Power Outage in Geneva, NE

Storm total snowfall amounts ranged from 1 to 4 inches across the county. A few of the highest amounts included the following: 4 inches, measured by NWS Cooperative Observers located in Geneva and four miles south of Shickley; 1.8 inches, measured by a CoCoRaHS observer located four miles east of Ohiowa. The local power district noted that 400 power poles were damaged due to icing.

Measured wind gusts along this path included the following: 61 MPH from three miles east-northeast of Geneva; 60 MPH from four west of Geneva; 58 MPH from five miles west of Geneva. Power outages were reported in Geneva.

Freezing rain and freezing drizzle resulted in a coating of ice at least one-quarter inch thick. Travel was hazardous, and numerous tree limbs were downed. Power lines were also affected, causing power outages.

Numerous tree limbs of 6 to 8 inches in diameter, along with as many as a dozen large trees, were blown down by the wind. Some of these limbs came down on power lines, causing power to be lost across portions of town for approximately 2 hours. Damage reports from across town included some roof and window damage to several buildings, an unhooked semi trailer being blown on its side, and a light pole being knocked down onto the bleachers at the local baseball field.

Tree damage was reported and a few power lines were blown down.

Damaging winds developed behind a decaying area of thunderstorms. The wind caved in a grain bin, blew off one quarter of a roof from a wood framed house, round hay bales were rolled across a field, and power poles were blown down between Geneva and Fairmont.

Although snow totals across the majority of this 24-county South Central Nebraska area fell well-short of expectations from a few days beforehand, amounts as high as 1-3 inches materialized within the far southeast counties of Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls and Thayer. Nearly all snow accumulation occurred during the pre-dawn hours of Monday the 14th as rain finally transitioned to slushy, wet snow before precipitation ended. According to a combination of NeRAIN observers and NWS cooperative observers, a few of the highest totals featured 3.0 two miles northwest of Ohiowa, six miles northeast of Superior and four miles east-southeast of Edgar, and 2.0 at various locations including Clay Center, Geneva and Byron. Outside the aforementioned four-county area, the majority of South Central Nebraska observed no more than a non-measurable trace of snow, as precipitation type largely prevailed as rain. Despite north-northwest winds gusting up to around 30 MPH, the very wet nature of any snow greatly minimized blowing/drifting. Speaking of wet, when all was said and done, the wintry aspect of this event was not even the big story locally. Instead, it will be most remembered for soaking rainfall (and even a few thunderstorms initially), which was the primary precipitation type from when precipitation first broke out on the evening of the 12th until the eventual changeover to pockets of snow on the morning of the 14th. For locations generally east of a line from Alma-Kearney-Wolbach, storm total precipitation averaged 1.00-2.00 and locally higher in far southeast counties, providing very beneficial early-winter moisture. Just to name a few, two-day precipitation totals included 2.49 at Hebron and 1.60 at the Hastings NWS Office. Put another way, to the east of the aforementioned line this event alone yielded generally two to two-and-a-half times as much December precipitation as the 30-year monthly normal/average. ||Breaking down timing, steady rain got underway on the evening of the 12th into the early morning of the 13th primarily within the southeastern half of South Central Nebraska and persisted through most of the day before a brief lull arrived later in the afternoon. This first wave of precipitation focused well out ahead of a powerful, closed mid level low pressure system that churned across the Texas Panhandle into western Oklahoma during the day of the 13th. Then, round two of the event, during which all snow accumulation occurred, began on the evening of the 13th in the form of a classic, generally north-south oriented deformation band tied to the northwest quadrant of the mid level low. All local precipitation ended by daybreak on the 14th as the center of this mid level circulation departed east-northeast to the IA/MO/IL border area. From a forecast perspective, it appeared 36 to 48 hours in advance that a more widespread snowfall of 2-6 could occur in much of South Central Nebraska. However, as time went by it became increasingly-apparent that most of the area would be spared appreciable snow as the parent low pressure system shifted slightly southeast and low-level temperatures remained quite marginal for snow production.

Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms flared up in eastern portions of South Central Nebraska on this Thursday evening, primarily affecting Nance, Clay and especially Fillmore counties. Although at least small hail affected various parts of these counties, including nickel size hail reported north of Genoa, all severe-criteria reports originated in Fillmore County from a supercell storm, including golf ball size stones in the Geneva area around 9 pm CDT. While hail was the main issue, strong thunderstorm winds also blew over a semi trailer just south of Geneva. In east central Fillmore County, enhanced low-level rotation was detected by radar for a short time around 930 pm CDT, but no tornadoes were reported with this storm as all tornadic activity on this night occurred east of the local area in southeast Nebraska. These storms also produced localized heavy rainfall up to around 2 inches, with the highest reported amount of 2.36 from the cooperative observer in Geneva. ||Thunderstorms initiated over Clay and Nuckolls counties between 7-8 pm CDT, along a rather sharp quasi-stationary surface front aligned from southeast Nebraska into north central/west central Kansas. During this early evening time frame, winds north of the front were from the northeast while breezes south of the boundary prevailed from the south-southeast in the presence of surface dewpoints well into the 60s F, providing ample low level convergence. Between 8-11 pm CDT, a small cluster of strong to severe storms became established within Clay and Fillmore counties, with the eastern-most storm in Fillmore County organizing into a high-precipitation supercell before exiting east into Saline County. This upswing in storm coverage/severity shortly after nightfall focused along the nose of a developing 40 knot low level jet evident at 850 millibars. As the initial round of storms along the Highway 6 corridor started to weaken and depart, a separate cluster of strong thunderstorms blossomed farther north, primarily affecting Nance, northeastern Merrick and northern Polk counties between 10 pm-12 am CDT. Non-severe thunderstorms festered across these far northeast counties into the early morning hours of the 4th, but by 3 am CDT all convection had departed South Central Nebraska for the night.||The environment was ripe for supercell development by early evening, with mesoscale parameters featuring around 1500 J/kg most-unstable CAPE in the presence of around 40 knots of 0-6 kilometer deep layer wind shear. On the synoptic scale aloft, this event occurred in the presence of subtle, low amplitude shortwave troughs embedded within strengthening southwesterly flow in the mid-upper levels, downstream from a powerful closed low centered over the Central Rockies. On the following afternoon and evening of Oct. 4th, this stout low pressure system entered the Central Plains, but South Central Nebraska was narrowly spared a significant weather event thanks to a strong surface cold front and dryline pushing east of the area by late afternoon. It was a close call, however, as several damaging tornadoes raked northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa during the late afternoon and evening of the 4th.

Following a short stretch of dry days centered around mid-month, an abrupt transition to a very wet pattern arrived in parts of South Central Nebraska between the evening hours of Thursday the 19th and early morning hours of Friday the 20th. This came in the form of two distinct rounds of thunderstorms, with the heaviest 24-hour rainfall totals targeting locations generally east of a line from Red Cloud, to Clay Center, to Osceola. Focusing on timing, the first wave of heavy rain-producing storms spread northward across eastern portions of South Central Nebraska mainly between 6 and 8 PM CDT on the 19th, with the next, more significant round focusing on the 10 PM to 1 AM CDT time frame before gradually pushing off to the east. Within these eastern counties, 24-hour rainfall amounts of 2.5 to 4 inches were common, especially across parts of Webster, Nuckolls, Clay, Fillmore and Thayer Counties. A few of the highest reported gauge readings included 4.14 inches southeast of Deweese and 4.00 inches northwest of Alexandria. As a result, extensive lowland and small creek flooding ensued, along with flooding of several county roads, some of which were closed through at least the afternoon of the 20th. The Republican River also topped minor flood stage, with the gauge near Guide Rock cresting 0.47-foot above flood stage on the morning of the 20th. ||On both the synoptic and mesoscale, South Central Nebraska was primed for a heavy rainfall event, as precipitable water values climbed to around 1.5 inches within the axis of a 40 knot low-level jet. This all took place within a region of pronounced mid-upper jet divergence, located downstream from a powerful mid-level low pressure system centered in the Central Rockies. Fortunately, a substantial severe weather threat did not materialize across the local area thanks to the surface warm front and resultant low-level destabilization remaining to the south across central and south central Kansas, where several severe storms occurred along with a few tornadoes.

Driven by a mid-level shortwave trough crossing the Northern Plains, a surface cold front advanced southeast across the Central Plains region. Initially, a complex of strong to severe thunderstorms flared up across the Central High Plains during the late evening hours on the 26th. These storms then rolled east into South Central Nebraska during the early Sunday morning hours on the 27th, primarily affecting areas between Interstate 80 and the Kansas state line. Although deep-layer wind shear values were modest, only around 30 knots, instability was high with MUCAPE values of 2000-3000 J/kg. As a result, a few storms within the area became severe. One of the hardest-hit areas was in and near Geneva in Fillmore County, where estimated wind gusts to around 70 MPH caused power outages, substantial damage to trees, and also some structural damage. Hail up to quarter size, and locally heavy rainfall in excess of 2 inches also affected Fillmore County.