Scattered Severe Thunderstorms Across the Northern Plains; Fire Weather Concerns in the Western U.S.

Scattered severe thunderstorms are forecast across central and eastern North Dakota, as well as far northwest Minnesota Saturday (Slight Risk level 2 of 5). Damaging wind gusts are the primary threat. Elevated to critical fire weather conditions will persist through the weekend across the Western U.S. Isolated dry thunderstorms could lead to new fire starts over portions of the northern Rockies. Read More >

So far this late-fall season, MOST of our coverage area has yet to see truly measurable snow (including the Tri Cities). In fact, this means that MOST of our area is now "overdue" for its first true snow of the season. So...What are the "typical" FIRST DATES that our NWS Hastings coverage area of central/south central NE and north central KS can expect accumulating snow?

Listed in the table below are average "first snowfall" dates for various locations across our coverage area, generally arranged from north-to-south. This information is based on the most recent 30 snowfall seasons from official NWS Cooperative Observers (the 1992-1993 through 2021-2022 seasons).

Of course, keep in mind that these are only averages, and yearly variations between first snowfall dates can be quite significant.
For example, in Grand Island, the first occurrence of measurable snow during the past 30 years has ranged anywhere from Sep. 20, 1995 to Dec. 31, 2010!
Last winter (2021-2022), most of our coverage area saw its first measurable snow on either Nov. 1st (including the Nebraska Tri Cities) or Dec. 11th, although parts of especially our KS coverage area did not receive anything measurable until around New Year's Day!

AVERAGE "First Snowfall" Dates Over The Last 30 Seasons (1992-2021)

Location	0.1" Or More (in 24 hours)	1" Or More (in 24 hours)	2" Or More (in 24 hours)
Ord	Nov. 12	Nov. 15	Nov. 18
Osceola	Nov. 16	Nov. 22	Dec. 11
Grand Island	Nov. 11	Nov. 26	Dec. 10
Hastings	Nov. 12	Nov. 24	Dec. 13
Kearney	Nov. 15	Nov. 20	Dec. 3
Holdrege	Nov. 22	Nov. 30	Dec. 13
Cambridge	Nov. 17	Nov. 24	Dec. 12
Hebron	Nov. 20	Dec. 2	Dec. 11
Smith Center, KS	Nov. 23	Dec. 15	Dec. 22
Beloit, KS	Dec. 7	Dec. 11	Dec. 23
Plainville, KS	Nov. 20	Dec. 6	Dec. 20

The graphics below also help to "set the stage" for the upcoming snowfall season within our Central Plains Region (click images to enlarge):

Similar to the data in the table above, the image on the left depicts the median date of the first measurable snow (0.1" or more) across the entire north central United States (courtesy of the Midwestern Regional Climate Center)

The image on the right depicts "normal" seasonal snowfall across our region based on the latest official 30-year NCEI normals (1991-2020). Within our particular 30-county coverage area, "typical" seasonal snow ranges from generally 16-20" in most of north central Kansas, up to around 30+" in far northern local counties such as Valley/Greeley.