As mid-April Easter Sundays go, this one likely ranked as one of the overall-crummiest weather-wise in South Central Nebraska. While the entire area had relentless north winds and very cold temperatures, many places also experienced several hours of freezing drizzle and at least brief snow. In addition to (and resulting from) this combination of weather elements, several counties also endured fairly widespread power outages, both of the brief/intermittent and multiple-hour variety. These power-related issues mainly focused within a southwest-northeast swath through the heart of the area (including counties such as Franklin/Adams/Hall/Polk) as the nasty combination of strong winds and steady freezing drizzle coated power lines in ice, promoting pronounced line galloping and resultant outages/infrastructure damage. As just a few examples: the Grand Island Utilities Director called this one of the top-five worst power outage events of his career; and the Polk County Rural Power District reported at least 25 broken poles. Getting back to the weather itself, the entire day featured strong north winds, frequently gusting 40-50+ MPH. While peak gusts at official airport stations topped out slightly below severe-criteria, a few personal weather stations clocked 58 MPH, including one south of Kearney and another in Nelson. The vast majority of wintry precipitation occurred during the daytime hours, largely ending well-before sunset. Light-but-persistent freezing drizzle was the main issue, especially within the aforementioned, southwest-northeast corridor of counties that experienced the worst power outages. Most ice accretion targeted elevated surfaces (e.g. power lines), with only minimal road impacts given near-freezing surface temperatures. As for snow, the vast majority of the area only accumulated a light dusting of no more than one-quarter to one-half inch, although much of it fell in a short-but-intense burst as a narrow band swung through from west-to-east, briefly reducing visibility to as low as one-quarter mile. The main concentration of slightly higher snow amounts in the 1-2 range targeted Valley County in the far northern local area, as any truly-significant snow totals remained north-through-northwest of South Central Nebraska. Temperature-wise, the 12th was impressively-cold by mid-April standards, featuring daytime highs of only 31-35 F across most of the area (roughly 30 degrees below normal) and wind chill values only in the teens. In fact, this event ushered in a markedly-cold, six-day stretch centered from April 12th-17th. At Hastings airport, the average daily temperature over these six days of 34.4 F (16 degrees below normal) established a record for the overall-coldest six-day stretch so late in the spring.
Finishing up with the meteorological background behind this unpleasant Easter, the main player in the mid-upper levels was a large-scale trough traversing the central CONUS, highlighted by broad low pressure and various embedded disturbances extending southward from southern Canada, and also a potent southern stream shortwave trough ejecting east-northeast across Texas. Given that South Central Nebraska resided just south of the main northern stream disturbance, mid-level saturation ended up lacking somewhat, thus promoting more drizzle than snow overall. At the surface, a powerful cold front blasted through the local area during the pre-dawn hours of the 12th, turning the pleasant temperatures in the 70s F on the 11th into a fleeting memory. The intense north winds were driven by a stout pressure gradient between a roughly 997 millibar low tracking east across the Southern Plains and a 1032 millibar high emanating southeastward from the Northern Rockies.

Winter Weather in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 50.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area. The Grand Island Utilities Director called this one of the top-five worst power outage events of his career.

Winter Weather in MERRICK, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

Winter Weather in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 06:00:00 to 12-APR-20 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

The combination of an extended period of light freezing precipitation and frequent gusts over 50 MPH resulted in power outages across the area.

High Wind in KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 07:49:00 to 12-APR-20 07:49:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 58 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 8 miles south of Kearney.

High Wind in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 12-APR-20 13:14:00 to 12-APR-20 13:14:00 (CST-6)
Magnitude: 50.00 MG
Property damage: 10.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

A wind gust of 58 MPH was recorded by a mesonet station located 1 mile north of Nelson.