HPRCC releases first annual regional climate summary

The High Plains Regional Climate Center released its first annual summary. | Courtesy image
The High Plains Regional Climate Center released its first annual summary. | Courtesy image

The High Plains Regional Climate Center recently released its first annual regional climate summary, covering climate conditions, data and rankings, and extremes events for the year 2016.

The center provided an overview of climate conditions for the year, as well as information and maps highlighting temperatures, precipitation, snowpack and streamflow, and drought. It also included a page dedicated to noteworthy climate events that occurred around the region during the year. Some of those events included:

• Severe weather on the Plains, May 7 to 10, which included the hail storm that affected Lincoln. The nearly stationary thunderstorm produced hail up to 4.25 inches in diameter and damaged thousands of homes and vehicles. The storm system made the 2016 federal Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters list by the National Centers for Environmental Information.

• Drought in the Black Hills, an ongoing event, that has seen wildfires, low rangeland productivity, livestock and crop loss, and water quality issues.

• Flooding in south-central Kansas, Sept. 7 to 10, where rainfall rates of 3 to 5 inches per hour were reported. More than a foot of rain fell in the city of Clearwater.

• The Christmas storm on Dec. 25 and 26 brought thunderstorms, hurricane-force winds and tornadoes to southern Nebraska and north Kansas.

People can access the complete report on the HPRCC website under their climate summaries section. Their monthly summaries also are stored there.

The annual report, as well as the center’s monthly summaries, are sent to the National Centers for Environmental Information, which compiles them for use in their national State of the Climate reports. To access the NCEI’s 2016 annual State of the Climate report, click here.

For more information, visit the center’s website.

More details at: http://hprcc.unl.edu