Storm Impacting the Northwest U.S.; Fire Weather Conditions in Southern California; Severe Weather in the South

A Pacific storm is bringing areas of low elevation rain, moderate to heavy mountain snow, and high winds to the Northwest. Strong Santa Ana winds and very dry conditions are producing elevated to critical fire weather conditions in southern California. Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms are possible through early Wednesday morning across parts of northeast Texas into western Tennessee. Read More >

Arctic air settled into the Central U.S. early February. A cold front first moved through the area on Friday, February 5, 2021 bringing a long duration snow event. Most of the snow fell Friday night and Saturday night. Several locations saw 10 inches or more of snow on the ground over the 2 day period. An Arctic cold front moved through the area Saturday night, with the cold Arctic air mass remaining in place over the next week and a half. Many record breaking temperatures were seen over the week long frigid, Arctic, cold spell. Extremely dangerous wind chills prompted a week long Wind Chill Advisory, which was then upgraded to a Wind Chill Warning later in the week across western and north central Nebraska. Brutally cold temperatures created hardship on young livestock and impacted many residents across the region with rolling blackouts. Record breaking low temperatures and record breaking low maximum high temperatures were seen at several climate sites. Some of these record lows had been set back in the early 1900s.

Most of the heaviest snowfall occurred across central into portions of north central Nebraska, where a band of snow set up in nearly the same location both Friday night and Saturday night. Below is a map of observed snowfall through the weekend of all reports received as of 6am CST Monday Feb. 8, 2021.

...HIGHEST SNOWFALL REPORTS ENDING SATURDAY MORNING FEB. 7, 2021...

Location Amount

North Platte 2W 7.0 in

Arthur 6.2 in

North Platte 3ENE (Official) 6.1 in

Hershey 6 NW 5.8 in

North Platte 10S 5.8 in

Sutherland 5.0 in

Brady 5.0 in

...HIGHEST SNOWFALL REPORTS ENDING SUNDAY MORNING FEB. 8, 2021...

Location Amount

North Platte 15 NNE 8.0 in

Callaway 8WSW 7.5 in

North Platte 1W 7.0 in

Merna NNE 6.5 in

North Platte 3ENE (Official) 6.4 in

Anselmo 12 WSW 6.0 in

Imperial 5.5 in

Arthur 5.5 in

Maxwell 5.0 in

Observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying

equipment and exposures. We thank all volunteer weather observers

for their dedication. Not all data listed are considered official.

Dangerous wind chills were seen Friday, Feb. 12, 2021 with wind chill values dropping around -20° to -29° in some locations.

Dangerous wind chills were seen once again Saturday night, Feb. 13, 2021 along with light snow. Below are snowfall reports received as of noon CT Sunday and coldest wind chills below -30°. with wind chill values dropping around 20 to 29 degrees below zero in some locations.

More cold temperatures were seen on President's Day, February 15, 2021.

...LOW TEMPERATURES ENDING THE MORNING OF FEB. 15, 2021...

Location Temperature

Broken Bow Airport -37°

Ericson 6WNW -35°

Gordon Airport -33°

Valentine Airport -33°

Atkinson -31°

Ogallala Airport -30°

O'Neill Airport -30°

Thedford Airport -30°

Madrid -29°