Ground Hog Day Blizzard/Snowstorm Part II

[Bryan1117]

Well, after thinking I was going to miss an epic snowstorm in Omaha because of a work trip to Minneapolis... Glad to say my travels took me to more of a Winter wonderland. Staying near the Mall of America and MSP International

Airport tonight, and it looks like just under 10 inches of snow is on the ground here - on a parking garage roof. It took my co-worker and I two plus hours to drive from St. Louis Park to Eagan. Interstate 494 was terrible, and this was at 2pm.

 

Snow is finally starting to let up after the heavy band parked over the area for 9+ hours. When I left Omaha yesterday, the grid forecasts showed 2-4 for MSP total and 7 to 13 for Omaha. Almost ended up completely switched.

 

Bummed for my fellow Eastern Nebraskans, but glad I didn't miss out on a historic storm LOL!

[CentralNebWeather]

I am still waiting for official numbers. Kearney 30 miles away was 18.3. I know we were 12 inches at 10 am and it snowed until about 7 pm.

[clintbeed1993]

Not sure what I ended up with in Aurora exactly but I would estimate 11-12 inches.  Worst of it was definitely just to my West.

[clintbeed1993]

Check out these totals just to my West!  This was one for the record books as I expected it to be.

 

1001 PM HEAVY SNOW HASTINGS NWS OFFICE 40.65N 98.38W
02/02/2016 M 15.7 INCH ADAMS NE OFFICIAL NWS OBS

THIS IS THE FINAL...OFFICIAL NWS STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR
HASTINGS. FOURTH HIGHEST TWO-DAY SNOW TOTAL ON RECORD.

1001 PM HEAVY SNOW GRAND ISLAND AIRPORT 40.97N 98.32W
02/02/2016 M 18.3 INCH HALL NE OFFICIAL NWS OBS

THIS IS THE FINAL...OFFICIAL NWS STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR
GRAND ISLAND. SECOND HIGHEST TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL ON
RECORD.

[Geos]

Yes. Right beside houses they can cover almost to the roof. I will take many pictures tomorrow and share them in the next few days. What is interesting is that I can see blades of grass in places in my yard and in other places it is 6 feet deep. We are farming country and flat so nothing stops the wind.

 

One quick story. My neighbor called today. They are both in their 70's. He had hurt his back recently. Anyway he kept hearing his black lab duke barking, non stop which isn't normal. When he looked out his kennel was completely drifted tight. Duke couldn't get to food or water and my neighbor couldn't scoop him out. It took me 30 minutes to get duke out. That was one happy dog when I finally reached him and carried him to the house.

 

That's quite the story. Poor Duke.

 

Around here I've seen drifts up to 10' about. That was after the GHD Blizzard I in 2011. The very tall drifts I saw where near industrial buildings at the edge of flat open agricultural land. I'll have to see if I can find those pictures. Even in my yard the highest drift was 6'. Far as drifts go, 3-4' ones are most common in a big storm over a foot.

[Geos]

I am still waiting for official numbers. Kearney 30 miles away was 18.3. I know we were 12 inches at 10 am and it snowed until about 7 pm.

 

That's a really impressive total.

 

Think I've experience 5 storms over 18" in my lifetime.

[NEJeremy]

Well apparently Jim Cantore did make the right choice in going to Sioux City. They're going to end up with somewhere between their 6-9th highest one day snowfall and near blizzard conditions all day long, while here in Omaha we had about 4 hours of heavy snow this morning and then the snow ended and even the winds died way down this afternoon. So much for the myth that he chases away snowstorms!

[Grizzcoat]

Ended up with about 4-5" here 20 mins W of DSM. The 2nd band (Def band) was more impressive then I thought and took its sweet a$$ time getting through. But for those that really followed this storm right through the end--  which model - overall- had the best handle on it???  I can't remember an event like this that confounded every model,, some in outlandish ways. I'd say the GFS did the least worst. We need to start a separate thread that is devoted to "post storms" and users can input thoughts on how models actually did after event is over,, so we can learn for similar event in the future.  We do enough of the opposite pre storm. 

[FarmerRick]

I probably have about 10 inches just NW of Omaha about 10 miles.  That wet, sticky snow really sucked to plow. 

[CentralNebWeather]

Wish me luck the great dig out of 2016 about to begin. Hopefully the snow blower is up for the challenge

[jcwxguy]

ended up with about 7-8 here, but it has compacted down to about 5-6 of cement as temps dropped to 20 outside 

[CentralNebWeather]

Wow. Value of living in a small town. A local farmer and husband to one of our teachers cleared my driveway this morning with his large John Deere tractor. He saved me hours of work. He is going all over town with other farmers to start the dig out process that will be epic. Close to 18 inches with massive drifts. I can't begin to express the thanks he deserves and he would never take a penny for his work. God bless him and others. My goal in the next few days is to help someone else in need

[Snowshoe]

Set a case of beer on his front porch. That's the Wisconsin way. I imagine it works in Nebraska too. 

