Surplus rain brings relief to some, halts hay baling for others

Temperatures were near normal, if slightly on the cool side, through August, and bouts of rain were nearly continuous in portions of the state, hindering hay baling in some regions. Heavy rain in the Omaha metro area on Aug. 19 and 20 brought a totally of 8.33 inches, 6.17 of which fell on the 20th.  Read more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the August edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.

Warm start, cool end to July, dryness continues

July started off following June’s lead and giving Nebraska temperatures that registered above normal, but by month’s end, a cool-down brought the mercury below normal. Rainfall was varied, and drought continued to creep into the southeast corner of the state. Read more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the July edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.

 

7 new weather stations installed

Since our last newsletter, we’ve installed seven new weather stations across the state, which will help to boost our monitoring and decision-support services to Nebraskans. During the quarter, we also hosted the American Association of State Climatologists annual meeting, which brought together climatologists and weather station managers from nearly every state and regional climate center in the United States.

May brings record warmth and triple-digit heat

After a cold and snowy April, Nebraska seemingly skipped spring and went right to summer in May. Average temperatures were 2 degrees to 8 degrees above average across the state, with five stations ranking within the top five warmest for the period of record. At the same time, the state saw about half the normal amount of rainfall. Learn more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the May edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.

Summary: April sees record cold

A mid-month blizzard stuck Nebraska, dropping between 8 inches and 2 feet of snow across the southern Panhandle and northcentral Nebraska. The snow affected calving season, where some places were short shelter equipment for their livestock. April also was persistently cold, especially in the east where temperatures averaged about 10 degrees below normal.

Spring Still Elusive as Cold then Rains to Quickly Follow Warm-up

April started with exceptionally cold air across a large section of the northern and central High Plains, as well as most of the central and eastern Corn Belt. Here in Nebraska, the first week saw average temperatures as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, while western Nebraska averaged 8-15 degrees below normal. These are the types of temperatures we would expect at the start of March, not April.Thankfully, the brief period of above-normal temperatures that developed this week across the state gives us hope that the worst of the cold conditions are behind us.

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