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Midwest Snowfall Contest for the Winter of 2015-16


Geos

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The snowfall season is just about to start in the Midwest. Even though there is a strong el Niño going on, the snow still goes on!  :D

 

A snowfall contest idea was thrown out there and I decided to put this one together. 

 

I picked 18 stations within the Midwest/Southern Plains where all members; I hope, reside close by to one (at least within a 100 miles).

 

Here is the map I created with airport codes of each station.

 

post-7-0-51317700-1446859526_thumb.jpg

 

For the contest, pick a snowfall tally you think each airport station will end up with at the end of the season. Below is the average seasonal snowfall total of each place.

 

GRI (Grand Island, NE)   29.0"

FSD (Sioux Falls, SD)   44.5"

OMA (Omaha, NE)   26.4"

AAO (Wichita, KS)   14.7"

TUL (Tulsa, OK)   9.7"

MCI (Kansas City, MO)   18.8"

STL (St. Louis, MO)   17.7"

DSM (Des Moines, IA)   34.9"

MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA)   33.5"

LSE (La Crosse, WI)   46.1"

MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)   50.6"

AUW (Wausau, WI)   59.6"

MKE (Milwaukee, WI)   49.2"

ORD (Chicago, IL)   38.1"

IND (Indianapolis, IN)   25.9"

GRR (Grand Rapids, MI)   77.1"

DTW (Detroit, MI)   44.8"

CLE (Cleveland, OH)   67.2"

 

All average snowfall are the 30 year average between 1981-2010.

 

Three tiebreakers, just in case...

 

#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE.

#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL.

#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. (Will have to pay close attention to this one... events can last for a few days)

 

Deadline: 11:59 PM CST, Friday November 13th.

Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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I would like to put together a list of seasonal snowfall extremes and the last 10 years of snowfall tallies for each location and include the two super Niño winters. Need to really do some digging on some locations, but any help would be appreciated.

Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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GRI (Grand Island, NE) 34.3"

FSD (Sioux Falls, SD) 38.4"

OMA (Omaha, NE) 28.0"

AAO (Wichita, KS) 17.2"

TUL (Tulsa, OK) 12.8"

MCI (Kansas City, MO) 23.8"

STL (St. Louis, MO) 22.6"

DSM (Des Moines, IA) 28.2"

MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA) 38.5"

LSE (La Crosse, WI) 39.7"

MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN) 66.1"

AUW (Wausau, WI) 54.4"

MKE (Milwaukee, WI) 45.1"

ORD (Chicago, IL) 47.9"

IND (Indianapolis, IN) 20.0"

GRR (Grand Rapids, MI) 89.2"

DTW (Detroit, MI) 54.3"

CLE (Cleveland, OH) 77.2"

 

Just for fun:

 

FYV (Fayetteville, AR) 14.9"

 

All average snowfall are the 30 year average between 1981-2010.

 

Three tiebreakers, just in case...

 

#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE.----12.4

 

 

#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL.----9.1

 

 

#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January.----20.7

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GRI (Grand Island, NE)   20"


FSD (Sioux Falls, SD)   30"


OMA (Omaha, NE)   17"


AAO (Wichita, KS)   11"


TUL (Tulsa, OK)   7"


MCI (Kansas City, MO)   18"


STL (St. Louis, MO)   12"


DSM (Des Moines, IA)   22"


MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA)   26"


LSE (La Crosse, WI)   32"


MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)   30"


AUW (Wausau, WI)   33"


MKE (Milwaukee, WI)   35"


ORD (Chicago, IL)   29"


IND (Indianapolis, IN)   20"


GRR (Grand Rapids, MI)   60"


DTW (Detroit, MI)   39"


CLE (Cleveland, OH)   56"


 


#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE. 7.6"


#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL. 8"


#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. 14"


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Omaha,nebraska 21.7

 

Welcome to the forum!

