Now that 2021 is wrapped up, let’s look at some of the wild weather we got to experience during the year.
In January of 2021 Omaha saw its highest one-day snow total on the 25th of 11.9 inches of snow as measured at Eppley. On the 26th, we got another 0.6 inches of snow, giving us a storm total of 12.5 inches.
Then, it was record-breaking cold in February. Omaha set two new daily record lows in February on the 15th and 16th. On the 15th, Omaha fell to –19 degrees, breaking the old record of –12 from 1979. Then, on the 16th, Omaha fell to –23 degrees, breaking the old record of –17 from 1979. That –23 degrees was the coldest temperature in Omaha in 2021. This cold snap had Omaha temperatures stuck below 32 degrees for 15 DAYS in a row in February. That’s over half of the month! It was a snowy month, too, with Omaha picking up 17.4 inches.
Our weather quieted down to be a bit more “typical” from March until June. In mid-June, Omaha saw some HOT weather. In fact, we set a new record high on the 17th as we hit 105 degrees. The old record was 100 degrees, set in 1918. The 105 degrees was the hottest temperature in Omaha in 2021. June was a hot month overall, as Omaha had 16 90-degree days!
In July, Omaha got a bit...windy and stormy. We had a couple of rounds of severe storms move through the area. Omaha during the night of July 9th and into the morning of the 10th and again the afternoon of the 10th. However, most of the damage was done during the first round of storms. Many tree branches were downed, and many trees were uprooted. Thousands of people were without power for hours, and Omaha tied its highest wind gust speed at Eppley of 96 mph as the storms roared through the area.
At the end of July, on the 30th, we had some more storms roll through the area and several microbursts caused damage in parts of western Iowa, particularly near Persia. You can see some images and more info from the event in this weather blog post.
On August 7th, storms brought lightning, thunder, and a quick burst of heavy rainfall rates (and a total of 2.02” of rain) leading to some flooding around Omaha, particularly in the Old Market area. There were some incredible photos and videos of the flooding. For some more details, check out this previous weather blog post.
September was a fairly quiet month weather wise, but it was a warm one. We ended up with an average high for the month of 83.1 degrees, warmer than the average high of 79.1 degrees.
Omaha picked up a healthy 4.75 inches of rain in October, almost 2.5” above our average of 2.32” for the month. November wasn’t a particularly notable month for our weather, but December sure was!
December 15th brought Omaha a high of 74 degrees. It shattered the old record high for the day of 61 degrees from 2002 and it also set an all-time record high temperature for any day in the month of December. Shortly after the record heat, storms raced across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. We saw dangerous wind gusts and a whopping 28 tornadoes within the KMTV coverage area. We even had some incredibly strong wind gusts outside of the storms on the back side of the system, too. For some more detailed info, you can read this previous weather blog post.
