April 2014 Observations and Discussion

[gabel23]

I noticed yesterday in fields on the edge of Holdrege that several of them had large cracks.  I don't remember seeing that here before.  This drizzle sure makes it look like we are getting great moisture but that will just hold down the dust for a couple of days unless something more substantial comes our way.  This winter will go down in the history books, but not for anything positive.  What are your thoughts on the potential el nino for next year and its impacts on Nebraska?

Well, normally an El Nino winter means warmer than normal for our area. If it's a Moderate/Strong El Nino we will be talking a torch of a winter. In 09-10 we had a weak El Nino but the AO/NAO played a major role in the winter pattern. We all know how awesome that year was......every El Nino is different. 

[clintbeed1993]

Yep every El Nino is different.  It depends a lot on how strong the El Nino is and what the NAO AO and PNA are.  One positive of El Nino is a strong southern jet, which can work to bring better forcing and more moisture.  El Nino can bring some huge storms.

[CentralNebWeather]

Good information.  I am always a little more confident about storms when they come out of the southwest instead of these northwest flow winters.  Might be a little warmer but they can provide good moisture in the form of snow, rain, but sometimes ice.  

 

Sleet hitting the window here now with about 34 degrees.  Looks like the snow band is inching towards me from the southwest.

[CentralNebWeather]

Still just light rain, drizzle, some sleet from time to time.  Not a flake of snow yet.  Unless something happens in the next few hours we will go from a Winter Storm Watch of 6 or more inches last night to 0.0 inches of snow.  I would say swing and a miss again and another strikeout.  Frustrating.

[clintbeed1993]

Still just light rain, drizzle, some sleet from time to time.  Not a flake of snow yet.  Unless something happens in the next few hours we will go from a Winter Storm Watch of 6 or more inches last night to 0.0 inches of snow.  I would say swing and a miss again and another strikeout.  Frustrating.

 

Our state is quickly becoming more and more like a desert.  I think the drought is having a serious affect on the storms around here.

[gabel23]

One of the scariest drive homes I have had in a while. I was coming back from Columbus around 11:30 and holy cow was it ripping. Visibility was down to pretty much the front of the car and there were no tracks thru the snow on the road. Ended up with around 3" of snow easily, tough to tell how much actually fell due to melting at first. 

[Andie]

North Texas had some nasty storms. Northeast of me in Geenville, near Dallas, a tornado touched down.

Spring is here.

[CentralNebWeather]

Glad you got moisture also.  I would say here we had several inches.  Hard to tell with the way it melted but still have about 1 inch on the ground at 10:15 this morning.  It was a welcome relief from the dry conditions, at least for awhile.  I really think we are about done with snow.  Well hoping for more here next year but will miss the daily checking of this site for information.  It is an adrenaline rush for me when people on this site start to track a storm days or weeks away and though it can be frustrating I find in fascinating.  It will now be a long wait until late fall.

[clintbeed1993]

GFS is showing a monster storm for the 12-14th time-frame.  The thing drops over 1 inch of precipitation for Central and Eastern Nebraska.  Looks like the instability would be there for Thunderstorms.  Precipitation stays liquid.  This would be extremely beneficial for the drought.  Too bad the thing is still a week away.  We all know what happens to big storms around here once the time gets closer.

[CentralNebWeather]

12Z GFS showing an interesting system on April 17 and 18.  Looks like a classic Colorado Low with a good amount of snow for April.  Any place else showing that?  Just happened to come across that a few minutes ago.  Probably will disappear but could be one last storm to track for the season.  I am still keeping the snow blower in the garage, but will put it back in the shed this weekend.  I only used it twice this entire season.  That is a record low amount in the 18 years I have had a snow blower.  Sad.

[Jaycee]

12Z GFS showing an interesting system on April 17 and 18.  Looks like a classic Colorado Low with a good amount of snow for April.  Any place else showing that?  Just happened to come across that a few minutes ago.  Probably will disappear but could be one last storm to track for the season.  I am still keeping the snow blower in the garage, but will put it back in the shed this weekend.  I only used it twice this entire season.  That is a record low amount in the 18 years I have had a snow blower.  Sad.