Nice of you to join the contest as well. But pick a tally for each location and the tiebreakers. 

Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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My picks:


 


GRI (Grand Island, NE)     32.5"


FSD (Sioux Falls, SD)   47.3"


OMA (Omaha, NE)   44.4"


AAO (Wichita, KS)   18.0"


TUL (Tulsa, OK)   12.0"


MCI (Kansas City, MO)   26.8"


STL (St. Louis, MO)   20.1"


DSM (Des Moines, IA)   52.1"


MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA)   42.9"


LSE (La Crosse, WI)   50.5"


MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)   52.6"


AUW (Wausau, WI)   64.6"


MKE (Milwaukee, WI)   55.4"


ORD (Chicago, IL)   48.2"


IND (Indianapolis, IN)   24.7"


GRR (Grand Rapids, MI)   76.6"


DTW (Detroit, MI)   45.2"


CLE (Cleveland, OH)   70.4"


 


Three tiebreakers, just in case...


 


#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE. 10.8"


#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL. 14.5"


#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. 14.7"


Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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GRI (Grand Island, NE)   42.4"


FSD (Sioux Falls, SD)   67.2"


OMA (Omaha, NE)   48.5"


AAO (Wichita, KS)   30.7"


TUL (Tulsa, OK)   15.3"


MCI (Kansas City, MO)   33.0"


STL (St. Louis, MO)   28.0"


DSM (Des Moines, IA)   54.7"


MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA)   53.5"


LSE (La Crosse, WI)   48.1"


MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)   44.3"


AUW (Wausau, WI)   52.0"


MKE (Milwaukee, WI)  58.0"


ORD (Chicago, IL)   65.5"


IND (Indianapolis, IN)   32.9"


GRR (Grand Rapids, MI)   88.0"


DTW (Detroit, MI)   64.8"


CLE (Cleveland, OH)   70.2"


 


All average snowfall are the 30 year average between 1981-2010.


 


Three tiebreakers, just in case...


 


#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE. (14.5")


#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL. (25.0")


#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. (Will have to pay close attention to this one... events can last for a few days) (24.0")


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This is my snow fall guess for the winter of 2015/16. As we all know guessing snow fall totals is just that a guess. I have the possible range (for strong El Nino) years in ()  

 

 

 

GRI (Grand Island, NE)   30.5     (10.8 to 42.2)

 

FSD (Sioux Falls, SD)   32.5”     (13.3 to 70.9)

 

OMA (Omaha, NE)   34.5”           (14.2 to 51.0) 

 

AAO (Wichita, KS)   21.0”             (4.7 to 27.7)

 

TUL (Tulsa, OK)   10.0.2”                (4.6 to 17.2)

 

MCI (Kansas City, MO)   20.6”      (9.7 to 31.2)

 

STL (St. Louis, MO)   15.2”          (4.0 to 27.0)

 

DSM (Des Moines, IA)   42.2”       (54.7 to 8.3)

 

MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA)   26.7”  (13.6 to 34.9)

 

LSE (La Crosse, WI)   37.5”                   (20.0 to 52.7)

 

MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)  43.7”   (21.2 to 74.4)

 

AUW (Wausau, WI)   49.8”                   

 

MKE (Milwaukee, WI)   42.5”                   (31.9 to 51.0)

 

ORD (Chicago, IL)   28.5”                          (20.0 to 34.0)

 

IND (Indianapolis, IN)   11.8”                    ( 7.1 to 12.5)

 

GRR (Grand Rapids, MI)   57.5”               (35.9 to 70.3)

 

DTW (Detroit, MI)   23.8”                          (15.4 to 45.0)

 

CLE (Cleveland, OH)  43.7”                     (31.1 to 68.5)

 

 

 

#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE. 6.4"

#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL        7.4"

#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. 8.9"

 

For GRR I will use the as the end of a lake effect event as ending when GRR has less then 0.1" of snow recorded. (we can use just a trace if you want) but remember that there can and often is system snows with a lake effect event. If needed I will try to keep up on this but I will be going to Florida for about 10 days late in January. 

