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Now that it's June and the 2017-2018 snowfall season is clearly behind us, it's time to rewind and take a look back at a winter that featured a noticeable difference in snow totals between northern/western portions of our 30-county coverage area (snowier) and southern portions of our area (less snow, especially in north central KS). 

Below are graphics and tables that reflect seasonal totals, departures from normal/average etc. for the 2017-2018 season. Before continuing though, and in order to give last season's snow totals some perspective, official 30-year normals from NCEI suggest that: 

 "Normal"/average seasonal snowfall within our coverage area is:

  • 24-30" for most Nebraska counties along/north of the Highway 6 corridor
  • 20-24" for most local counties along the NE/KS border
  • 16-20" for the majority of North Central Kansas, especially south of the Highway 36 corridor. 

 
The 2017-2018 snowfall season was highlighted/
defined by the following points:
 

 

  • Despite the big difference in snow totals from north-to-south, it actually turned out that the majority of our coverage area saw "near-normal" snowfall (within roughly 6" either side of the 30-year normal), especially within most of our 24 Nebraska counties. However, many areas near and especially south of the state line into our six north central KS counties averaged roughly 5-10" below normal for the season. 
     
  • The highest concentration of at least slightly above-normal seasonal snowfall focused within counties north and west of the Nebraska Tri Cities. The highest concentration of below-normal snowfall clearly focused near and especially south of the Nebraska-Kansas border.
  • Per NWS Cooperative Observers: Within the 24 South Central Nebraska counties of the NWS Hastings area, the highest 2017-2018 seasonal snow totals featured 39.8" near Arcadia and 39.5" at Ord, while the lowest totals included 10.3" in Naponee and 12.9" in Franklin. 

  • Per NWS Cooperative Observers: Within the six local North Central Kansas counties, the highest 2017-2018 seasonal totals featured 22.9" near Plainville (actually slightly above normal) and 20.3" at Burr Oak, while the lowest amounts included 7.6" at Cawker City and 9.1" at Phillipsburg. 

  • In the Nebraska Tri Cities, official seasonal totals included: Grand Island 33.6" (4.6" above normal)...Kearney 31.1" (7.7" above normal)...Hastings 27.1" (1.7" below normal). 

  • See the links below (in red) for more details, but two of the overall-biggest snow storms of the 2017-18 season included: the Jan. 21-22 blizzard (highest totals north of I-80) and the April 1 Easter snow (narrow corridor of 6-10+" mainly within the Highway 6 counties). PLEASE NOTE: The April 14 blizzard was also a significant winter storm featuring widespread power outages in some counties, but only a small portion of our coverage area received more than 5" of snow from it.




Two of the Biggest Snow Events From The 2017-18 Season (click red links for details)...

January 21-22, 2018: Blizzard Strikes Most Of The Area, Heaviest Snow North of I-80

April 1, 2018: No April's Fool Joke! Heavy Snow Blankets Parts Of The Area on Easter Sunday

 


 

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