OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — March is commonly known in the Midwest as one of the "battle months" where the seasons wage war on the other for our weather. March can be a month with violent tornado outbreaks, as discussed last week and for next week, but it can also have its fair share of blockbuster winter storms. For example, in March 2006 a massive snowstorm dropped more than a foot of snow across much of Nebraska, breaking the all-time record 24-hour snowfall in the Tri-Cities for any month!
For Omaha, the second largest 24-hour snowfall came on March 15, 1923 when 13" of snow fell in that time period. In fact, the week of March 14-18 in 1923 proved to be one of the most active in March for Omaha. From a major winter storm to one of the coldest periods in March history, let's look back at March 1923 in this installment of This Week in Weather History.
THE SET-UP
The month of March 1923 already roared in with unusual weather for Omaha. Temperatures on the first day of March were in the upper 70s, which was around 30 degrees above the average high temperature for the city. Those glory days of the 70s were short-lived as a cold front swept down and brought 2.6" of snowfall to the city, the first sign of the snow troubles to come.
Temperatures hovered in the 30s for highs through the middle of the month, then the storm system which was to bring the significant snow developed off the coast of California on March 13. This storm system then slowly moved across the Rocky Mountains, into Kansas, then Missouri, then Illinois on the 14th into the 15th. This is the perfect storm track to develop heavy snow in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. As this storm system passed by, a band of heavy snowfall developed over the region and dropped over a foot of snow to the region.
After this first system moved on by, another storm system developed on its heels over the Rocky Mountains on March 16. This one took a path from Wyoming through Nebraska into Iowa on the 17th and 18th. While not favored for heavy snow in Omaha, it still brought several inches of snow. However, this second snowfall was not the snow but the strong wind alongside extremely cold temperatures for March.
TIMELINE
Wednesday, March 14
It was a cold day on Wednesday as the high only reached 30 degrees in the city. By Wednesday evening, light snow began to fall across Omaha, but it did not disrupt many evening plans. By 3 a.m. on March 15, 6" of snow had accumulated in Omaha which began to put strain on the cleanup crews. Rail services also slowed, but did not have many disruptions for the morning commutes on Thursday, March 15.
Thursday, March 15
No one expected the deluge of snow Omaha saw beginning in the morning on the 15th and lasting through the late evening. By midnight on March 15, 13" of snow had fallen since midnight on the 14th, making it the second highest snowfall within a 24-hour period for Omaha. When the event was totaled up, 18.9" of snow had blanketed the metro. Railcar services were delayed by several hours, and freight rail temporarily halted for a several-hour window to clear the rails. However, the cleanup was quick, and by the morning of March 16, the city slowly returned to normal.
Saturday, March 17
As Omaha continued to dig out of one of the largest snowstorms in its history, a second cold front swept down through Nebraska impacting the city. This time, the snow amounts were less at 4.4", but it brought with it significant wind. While estimates of the wind speed are hard to come by, it likely brought wind gusts over 50mph to the city. Some in northeast Nebraska compared the conditions to the Schoolchildren's Blizzard of 1888. In Omaha, one window was broken due to the high wind, and a smokestack off a building collapsed onto the alleyway below.
Sunday, March 18
The wind continued, but the brutal cold also sunk in. The low temperature on the morning of March 18 was -1, still the record low for today. The high temperature on that Sunday was only 5 degrees, the second coldest high temperature ever seen in the month of March! To demonstrate how cold and windy the day was, a large fire broke out in downtown Omaha that day. The firefighters had trouble putting out the fire as the water would be sprayed away due to the wind and froze into ice nearly instantaneously after making contact with the building.
AFTERMATH
The week of March 14-18, 1923 brought down several records for Omaha from snow to cold. Three people lost their lives in the metro due to the snow, and another dozen were left homeless as their roofs collapsed due to the heavy snow. The 18.9" total remains one of the biggest snowstorms the metro has ever seen and rivals the biggest snowstorm which occurred in 1965.
