Mainly between 2-10 p.m. on this Friday afternoon-evening, a fairly quick-hitting system deposited anywhere from a dusting up to 4 inches of modestly-wind-blown snow across South Central Nebraska, slickening area roads for the evening commute and touching off a handful of accidents. The highest accumulations of 2-4 concentrated within the northwest half of the local area (mainly NW of a line from Beaver City-Grand Island-Genoa), highlighted by CoCoRaHS/NWS cooperative observer totals including: 4.0 east of Scotia and southeast of Ord, 3.3 west of Genoa, 3.1 west of Arcadia and 3.0 in Holdrege, Loup City and also near Sumner. In the Nebraska Tri Cities, Kearney officially led the way with 2.8. Meanwhile, within the southeast half of the local domain most places received less than 1, including only around one-half inch in the Hastings area. Although not overly-strong, north-northwest winds through most of the event averaged 15-25 MPH with gusts up to around 35 MPH, promoting at least modest blowing/drifting although temperatures averaging in the upper 20s to around 30 F mitigated this somewhat by keeping snow a little on the wetter side. Fortunately, there were no known reports of serious injury accidents, but Interstate 80 was shut down for around three hours during the late evening near Elm Creek as a series of crashes culminated in a close call for a Nebraska State Patrol trooper. The trooper, who was responding to a prior accident, parked their cruiser in the median only to have it totaled a short time later by a jack-knifed semi truck. Thankfully, the trooper was outside their car at the time and not injured.
This was a progressive system, with the heaviest snow falling for no more than 3-4 hours at any given location and the primary, southwest-northeast oriented band lifting across the northwest half of South Central NE mainly between 2:30-6:30 p.m. Meanwhile, more transient, weaker snow bands traversed the southeast half of the area mainly 5-9 p.m., with most all of the 24-county area snow-free by 10 p.m. In the mid-upper levels, the main player was a broad trough steadily progressing eastward across the Central Plains during the afternoon-evening, with the enhanced snowfall in northern/western local counties augmented by a closed circulation/frontogenetic band most evident at 700 millibars. At the surface, the gusty north-northwest winds were driven by a decent pressure gradient on the backside of a 994 millibar low that marched northeastward from central KS to northern IL during the afternoon-evening.

Winter Weather in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 15:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 21:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

Storm totals ranged as high as 2 to 3 inches within mainly the northwest half of the county, including 2.2 at Central Nebraska Regional Airport (GRI).

Winter Weather in GOSPER, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 14:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm totals averaged around 2 inches across most of the county, including 2.0 eight miles south of Elwood.

Winter Weather in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 14:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Storm totals ranged from 1 to 4 inches across the county. A total of 3.0 was reported three miles southeast of Ravenna along with 2.8 at Kearney Regional Airport. Although most snow had stopped falling by 9 p.m., a Nebraska State Patrol car was totaled along Interstate 80 near Elm Creek around that time when a trooper responding to a crash had their vehicle smashed into by a semi truck that jack-knifed while approaching the scene. Thankfully, the trooper was outside the vehicle and was not injured. The entire crash scene shut down I-80 for approximately three hours.

Winter Weather in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 14:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm totals ranged from 1 to 3 inches across the county, with the NWS coop observer in Holdrege reporting 3.0.

Winter Weather in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 14:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm totals averaged up to 2 inches across parts of the county, including 2.2 six miles north-northwest of Oxford and 2.0 in Edison and Wilsonville.

Winter Weather in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 14:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 200.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Storm totals averaged around 1-3 inches across most of the county, including 3.0 reported in the Sumner area.

Winter Weather in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 14:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Storm totals ranged from 2 to 4 inches across the county. Amounts included 4.0 inches from seven miles east-southeast of Ord and 3.1 inches from two miles west of Arcadia.

Winter Weather in GREELEY, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 15:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 21:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Storm totals ranged from 2 to 4 inches across the county. Amounts included 4.0 inches from four miles east of Scotia and 3.5 inches from eight miles north-northeast of Scotia.

Winter Weather in NANCE, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 15:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 22:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Storm totals ranged from 2 to 4 inches across the county. A total of 3.3 inches was reported three miles west-southwest of Genoa.

Winter Weather in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 14:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm totals ranged from 2 to 4 inches across the county. A total of 3.0 inches was reported in Loup City.

Winter Weather in HOWARD, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 15:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 21:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Storm totals ranged from 2 to 4 inches across the county, with the NWS coop observer in St. Paul reporting 2.5.

Winter Weather in MERRICK, NEBRASKA
From 10-DEC-21 15:00:00 to 10-DEC-21 22:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Storm totals were estimated to have ranged from 2 to 4 inches across mainly northwestern portions of the county, based on surrounding observations.