It's 2024, whether you were looking forward to the new year, or dreading it, it's finally come. Now that 2023 is over, let's look back at how the year played out in Omaha weather-wise. We will first look at how the year looked overall, then delve into some of the specific weather events that stood out for residents of Nebraska and Iowa for the year 2023.
2023 IN WEATHER: THE BIG PICTURE
If there is one word to describe 2023 as a whole in terms of weather for Nebraska and Iowa, the word would be warmth. Overall, the year was quite warm for much of the country. It is the 12th warmest year in Omaha, the 8th warmest year in Lincoln, and the 5th warmest year in Norfolk.
On a month-by-month breakdown, every month except March and July we saw above-average temperatures for the month, but nothing too exceptional for the record books. The exception is December when Omaha had its 9th warmest December on record.
Another interesting tidbit, 2023 was the first year Omaha did not have a low temperature below 0 since 1941! The coldest we got in 2023 was exactly 0 degrees on both January 29 and January 30.
In terms of precipitation...2023 was a dry year. On average we see roughly 31.86" of precipitation each calendar year. For 2023, Omaha received 24.98" of precipitation, well below our yearly average. Not record-breaking, but a dry year nonetheless.
WINTER...OR LACK THEREOF...AGAIN
These past two winters have not been good ones for Omaha snow lovers. With only 13.8" of snow this winter, we now have had back-to-back extraordinarily dry winters. This is the 9th smallest snow season in Omaha, with the previous winter of 2021-2022 being worse with 10.8" of snow, or the 3rd smallest snow season on record.
Despite the lack of snow in Omaha, there were a few winter systems that brought snow to the area. Some might remember on January 18 when Omaha missed out on snow, but northeast Nebraska saw several inches (click here for more details). Two days after Valentine's Day, a surprise snowstorm dropped as much as 8" of snow in the Omaha metro, although Eppley Airfield only recorded 4" (click here for more details).
A TALE OF HAIL IN MALVERN, IOWA
For most of us, severe weather season ramped up slowly with mostly dry conditions going into April. This was certainly not the case in Malvern, the county seat of Mills County, where the town was impacted by not 1..not 2..but 3 separate hailstorms!
On April 19, hailstorms pelted parts of southwest Iowa, with Mills County being particularly hard hit. The hail, which reached over 2" in diameter, broke windows and damaged siding in the town. The same storm responsible for producing the hail produced a couple of small tornadoes in Pottawattamie County, and another storm produced two weak tornadoes in Fremont County. (For more information on the storms, click here).
Then, on May 7, another hailstorm pounded Malvern. Hailstones up to 2.25" in diameter did damage in some of the same places, such as the Classic Cafe in the business district. (For more information on the 2nd wave of hail, click here).
The town could not catch a break, for on July 17 a third hailstorm pounded the city. This time the hail was smaller, around 1.5" in diameter, but still did damage in the already hail-ravaged community. (For more information on the 3rd wave of hail, click here).
THE TORNADO OUTBREAK OF MAY 12
By far the largest severe weather event in our viewing area occurred on May 12, when 18 tornadoes touched down in eastern Nebraska! The storms were divided into three clusters, one cluster impacted northeast Nebraska, another went through Dodge and Burt Counties, and a third moved through southeast Nebraska.
By far the strongest tornadoes were three EF-2 tornadoes which moved through central Dodge and western Burt Counties. Fortunately, the storm managed to narrowly miss towns such as Scribner, Uehling, Oakland, and Lyons. However, several homes were still damaged in the tornadoes. In northeast Nebraska, four separate tornadoes impacted Stanton County. Finally, in southeast Nebraska, one tornado struck a baseball field near Pawnee City. (For a more detailed breakdown of these tornadoes, click here.)
DRIEST MAY ON RECORD, AND THE DROUGHT CONTINUES
The storms on May 12 missed the Omaha metro. All of the rain for the month missed the Omaha metro. The month of May saw Omaha pick up 0.17" of rain, that's not a typo, less than 1/4" of rain fell for the WHOLE month of May. Typically, May is one of our wetter months of the year.
The very dry May did not help drought problems, the most persistent issue for eastern Nebraska. By late June, the exceptional drought (level 5/5) had pushed as far east as Gretna and Ashland. Cities like Norfolk to York have been in an exceptional drought since last summer.
Once July started, a transition to a more wet weather pattern helped to alleviate the drought in eastern Nebraska, and even for a time pushing out the exceptional drought from the viewing area! While Fall became more dry, the drought crept back in. By the end of 2023, the drought remains over most of the area. The exceptional drought is confined to Polk, Butler, and Seward Counties. In Iowa, the drought has started to get worse, with the extreme drought (level 4/5) now as far west as Atlantic.
THE SUMMER OF WILDFIRE SMOKE
While wildfire season in Nebraska began early this year, the biggest impacts from wildfires were not the ones burning within the state, but in Canada. During the summer, Canada experienced its worst wildfire season on record as massive wildfires burned through the forests of northern and eastern Canada. It is estimated that the fires burned 18.4 million hectares, or roughly the size of North Dakota, according to NASA.
The result of these massive fires was the large amounts of smoke that flowed from Canada into the United States. After the passage of every cold front, wildfire smoke blanketed the skies of the Midwest and northeast United States, causing air quality issues. Some of the worst wildfire smoke days in Omaha occurred in mid-July and early September, both days where air quality indices fell into the "unhealthy" category.
THE TORNADOES OF JULY 12
Besides the tornado outbreak of May 12, there was another significant severe weather event that occurred in the early morning hours of July 12. A squall line raced through eastern Nebraska and western Iowa between 5-8 am, impacting the Omaha metro just after 6 am.
The line of storms ultimately produced 9 tornadoes over our viewing area, the strongest of which was an EF-2 in Logan County, Iowa. Other tornadoes hit Howells in Colfax County, Bancroft in Cuming County, and Portsmouth in Shelby County. (For more information on the tornadoes, click here.)
MID-AUGUST HEATWAVE
Overall, this past summer was not too hot for us except for one week in August when temperatures topped 100. More impressive was the exceptionally high humidity, much of it done from evapotranspiration due to corn. Heat index values topped 110-120 in many locations. At Eppley Airfield, the maximum heat index hit 118 degrees! This is the 3rd highest heat index recorded at Eppley since the airfield began recording weather observations in 1948. The two hotter examples were 119 degrees in 1999 and 120 in 1988!
THANKSGIVING WEEKEND SNOW
Our first snowfall of the season came right on schedule with our first accumulating snowfall on the weekend after Thanksgiving. Snowfall amounts were on the lighter side, with the Omaha metro seeing between 1/2" and 1 1/2". Higher totals, up to 4", fell in parts of southeast Nebraska into southwest Iowa. (More details can be found here).
CHRISTMAS 2023 SNOWFALL
The final significant weather event of 2023 occurred on Christmas when a large storm system brought heavy rain on Christmas Eve, and snow on Christmas Day. The event began with our wettest Christmas Eve on record with 0.84" of rain falling in Omaha, there were even rumbles of thunder! Then the snow fell, with between 2-3" falling in the metro, higher amounts were further west. (More details can be found here).
Overall, 2023 was a mixed bag for Nebraska and Iowa, when significant events happened they were quite significant. Time will tell what 2024 will bring weather-wise to Nebraska, Iowa, and Omaha.
