For example, Eppley Airfield, where Omaha's official measurement takes place, only recorded 4' of snowfall. Things changed overnight, when the dry air finally eroded and a band of heavy snow developed and sat right on I-80 and to the south, placing Omaha and Lincoln in the higher echelon of those snowfall totals.Īnother tricky part of this event is the wide range of snowfall totals, even in the Omaha metro.

As Wednesday evening progressed, it looked like the dry air would win out and we would miss out on the bulk of the snow. However, there were a few computer models that had the band being thrown up north towards Omaha and Lincoln, which was always a thought in the back of our minds. The biggest problem was where the band of heavy snow would set up, we had thought the band would set up south of I-80 closer to the Nebraska-Kansas border. The various computer models we use to forecast winter weather were all over the place, with Omaha either receiving nothing or double digits.

What do I mean by that? Based on the parameters of the storm system, we had the potential to see either nothing or a major winter storm, with not much wiggle room in between. This winter storm was what I sometimes like to call a 'low floor, high ceiling' type of event. Snow forecasting is always a challenge, but this forecast in particular was a major headache for meteorologists.

Snowfall totals nebraska