Winter Returns

After unseasonably warm weather in the last several weeks, with temperatures reaching up into the 70s, winter reasserted itself Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday, March 9 and 10.
Due to the anticipated snowfall, Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown issued a snow emergency on Wednesday effective 10:00 p.m., “While the emergency is in effect, all parking on emergency snow routes is prohibited and parking is prohibited in the downtown district after two inches of snowfall until snow is windrowed to the center of the street. Once the snow has been windrowed, vehicles are allowed to parallel park in this district unless otherwise noted. Vehicles parked in prohibited areas are subject to towing at the owner’s expense.”
While some snow fell in the area, southeastern Nebraska did not receive the predicted five to eight inches and the snow emergency was canceled shortly after 8 a.m. on Thursday. Snow continued for several hours and a winter weather advisory issued by the Jefferson and Saline County Emergency Management remained in effect until Thursday afternoon.
There was enough snowfall to make roads slick and difficult to navigate. As such, road crews were out early and in force to ensure streets were clear for the morning commute. The National Weather Service reported the snowfall and resulting moisture was not enough to have much of an impact to the ongoing drought conditions here in Nebraska and that is not likely to change anytime soon, “Unfortunately, we won’t see much improvement in regards to drought conditions, as there’s a below normal chance for rain as we head into mid-March.”