Record temperatures
It has been a very mild winter in Nebraska and many locations are going to be flirting with an all-time warm winter or at least a winter with record warm maximum temperatures (Figure 1). The eastern climate divisions have had the third warmest high temperatures to date. The central and western climate divisions have all experienced record warm average high temperatures. This warmth has been prevalent in the western U.S., while the eastern U.S. has been fairly cold.
Figure 1. Rank of average high temperatures so far this winter.
The culprit has been prominent upper-level ridging across the western portion of the continent (Figure 2), which has kept the main storm track well away from the High Plains and Western Corn Belt region. The lack of a storm track has led to a lack of snowfall. There have also been a lot of days with downsloping west/northwest winds at the surface and lower levels of the atmosphere that have led to compressional warming.
Figure 2. Map of 500-mb height anomalies this winter.
With a lack of snow cover from the lack of snow falling out of the sky, there has been nothing to offset these warm winds and average high temperatures at all long-term sites around the state are top-5 warmest. Omaha, Valentine, and North Platte all have had record warm average high temperatures and for Valentine this is the overall warmest winter on record. There are still 10 more days of climatological winter to go and we do have some colder days coming.
| Station | Omaha | Lincoln | Norfolk | Grand Island | North Platte | Valentine | Scottsbluff |
| Average High Temperature (°F) | 41.9-Warmest | 43.9-4th warmest | 42.5-2nd warmest | 46.6-2nd warmest | 51.9- Warmest | 47.6- Warmest | 51.9- 2nd warmest |
| Average Low Temperature (°F) | 18.7 | 17.2 | 16.4 | 19.3 | 15.7 | 17.2- 4th warmest | 19.6- 2nd warmest |
| Average Temperature (°F) | 30.3-10th warmest | 30.6-10th warmest | 29.4-7th warmest | 32.9-5th warmest | 33.8-2nd warmest | 32.4- Warmest | 35.7- 2nd warmest |
Table 1. Average temperatures and indication if temperature is top-10 warmest.
But it is likely that this will go down as a top 5 winter overall in Nebraska. The table above shows the average high, average low, and average mean temperatures, with an indication if a number was in the top 10. Most sites are outside the top 10 for record warm low temperatures with record warm or near-record average high temperatures. The large diurnal range is another sign that we have been very dry and that drought has been getting worse across Nebraska.