 

Wow. Value of living in a small town. A local farmer and husband to one of our teachers cleared my driveway this morning with his large John Deere tractor. He saved me hours of work. He is going all over town with other farmers to start the dig out process that will be epic. Close to 18 inches with massive drifts. I can't begin to express the thanks he deserves and he would never take a penny for his work. God bless him and others. My goal in the next few days is to help someone else in need

[Snowshoe]

Took some pics this morning on the way to work. Not quite the epic blizzard of Nebraska but a good healthy storm. Most NE Wisconsin reports in the 5-7" range. Wet sticky snow stuck to everything. 

 

Yes, Tom the trails were great last night! Busting 3-4 ft drifts on the trail!   Put a quick 75 miles on the sled last night. Took until February but it is finally REAL winter around here.

 

 

[Money]

How much did Lincoln get?

[Snowshoe]

Pic of the back deck, driveway and front of the house. Darn trees...I dont think I'll ever get a 30ft drift here.

[Snowlover76]

ended up with about 7-8 here, but it has compacted down to about 5-6 of cement as temps dropped to 20 outside

I imagine these 5-6" will last a while with how moist they are

[Snowshoe]

Pictures of the roads this morning. Side roads were packed down hard after that initial burst of snow yesterday. Main roads are just slushy with the new snow. Maybe another inch this morning.

[jcwxguy]

I imagine these 5-6" will last a while with how moist they are

if it makes it through this weekend, i think they will last a while 

[Money]

I imagine these 5-6" will last a while with how moist they are

You gotta pay up

[Money]

Picked up another 3-4 last night with another 1-2 today for a storm total of 4-5 ish

 

Would put the season total around 25-26

[hlcater]

Total 2.0" for the whole storm in center point

[Snowlover76]

You gotta pay up

I get my paycheck Friday

[jcwxguy]

official report from lincoln airport is 6.4", even though parts of lincoln had an inch to inch and half above that 

[dahngee]

Official total of 9.2 at MSP as of 6am and there was another moderate band pushing through right after that.  10 to 12 common in the Twin Cities metro area.

 

Thought that dry air moving up was going to do us in but all it did was force more snow. 

[james1976]

Picked up another 3" overnight. Storm total atleast 7"...maybe 7 1/2". Kinda hard to tell with the blowing. My season total is now 38-39". Thats 4" above avg already and its only early Feb.

[NEJeremy]

Ended up with about 4-5" here 20 mins W of DSM. The 2nd band (Def band) was more impressive then I thought and took its sweet a$$ time getting through. But for those that really followed this storm right through the end--  which model - overall- had the best handle on it???  I can't remember an event like this that confounded every model,, some in outlandish ways. I'd say the GFS did the least worst. We need to start a separate thread that is devoted to "post storms" and users can input thoughts on how models actually did after event is over,, so we can learn for similar event in the future.  We do enough of the opposite pre storm. 

I think the GFS did a great job once it made that jog northwest and began to really freak out Snowlover into thinking Lincoln wouldn't get anything. It had those 12-18" totals about perfectly lined up, and even the smaller amounts on the southeast side. If I remember it was giving Omaha just 7-8" and that is what we ended up with in that 4 hours of snowfall we had.

[NEJeremy]

Wow. Value of living in a small town. A local farmer and husband to one of our teachers cleared my driveway this morning with his large John Deere tractor. He saved me hours of work. He is going all over town with other farmers to start the dig out process that will be epic. Close to 18 inches with massive drifts. I can't begin to express the thanks he deserves and he would never take a penny for his work. God bless him and others. My goal in the next few days is to help someone else in need

Not on the scale you guys are dealing with over there, but so far we've had 3 scoopable snows here in Omaha of at least 4", and every time I've had a neighbor come over with his snowblower to help me finish up. Last night at 1030, the neighbor across the street came and cleared the end of our driveway. We had already cleared it yesterday afternoon, but the plows came through last night at about 9 and threw all that cement back up on the end of the driveway and left basically 1-2 foot "cinder-blocks" of snow. Would have been back breaking for sure!

[gabel23]

Some pretty impressive totals coming out, I haven't been outside yet to measure but the official measurement just north of town is over 12". I have waste deep snow in my driveway and my neighbor's bobcat that I was hoping to use is not working at the moment....hoping it gets to working because I'll be scooping all day otherwise! 

