National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

This statement covers the following winter hazards:
Winter Storm Warning/Watch
Blizzard Warning -- Ice Storm Warning
Winter Weather Advisory -- Frost and Freeze Advisory -- Wind Chill Warning/Advisory

• Nebraska Watches/Warnings and Advisories
• Iowa Watches/Warnings and Advisories

This statement covers the following hazards:
High Wind Warning/Watch -- Wind Advisory
Dense Fog Advisory -- Duststorm/Sandstorm Warning/Advisory -- Smoke Advisory

• Non-Precipitation Weather Message

In winter, this product is issued on an event driven basis
concerning a potentially hazardous event in the next 2 to 5 days.

• Hazardous Weather Outlook

 

• Seasonal Snowfall (Omaha,Lincoln,Norfolk)

• Nebraska SnowFall 1956-2006

• National Snow Depth Reports

• COOP Snow Depth Reports

• October 1997
• November 1999
• February 2000

Winter Solstice

In the northern hemisphere, the Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year (near December 22) when the Sun is farthest south. However, in the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged so that the winter solstice is the day on which the Sun is farthest north. The winter solstice marks the first day of the season of winter. The declination of the Sun on the (northern) winter solstice is known as the tropic of capricorn ( -23"27' ).

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year. Of course, daylight saving time means that the first Sunday in April has 23 hours and the last Sunday in October has 25 hours, but these human meddlings with the calendar and do not correspond to the actual number of daylight hours. In Chicago, there are 9:20 hours of daylight on the winter solstice of December 22, 1999.