observed snowfall through the weekend of all reports received as of 6am CST Monday Feb. 8, 2021.
...HIGHEST SNOWFALL REPORTS ENDING SATURDAY MORNING FEB. 7, 2021...
Location Amount
North Platte 2W 7.0 in
Arthur 6.2 in
North Platte 3ENE (Official) 6.1 in
Hershey 6 NW 5.8 in
North Platte 10S 5.8 in
Sutherland 5.0 in
Brady 5.0 in
...HIGHEST SNOWFALL REPORTS ENDING SUNDAY MORNING FEB. 8, 2021...
Location Amount
North Platte 15 NNE 8.0 in
Callaway 8WSW 7.5 in
North Platte 1W 7.0 in
Merna NNE 6.5 in
North Platte 3ENE (Official) 6.4 in
Anselmo 12 WSW 6.0 in
Imperial 5.5 in
Arthur 5.5 in
Maxwell 5.0 in
Observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying
equipment and exposures. We thank all volunteer weather observers
for their dedication. Not all data listed are considered official.
Dangerous wind chills were seen Friday, Feb. 12, 2021 with wind chill values dropping around -20° to -29° in some locations.
Dangerous wind chills were seen once again Saturday night, Feb. 13, 2021 along with light snow. Below are snowfall reports received as of noon CT Sunday and coldest wind chills below -30°. with wind chill values dropping around 20 to 29 degrees below zero in some locations.
More cold temperatures were seen on President's Day, February 15, 2021.
...LOW TEMPERATURES ENDING THE MORNING OF FEB. 15, 2021...
Location Temperature
Broken Bow Airport -37°
Ericson 6WNW -35°
Gordon Airport -33°
Valentine Airport -33°
Atkinson -31°
Ogallala Airport -30°
O'Neill Airport -30°
Thedford Airport -30°
Madrid -29°
Callaway 8WSW -29°
North Platte Airport -29°
O'Neill COOP -28°
Springview -28°
Stapleton 5W -28°
Ainsworth Airport -28°
Imperial Airport -26°
Ogallala COOP -26°
Mullen -25°
Eustis -24°
Hayes Center -22°
Observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying
equipment and exposures. We thank all volunteer weather observers
for their dedication. Not all data listed are considered official.
Extreme cold temperatures continued Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Record Temperatures
Feb. 14, 2021
North Platte
Record low temperature -25°, previous -17° set in 1936
Imperial
Record low temperature of -17°, previous -16° set in 1895
Feb. 15, 2021
North Platte
Record low temperature -29°, previous record -23° set in 1881
Broken Bow
Record low temperature of -37°, previous record of -18° set in 1909
Valentine
Record low temperature of -33°, previous record of -28° set in 2007
Imperial
Record low temperature of -26°, previous record of -13° set in 1900
Feb. 16, 2021
North Platte
Record low temperature -20°, previous record -15° set in 1881
Broken Bow
Record low temperature of -25°, previous record -18° set in 1903
The frigid temperatures also brought opportunities to see sun dogs and light pillars. Photo credit Sam Meltzer and Bill Taylor.
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