On Monday, January 25th, a snowstorm for the ages hit the eastern portion of Nebraska and specifically the Lincoln area with the most significant snow totals since the early 1900’s locally. Nearly 15 inches fell in a 24 hour span from early Monday morning to Tuesday morning forcing Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) to call not just one snow day but three, extending students’ breaks from school through Wednesday. This much snow in a 24 hour period is extremely rare as many things must align.
“The track of the storm itself, moisture in the atmosphere that’s available, and temperatures in the atmosphere that are cold enough all must come together,” Chuck Morgan, a social studies teacher at Lincoln East as well as a weather connoisseur known for his snow day predictions on his twitter weather4us said. As for if this was the most snow Morgan had ever seen, he can’t say that it is but it’s ultimately “in the top five for sure.”
The significant snow totals also caused havoc for those driving on Lincoln’s streets as countless cars got stuck and needed the assistance of good samaritans to get going again. The StarTran busses were even pulled from the streets Monday as 10 of the 18 busses were stranded and ultimately the busses were shut down early for the first time since 1974 according to the Lincoln Journal Star. LPS has now used four of their five allotted snow days so will only have one remaining for the rest of the winter season. Here’s to hoping that Lincoln receives no more major snow storms the rest of this already record breaking season.