 

 

 

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While this really don't belong here but I will post it as it does show you the effects of a major lake effect snow. I came across this write up on the lake effect snow event of November 1951

 

Heavy snow came early in the fall of 1951. More than two feet of snow fell in downtown Grand Rapids in the first 8 days of November. Measurable snow fell on each of those days, with 5.8″ on the 3rd, 4.4″ on the 4th, 6.4″ on the 6th and 7.6″ on the 7th. There was a foot of snow on the ground in downtown Grand Rapids the morning of the 8th and “drifts were considerably greater”. Low temperatures were in the teens from the 2nd to the 6th. By the 13th, the temperature was back above 60 degrees (a heavy thunderstorm that day flooded streets and basements), but the month did wind up 5.6 colder than average, with a total of 30″ of snowfall. The downtown weather station set record low temperatures on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th. The airport weather station had five consecutive record low temperatures from the 2nd through the 6th, including +6° on the 5th and +9° on the 6th. The heavy snow continued in December with 51.3″ measured at the downtown weather station. The snow was 22″ deep (not counting drifts) on Christmas Day. That winter was the snowiest winter ever in Grand Rapids with 144″ downtown and 132″ for the season at the (old) Kent County Airport.

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I dug up a bunch of data on the cities in our contest. Source: http://www.theweathercollector.com/

Data on this site only goes back to the 2004-2005 winter. 

Could not find several cities snowfalls from the 1997-98 winter though. 

 

post-7-0-08301900-1446966810_thumb.png

Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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While this really don't belong here but I will post it as it does show you the effects of a major lake effect snow. I came across this write up on the lake effect snow event of November 1951

 

Heavy snow came early in the fall of 1951. More than two feet of snow fell in downtown Grand Rapids in the first 8 days of November. Measurable snow fell on each of those days, with 5.8″ on the 3rd, 4.4″ on the 4th, 6.4″ on the 6th and 7.6″ on the 7th. There was a foot of snow on the ground in downtown Grand Rapids the morning of the 8th and “drifts were considerably greater”. Low temperatures were in the teens from the 2nd to the 6th. By the 13th, the temperature was back above 60 degrees (a heavy thunderstorm that day flooded streets and basements), but the month did wind up 5.6 colder than average, with a total of 30″ of snowfall. The downtown weather station set record low temperatures on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th. The airport weather station had five consecutive record low temperatures from the 2nd through the 6th, including +6° on the 5th and +9° on the 6th. The heavy snow continued in December with 51.3″ measured at the downtown weather station. The snow was 22″ deep (not counting drifts) on Christmas Day. That winter was the snowiest winter ever in Grand Rapids with 144″ downtown and 132″ for the season at the (old) Kent County Airport.

That's awesome. I love weather history.

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Go ahead and adjust away until the deadline, then I record everything in a spreadsheet and post it here.

Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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Even with an El Nino happening this 2015-16 Winter season, I believe due to a south east ridge scenario forming, snowfall tally's will average a good 18 to 36" above average for all cities reported on this particular thread. With that in mind, a lot of Appalachian tracks are likely, which will bury my location and even further inland is possible, possibly as far west as my area, which will favor a lot of posters on this board with heavy snows. 

Snowfall for Winter 2023 -24 for Metro Detroit Area 

Oct 2023: 0.2" AN

Nov 2023: 2.2" AN

Dec 2023: 0.5" BN Insane!