It's been showing up for awhile too. Still waiting for our first powerhouse CO Low this year. It'd be awesome to have some storms! GFS brings back the chance of storms again, and HPC looks good, I'd so accept this:

 

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/p168i.gif

[CentralNebWeather]

12Z GFS no longer showing snow, go figure.  That has been the constant theme this winter.  Get my hopes up then nothing materializes.  I have not been following weather maps as long as most on this board, but it sure seems to have been a tough winter for the models to stick with a scenario for several days.  Maybe it is just my frustration talking.

[clintbeed1993]

Well regardless of precipitation type, I think this weekend will be a great shot at some much needed moisture around here.  Saturday Night definitely has some great potential.  The instability and sheer will be ripe for Thunderstorms.

 

The latest GFS even gave a nice band of snow to much of Central and Eastern Nebraska.  I think Eastern Nebraska will be in the best spot for Thunderstorms.  Hopefully further west can get in on it too, because the drought is getting horrible out towards Mccook.

 

Wouldn't get my hopes up, after all we do live in Nebraska, but at least we finally have a more active pattern and can put this horrible winter behind us for good.

[CentralNebWeather]

Great information clintbeed1993.  I am really hopeful for Sunday for a good dose of moisture in any form.  It is 79 degrees here with more dry wind.  I don't recall seeing this much of the region in a red flag warning before.  

[Andie]

Would someone please turn down the wind machine ?

 

17mph constant and 25mph+ gusts. Mid 80's all week.

Rain coming in Sunday. Maybe it will calm down. >_

[CentralNebWeather]

Andie, in Nebraska this winter and spring that is just someone breathing normally, ha ha.  Wind is only 10 MPH here in Central Nebraska right now.  I might fall over since we have been leaning into it for months.

[NEJeremy]

SPC with a slight risk tomorrow is enough to get me out chasing. Tornado chance is near zero but I love a good hail storm and maybe there will be some good sized stones somewhere tomorrow. Plus when it's been 6 months and as long of a winter as it has been, I don't need much of a reason to head out!

[clintbeed1993]

SPC with a slight risk tomorrow is enough to get me out chasing. Tornado chance is near zero but I love a good hail storm and maybe there will be some good sized stones somewhere tomorrow. Plus when it's been 6 months and as long of a winter as it has been, I don't need much of a reason to head out!

 

I am beyond ready for Thunderstorms after this "winter"!

[clintbeed1993]

Whats up with this whole "you have exceeded allotted disk space" when I try to attach a picture.  WTF?

[gabel23]

Whats up with this whole "you have exceeded allotted disk space" when I try to attach a picture.  WTF?

I know I have tried doing that too and it says the file is too large. Even though I have cropped the picture to the point that you can hardly see it! Ever since they have moved this website I have had trouble up loading images. 

[NEJeremy]

Wow, was hoping for storms to get going by 4 at the latest, but now is looking like maybe not until 6-7 pm. Hopefully will be a chance for some good lightning pics after dark....

[clintbeed1993]

Wow, was hoping for storms to get going by 4 at the latest, but now is looking like maybe not until 6-7 pm. Hopefully will be a chance for some good lightning pics after dark....

 

Don't worry man, tomorrow night is the time to watch.  I'm looking at the forecast for tonight and I'm not seeing any chances for storms, but idk about Omaha area?  I think we should see some good storms tomorrow.

[NEJeremy]

Yeah I was talking about tomorrow. I know there's no storms tonight. Hoping for storms to start with plenty of daylight left tomorrow, but I guess will still take a chance for lightning pics. It's better than nothing!

[clintbeed1993]

Yeah I was talking about tomorrow. I know there's no storms tonight. Hoping for storms to start with plenty of daylight left tomorrow, but I guess will still take a chance for lightning pics. It's better than nothing!

 

Gotcha!  I was confused haha.  Yeah hopefully they get going with good daytime heating.  Hoping we see a nice squall line.

[clintbeed1993]

Cap is holding strong so far today.  Looking like it won't break until later tonight.  Wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't break at all.  That is our luck around here.

[CentralNebWeather]

12z gfs rocked Nebraska with 12-18 inches of snow Thursday - Friday. Now 18z gfs has 0. How is that possible for models to flip that drastically. Oh wait, it is the Nebraska winter- spring 2014.