 

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1008 AM CST WED FEB 03 2016

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0434 AM HEAVY SNOW LOUP CITY 41.28N 98.97W
02/03/2016 M13.5 INCH SHERMAN NE CO-OP OBSERVER

STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0600 AM HEAVY SNOW RAVENNA 41.03N 98.91W
02/03/2016 M12.2 INCH BUFFALO NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0630 AM SNOW HEBRON 40.17N 97.59W
02/03/2016 M4.7 INCH THAYER NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0630 AM HEAVY SNOW SUPERIOR 40.02N 98.07W
02/03/2016 M12.0 INCH NUCKOLLS NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0636 AM HEAVY SNOW 4 WNW PLAINVILLE 39.26N 99.37W
02/03/2016 M8.4 INCH ROOKS KS CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0700 AM SNOW IONIA 39.66N 98.35W
02/03/2016 M5.0 INCH JEWELL KS CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 4 SW BLUE HILL 40.29N 98.50W
02/03/2016 M14.3 INCH WEBSTER NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0700 AM HEAVY SNOW LEBANON 39.81N 98.56W
02/03/2016 M10.0 INCH SMITH KS CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 3 NE SHELBY 41.22N 97.39W
02/03/2016 M12.7 INCH POLK NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0700 AM HEAVY SNOW OSCEOLA 41.18N 97.55W
02/03/2016 M11.5 INCH POLK NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0700 AM HEAVY SNOW CLAY CENTER 40.52N 98.05W
02/03/2016 M12.0 INCH CLAY NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0700 AM HEAVY SNOW NAPONEE 40.07N 99.14W
02/03/2016 M10.0 INCH FRANKLIN NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0713 AM HEAVY SNOW 3 N YORK 40.91N 97.60W
02/03/2016 M12.4 INCH YORK NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0730 AM HEAVY SNOW 6 ESE CLAY CENTER 40.49N 97.95W
02/03/2016 M6.5 INCH CLAY NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0800 AM HEAVY SNOW CAMBRIDGE 40.28N 100.17W
02/03/2016 M13.2 INCH FURNAS NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0800 AM HEAVY SNOW ORD 41.60N 98.93W
02/03/2016 M12.0 INCH VALLEY NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0800 AM SNOW 2 SW ALTON 39.45N 98.97W
02/03/2016 M5.0 INCH OSBORNE KS CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0800 AM HEAVY SNOW 8 S ELWOOD 40.47N 99.86W
02/03/2016 M15.2 INCH GOSPER NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0800 AM SNOW JEWELL 39.67N 98.15W
02/03/2016 M5.2 INCH JEWELL KS CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0830 AM HEAVY SNOW ST. PAUL 41.21N 98.46W
02/03/2016 M14.3 INCH HOWARD NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

0830 AM HEAVY SNOW MINDEN 40.50N 98.95W
02/03/2016 M14.0 INCH KEARNEY NE CO-OP OBSERVER

2 DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL.

[CentralNebWeather]

Some pictures

[CentralNebWeather]

Still cars stuck on emergency snow routes from yesterday hampering street cleaning

[Geos]

Still cars stuck on emergency snow routes from yesterday hampering street cleaning

 

Yeah, those roads are terrible! Roads get cleared pretty quickly around here, unless it's constant blowing snow.

 

Great pictures.

 

Snowshoe you have some awesome pictures too. Turning your Christmas lights on for the photo!

[Geos]

Still cars stuck on emergency snow routes from yesterday hampering street cleaning

 

Yeah, those roads are terrible! Roads get cleared pretty quickly around here, unless it's constant blowing snow.

 

Great pictures.

 

Snowshoe you have some awesome pictures too. Turning your Christmas lights on for the photo!

[Geos]

I looked back and watched what the low did last night and pretty much it went from Iowa, and then jumped to NW IN where a new primary low formed.

 

The low never strengthened like the GFS had it. GFS had a pretty good track though.

 

[CentralNebWeather]

More photos coming

[gosaints]

Rochester international ended with 8.9 inches.  All in all pretty solid storm around here.

[Money]

Rochester international ended with 8.9 inches. All in all pretty solid storm around here.

Nice

 

Knew this storm would tend NW glad some posters here got nailed

[Geos]

ARX created this snowfall map

 

[NEJeremy]

Here was the GFS run from early Monday am. Pretty spot on!

[Hawkeye]

My total snow was only 1.4 inches, and only half of that is left.  My season snowfall total is only 15.8 inches, about half of the full winter average.  Just up the road in Waterloo, 37 inches has fallen.