Jan 2024: 17.0" AN

Feb 2024: 1.9"  BN

Mar 2024: 4.9" BN

April 2024:

Season So Far: 26.7"

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GRI (Grand Island, NE)   34.2"


FSD (Sioux Falls, SD)   40.3"


OMA (Omaha, NE)   29.2"


AAO (Wichita, KS)   16.1"


TUL (Tulsa, OK)   12.1"


MCI (Kansas City, MO)   24.5"


STL (St. Louis, MO)   18.4"


DSM (Des Moines, IA)   39.3"


MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA)   30.3"


LSE (La Crosse, WI)   38.5"


MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)   47.3"


AUW (Wausau, WI)   55.4"


MKE (Milwaukee, WI)   44.1"


ORD (Chicago, IL)   35.1"


IND (Indianapolis, IN)   23.2"


GRR (Grand Rapids, MI)   73.1"


DTW (Detroit, MI)   38.7"


CLE (Cleveland, OH)   64.1"


 


All average snowfall are the 30 year average between 1981-2010.


 


Three tiebreakers, just in case...


 


#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE.-    10.8"


#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL.-  12.9"


#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. (Will have to pay close attention to this one... events can last for a few days)- 14.2"

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GRI (Grand Island, NE)   39.4"

FSD (Sioux Falls, SD)   48.7"

OMA (Omaha, NE)   37.3"

AAO (Wichita, KS)   25.1

TUL (Tulsa, OK)   13.6"

MCI (Kansas City, MO)   21.2"

STL (St. Louis, MO)   12.5"

DSM (Des Moines, IA)   45.5"

MLI (Moline/Quad Cities, IL/IA)   42.5"

LSE (La Crosse, WI)   52.4"

MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)   56.6"

AUW (Wausau, WI)   60.6"

MKE (Milwaukee, WI)   41.2"

ORD (Chicago, IL)   43.1"

IND (Indianapolis, IN)   20.1"

GRR (Grand Rapids, MI)   83.3"

DTW (Detroit, MI)   40.7"

CLE (Cleveland, OH)   70.2"

 

All average snowfall are the 30 year average between 1981-2010.

 

Three tiebreakers, just in case...

 

#1: Greatest snowfall; in one storm, for Omaha, NE. 11.1"

#2: January snowfall total for Chicago, IL. 11.1"

#3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. (Will have to pay close attention to this one... events can last for a few days) 11.1"

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Updated:

 

post-7-0-87171000-1447648282_thumb.png

 

Sites from left to right.

 

ORD CLE DTW MKE MSP MLI STL GRR IND LSE DSM AUW OMA MCI TUL AAO GRI FSD
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Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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  • 3 weeks later...

Snowfall tallies through 12/03.

 

post-7-0-13346700-1449524430_thumb.png

 

Sioux Falls in the lead - no surprise there.

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Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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  • 3 weeks later...

Still waiting for the data to come in from all locations to load their 29th data. Probably by tomorrow it should be in.

Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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I found a pretty sweet website off of Aberdeen NWS's page that measures how severe your winter is for any location. It appears Wyoming is having a pretty severe winter so far. I can relate because I have seen Facebook pictures of snowdrifts 30' in places around Cheyenne. Will be interesting to see how it looks come April.....

 

Aberdeen's writeup of how the winter is going so far: http://www.weather.gov/abr/2015-16WinterUpdate

 

Winter Severity page: http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/research/awssi/indexAwssi.jsp#info

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I found a pretty sweet website off of Aberdeen NWS's page that measures how severe your winter is for any location. It appears Wyoming is having a pretty severe winter so far. I can relate because I have seen Facebook pictures of snowdrifts 30' in places around Cheyenne. Will be interesting to see how it looks come April.....

 

Aberdeen's writeup of how the winter is going so far: http://www.weather.gov/abr/2015-16WinterUpdate

 

Winter Severity page: http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/research/awssi/indexAwssi.jsp#info

 

Thanks for posting that!

My cousin in Fort Collins has said this is most cold and snowy winter so far he's seen there. He's only been out there 5 years though.

 

Interesting that Chicago popped into the extreme early on. Of course that didn't last long.