[clintbeed1993]

12z gfs rocked Nebraska with 12-18 inches of snow Thursday - Friday. Now 18z gfs has 0. How is that possible for models to flip that drastically. Oh wait, it is the Nebraska winter- spring 2014.

 

I'm getting really pissed.  We desperately need the moisture here, but it's all going to go East yet again.

[gabel23]

I'm getting really pissed.  We desperately need the moisture here, but it's all going to go East yet again.

You guys are looking good right now, storms looked like they just moved through your area. Lincoln and Omaha is looking good too. Me, I have precip to my east and west with nothing in my area! I need this line of storms to fill in or I might be SOL......

[CentralNebWeather]

Amen. Just drove home from church in a downpour. Standing water in fields, ponding in the streets. Ice pellets, sleet, hail all mixed together. Snow just west of us on radar. Parts of Phelps county over 1 inch of rain and still coming. We have been anxiously awaiting this.

[NEJeremy]

went chasing yesterday in western Iowa and was on the big hail producer near Oakland/Carson/Macedonia. I got into the worst of the northern cell of the 3 separate cells that originally formed, just west of Macedonia. Winds gusted to probably 50 mph and hail lasted nearly 30 minutes. Most of it was dime to quarter sized but had some half dollar sized too. Drove west out of the storm for a bit only to have the back end redevelop and the reflectivity scans max out on the radar(GRLevel3). At this point the hail grew to half dollar to ping pong with some golf ball sized. Put some dents in the car  It was pretty cool to see the big stones splashing down in the fields that now had standing water in them! One of the better hail storms I've been in in quite a while.

[clintbeed1993]

Good to see the moisture did arrive after all!  Good soaking today!

[NEJeremy]

had a nice little storm move through about 30 mins ago. winds gusted 45-50 mph, had torrential rain and copious amounts of pea sized hail. still have some piles on the deck and lawn furniture and up against the edges of the deck. Up to 1.3" of rain now here at my place!

[gabel23]

Possible thunder snow today, wwa has moved into the grand island area.

 

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/md0335.html

[Jaycee]

Possible thunder snow today, wwa has moved into the grand island area.

 

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/md0335.html

Very dynamic system! CentralNebWeather, you guys out in Holdrege looked like you got hit really hard throughout the day, can definitely imagine the snowfall rates out there are pretty wild. We're getting rocked here in Lincoln for the second time today, definitely going to clock in 1"-2" precipitation from this. I'd love to see some thundersnow too! 

[gabel23]

I received .30" of rain, currently seeing heavy sleet at the moment. Hoping it turns to snow!!

[gabel23]

Sleet/snow mix now, I'm hoping that band out to my west holds together.

[CentralNebWeather]

Holdrege and Phelps county getting rocked. Blizzard conditions the last 4 hours. Drove home to holdrege from north of funk, 8 miles took over 40 minutes. Some places 0 visibility. Saw about 10 cars in the ditches between funk and holdrege. I would say close to 6 inches but hard to measure. Drifting is also a problem. Warming station set up at city auditorium. Worst storm around here in several years. Still cant believe we are only in winter weather advisory. One of the toughest drives I have had to make in years. I think highway 6 should be closed, imo.

[clintbeed1993]

Holdrege and Phelps county getting rocked. Blizzard conditions the last 4 hours. Drove home to holdrege from north of funk, 8 miles took over 40 minutes. Some places 0 visibility. Saw about 10 cars in the ditches between funk and holdrege. I would say close to 6 inches but hard to measure. Drifting is also a problem. Warming station set up at city auditorium. Worst storm around here in several years. Still cant believe we are only in winter weather advisory. One of the toughest drives I have had to make in years. I think highway 6 should be closed, imo.

 

6 inches?  Jesus.  Didn't get nearly that much in the Tri Cities.

[CentralNebWeather]

Some is now melting. Some side streets in town had drifts that were taller. I measured a couple of places in my yard with 6 inches but just 2-3 in other parts. I was amazed at the blowing and drifting with this wet snow. Buddy on police department thinks official measurement will be 4-5 when all is said and done.

[CentralNebWeather]

Snow pictures.