Power Outage in Norfolk, NE

Damaging winds were observed throughout the county. Wind gusts were measured at Norfolk of 70 mph. The damaging winds lasted for over one and a half hours. Damage included some uprooting of trees, large limbs down, power lines downed, and some minor building damage.

Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at over 80 mph caused significant tree damage in the Battle Creek area which in turned caused building and vehicle damage. Nearly half the streets in town were impassable of because of fallen trees, and at least 10 houses and cars sustained significant damage due to the fallen trees. Power was also knocked out in the area. The damage path stretched both west and east of town.

A thunderstorm gust of 63 mph was measured by Asos at the Norfolk Stefan Airport. The strong winds downed trees which in turn downed power lines and caused vehicle and house damage in town. Small hail also covered the ground in parts of town.

A thunderstorm gust of 63 mph was measured by Asos at the Norfolk Stefan Airport. The strong winds downed trees which in turn downed power lines and caused vehicle and house damage in town. Small hail also covered the ground in parts of town.

Freezing rain fell across the area for a while during the evening of March 9th followed by plunging temperatures and gusty North winds as an arctic air mass plunged into the region. Although most ice accumulations were under 1/4 inch, the combination of ice and wind gusts of 40 mph or more caused scattered power outages from around Battle Creek to Elgin. Ten sub-stations were knocked down due to the ice-wind combination causing 3500 customers to lose power.

Freezing rain accumulated between 1/2 and 3/4 of an inch over much of the county. The icing downed tree limbs and caused scattered power outages.

Several large tree limbs and power lines were downed in town by thunderstorm winds estimated at close to 60 mph.

Freezing rain accumulated from at least 1/2 inch to over 1 inch in some locations on trees, power lines, vehicles and other untreated objects. The weight of the ice, and a mix of light sleet that also fell briefly late Saturday night, caused widespread tree damage and also felled numerous power lines and power poles. The area most hard hit was from north through west through southwest of Norfolk where some 500 power poles were toppled and power was lost for days. Fallen trees also caused damage to cars and houses...mainly to western Madison county. The storm caused around 1.5 million dollars worth of damage to utility companies in the county.

An energetic system moved across Nebraska advecting north an unusually warm, moist, and unstable airmass for January. The increased moisture and warmth allowed for high snow totals, but also led to many precipitation types being observed. A Winter Storm Warning and an Ice Warning were both in effect. A peak total of 17.1 inches of snow were observed in Knox County at the Verdel COOP site. Two flat ice measurement of 0.25 inches were reported in Platte County. Those were the only ice measurements reported to the office. Ice pictures were sent to the office from numerous counties, but thickness was hard to determine. All but Platte County didn't seem to met Ice Storm Warning criteria. A few power outages were reported but primarily effected a small number in rural areas.

An intense cyclone moved through the central and northern Plains on Christmas. This brought unusual weather to eastern Nebraska for late December. Strong southerly winds ahead of the system brought unseasonably warm and moist air northward into the region allowing for non-severe thunderstorms to cross the area early in the day on Christmas. By afternoon, a strong front swept across eastern Nebraska bring a line of strong thunderstorms. A couple of the thunderstorms were strong enough to produce isolated severe weather with damaging winds. After the passage of the thunderstorms and as the low pressure moved into South Dakota a strong cold front swept through the area with very strong damaging non-thunderstorm winds across northeast Nebraska. This brought widespread tree and power line damage, as well as some minor structural damage to the area.

A powerful storm system moved into the central Plains during the day on Sunday April 27th. This system brought more widespread severe weather to areas of the southern Plains into the southeast United States, but for eastern Nebraska morning showers and thunderstorms, some of which were strong, severely limited the degree of instability that was available during the afternoon when a deep area of low pressure moved into central Nebraska. As a result only isolated thunderstorms were able to develop, and mainly confined to areas of central into northeast Nebraska where isolated severe weather in the form of large hail occurred. With the storm system still in the area on Monday the 28th, isolated strong storms again developed in the afternoon producing small hail.

An upper level disturbance and associated surface low pressure system tracked along the Nebraska and Kansas border spreading a mix of freezing rain...sleet and snow to sections of northeast Nebraska. The system pulled down arctic air behind causing temperatures to plunge to the single digits and north winds to increase to 20 to 30 mph or greater. The combination of mixed precipitation and strong winds caused scattered power outages in northeast Nebraska.

An intense low pressure system that tracked from Kansas into Iowa brought a major winter storm to much of Nebraska and adjacent sections of Colorado, Kansas and the Dakotas Sunday and Monday November 27th and 28th. The storm caused blizzard conditions across a large part of central and northeast Nebraska, and shut down a 220-mile stretch of Interstate 80 much of Monday. The Interstate remained closed into Tuesday morning. In addition, many, if not most, other roads in central and northeast Nebraska were closed for at least a time during the storm. Major highways in northeast Nebraska that were closed included Highway 81 north of Columbus and Highway 275 around Norfolk. Many vehicles were stranded on roads or slid or drove into ditches. In fact at one point it was reported that 100 vehicles were stalled on Highway 81 in only a 20 mile stretch between Columbus and Humphrey. The storm also brought severe thunderstorms to southeast Nebraska Sunday afternoon into Sunday night.In northeast Nebraska the precipitation began as rain Sunday afternoon, changing over to freezing rain Sunday evening. Significant ice accumulations began after midnight on the 28th, mainly from Albion and Neligh north and northeast into Knox, Madison and Pierce counties. Ice accumulations of 1/4 to 1/2 inch or even more were common from Neligh through Pierce, Bloomfield and Niobrara. Some locations in Antelope and Boone counties reported over 1 inch ice accumulations on power line equipment. When winds picked up Sunday night, many tree branches and power lines and poles were downed because of the ice accumulations. As a result, power was lost for at several hours, and in some cases for several days, across much of the area west through north of Norfolk. Three radio stations in Norfolk were knocked off the air by the wind and ice, and the combination of wind and ice also overturned many center pivot irrigation systems throughout the region. The freezing rain began changing to snow late Sunday evening or early Monday from northwest to southeast, and by mid Monday morning a raging blizzard was underway from Norfolk and locations north through southwest. Blizzard conditions spread southeast to Columbus, Stanton and Wayne during the afternoon. Heavier snow accumulations from the storm included 13 inches in Bloomfield, 12 inches in Niobrara, 10 inches in Crofton, 9 inches at Neligh, 7 inches in Madison and 6 inches at Stanton and Norfolk. In addition to the snow, very strong winds were reported throughout the region, with sustained winds of 40 mph or more and frequent gusts over 50 mph common. The strong winds caused some 5 to 15 foot drifts, especially north of an Albion to Norfolk line. Some gusts of 50 knots or greater (58 mph) were also recorded. Higher wind gusts and times (all cst) measured by Asos or Awos included...64 mph at Columbus at 255 pm, 59 mph in Norfolk at 507 pm, 52 mph at Albion at 1010 am and 51 mph at Wayne at 410 pm. The Albion sensor could have been under-reporting wind speeds due the freezing rain that fell earlier because peak wind gusts of around 60 mph or greater were common at other sites in between Norfolk and central Nebraska.At least one indirect fatality was recorded from the storm in northeast Nebraska. A head-on collision occurred Monday morning near Humphrey, near the junction of Highways 81 and 91 north of Columbus, when a driver crossed the center line in near white-out conditions and was struck by a semi-tractor trailer.Overall, damage from the storm in Nebraska was estimated at $5.3 million, a large part to public and private utility companies.