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Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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I found a pretty sweet website off of Aberdeen NWS's page that measures how severe your winter is for any location. It appears Wyoming is having a pretty severe winter so far. I can relate because I have seen Facebook pictures of snowdrifts 30' in places around Cheyenne. Will be interesting to see how it looks come April.....

 

Aberdeen's writeup of how the winter is going so far: http://www.weather.gov/abr/2015-16WinterUpdate

 

Winter Severity page: http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/research/awssi/indexAwssi.jsp#info

That's pretty neat. I'm giving Bastardi an F on his winter weather index so far. Polar opposite.

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Right now here at my house getting moderate wind blown snow and the temp is now down to 24° As a heads up this (today) could be the start of the winter snow fall guess tie breaker…………. #3: Greatest lake effect snowfall total for Grand Rapids, MI in January. (Will have to pay close attention to this one... events can last for a few days)  this event could last most if not all of the upcoming week. I will post then in several places so almost ever one will able to view it,

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I will post this in a couple of topics as it pertains to one of the tie breakers in the winter snow fall contest

 

 

OK as Grand Rapids is expected to get rain today and thus no snow fall here is the daily total snow fall as recorded at the airport.  I do not know how you plan to separate the system snows from the lake effect but here is what we received

 

1/14   t

1/13   1.9”

1/12   4.7”

1/11   2.6”

1/10   2.1”

 

Total this period    11.3” 

To help break down the lake effect from system snow I looked at Milwaukee for the same dates  and here is their totals

 

1/14    0

1/13   0.6

1/12   t

1/11    1.6

1/10     t

Total    2.2”

Giving Grand Rapids  9.1” of lake effect for this event.  Another event will start on Saturday

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I will post this in a couple of topics as it pertains to one of the tie breakers in the winter snow fall contest

 

 

OK as Grand Rapids is expected to get rain today and thus no snow fall here is the daily total snow fall as recorded at the airport.  I do not know how you plan to separate the system snows from the lake effect but here is what we received

 

1/14   t

1/13   1.9”

1/12   4.7”

1/11   2.6”

1/10   2.1”

 

Total this period    11.3” 

To help break down the lake effect from system snow I looked at Milwaukee for the same dates  and here is their totals

 

1/14    0

1/13   0.6

1/12   t

1/11    1.6

1/10     t

Total    2.2”

Giving Grand Rapids  9.1” of lake effect for this event.  Another event will start on Saturday

 

 

 

Local met just posted this. Doing pretty good over here.

Snowfall Update

Snow stats through Jan 16 at:

Waterloo

Season: 27.5″

Normal: 16.8″ (+10.7″)

Last Year: 13.4″

Dubuque

Season: 21.8″

Normal: 19.1″ (+2.7″)

Last Year: 8.3″

 

 

Thanks to both of you.

I will go into Grand Rapids hour by hour observations and see if I can pull out a ballpark system snow figure.

I am going to go with the 9.1" you put down westMJim. I can see pretty much when the LES cuts off, by what the wind direction is, but the actual snowfall amounts are not given at each hour, just the water equivalent.

Mercer Island, 350 ft

2021-2022: 11.6", 02/21

2020-2021: 15.6"

2019-2020: ~10"

2018-2019 winter snowfall total: 29.5"

2017-2018: 9.0", 2016-2017: 14.0"

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  • 2 weeks later...

This will go down as one of the toughest forecasted winters around are parts in a while. That is quoted from a meteorologist out of lincoln, we have had 6 surprise snowstorms or over achievers in my area since x-mas. I have had a white thanksgiving, x mas, and new years for the first time since I can remember. I have had snow on the ground pretty much since a week before x mas, and my current snow depth is at 5". If we can avoid too much of a melt off from the heat wave coming in this week, I might go into March with snow on the ground. That might be a guarantee if that storm next week comes anywhere close to it's predicted totals. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this strong El-Nino winter...hard to believe that some in Nebraska have had very little in the way of snow. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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