Winter of 2021-2022 notable for its historic lack of snow

By Brian Neben

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    LEXINGTON, Kentucky (Lexington Clipper Herald) — The National Weather Service – Hastings examined the winter of 2021-2022 and by far the most notable feature was the historic lack of snowfall.

“For our coverage area as a whole, the 2021-22 snow season was most noted for an incredible lack of snow, particularly in our Nebraska coverage area. In fact, most of our Nebraska coverage area fell at least 10-20 inches shy of normal,” per NWS Hastings.

For reference, normal or average seasonal snowfall for Nebraska counties along or north of the Highway 6 corridor is 25-30 inches.

Within the 24 counties NWS Hastings covers, the highest official 2021-22 seasonal snow totals were 17.1 inches in Wilsonville and 14.7 inches in Cambridge. NWS Hastings noted it is “quite unusual,” to have the highest local snowfall totals south of Interstate 80.

The lowest snowfall totals included 3.6 inches at Polk and 4.0 inches in Belgrade, in Nance County.

The earliest measureable snow within the coverage area occurred on Nov. 1, 2021, at least 2-4 inches around Dawson, Gosper and Furnas counties.

A weather site six miles southeast of Lexington only recorded 8.4 inches for the season, with the highest amount, of 2.9 inches falling in March. There was no recorded snowfall in February.

To the south, an Elwood site recorded 12.9 inches over the winter, with three inches in November, one of the highest amounts in NWS Hastings area for the month. The highest overall amount was 4.2 inches in March.

The numbers from the NWS observers in the Tri-Cities show the stark contrast in last winter’s snowfall and the climate average.

Grand Island: 12.1 inches, 15.6 inches below normal, this was the 8th least snowy season on record out of the 114 seasons with complete records and the least since 9.2 inches in 2016-17.

Hastings: 9.1 inches, 19.5 inches below normal, this was the 4th least snowy season on record out of the 73 seasons with complete records and the least since 8.5 inches in 1960-61.

Kearney: 8.3 inches, 13.5 inches below normal, this was the second least snowy season on record out of 98 seasons with complete records and the least since 7.5 inches in 1927-28.

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