KHGI-TV/KWNB-TV/KHGI-CD-Grand Island, Kearney, HastingsUp to 17 Inches of Snow... and Counting

Up to 17 Inches of Snow... and Counting

By Steve White swhite@nebraska.tv

A powerful winter storm packs a punch, dumping inch after inch of snow across Nebraska.

What started as a rainy Friday switched to snow in the evening hours in many areas.

Schools and businesses began canceling events hours early and while the storm was slow to hit in some areas, when it did, it brought up to 17 inches of snow in some areas.

NTV's Kent Boughton reported overnight, "The heaviest snowfall amount in Nebraska so far is 17" 9 miles north/northeast of Tryon. 15" 5 miles west of Stapleton. 12" 15 miles north/northeast of Stapleton with 3' snow drifts. Grant picked up 11" and at the NTV studio 10"."

The National Weather Service office in Hastings reported more than a foot of snow in both Minden and Bradshaw.

The NWS said, "For Grand Island and Hastings, this event will end up as biggest February two-day snow event since February 4-5, 2004."

Some areas dealt with power outages, including an area of Grand Island.

Southern Power District had more than 100 outages, according to remarks posted to the utility's Facebook page by their spokeswoman.

LeAnne Doose of Southern said, 'Just talked to our Holdrege Area Manager and it is tough out there today for them. On top of keeping up with outages, trucks are getting stuck in the snow plus all of those challenges. If you have an outage, please know our guys are working very hard to get to you, and we thank you for your patience."

For all the latest closings and weather announcements, visit the weather closings page at nebraska.tv