A highly-anticipated winter storm dropped rain and heavy snow throughout the region over the weekend, bringing moisture to the area, as well as making travel difficult.
Ayesha Wilkinson, Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, said snowfall totals were not available for Alliance or Hemingford, but noted a report of nine inches of snow at Chadron State Park. Wilkinson said the snowfall was limited due to dry air in the region.
“This was a tricky forecast, because your area got some dry air that hindered that snow growth,” said Wilkinson. “Starting Friday, into Saturday, the Nebraska Panhandle got more rain than snow. A lot of areas got some pretty good precip for that drought. That low started stalling in our area. Saturday morning, late morning, that rain turned into snow. Once we got that snow, it started snowing maybe two inches per hour. It was ramping up very quickly, and we were getting that heavy wet snow.”
Wilkinson said a partner in Scottsbluff reported four inches of snow just two hours into the storm. She said the low left the area, leading to a reduction in the severity of the storm.
On Sunday, the city of Alliance experienced a large power outage. City of Alliance Electric Superintendent Kirby Bridge explained that the outage occurred Sunday morning due to accumulation of ice on the lines.
“With the wind blowing, the lines started galloping and slapping into each other, or into the neutral, which started causing outages,” said Bridge. “The breaker inside the Cody substation that feeds down Second Street, which feeds all the businesses on Box Butte (Avenue), opened up. We had a big outage, but it wasn’t system wide.”
Bridge said another outage affected people from 25th Street in Alliance north to Berea.
We got them back on at about 3:30 or 4 o’clock on Sunday, but they were out most of the day there,” said Bridge.
Many roads were also closed, including US-385 from Angora Hill to Alliance. Alliance Public Schools and Hemingford Public Schools also announced a snow day on Monday. HPS saw another snow day Tuesday and APS had a late start on Tuesday.
Looking at the week ahead, Wilkinson noted there is a chance of snow on Wednesday morning, but that temperatures are expected to rise in the following days.
“We’re getting a ridge pattern, which means the upper levels are a little quieter than what they were before, so our temperatures are going to significantly increase starting Wednesday. By this weekend, we’re expecting highs above 50 degrees. We might get some precip on Saturday, but it’s so warm, that might be rain.”