Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.It's hard to tell whether Midlands children or gardeners got more pleasure out of Saturday's snowfall.
John Fech, a horticulturist and arborist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said the heavy, wet snow that fell across Nebraska and Iowa undoubtedly brought smiles to the faces of people who work with the soil.
"It was a significant snow, because there was not much rain or snow in January, and there had been a bit of a drawdown in terms of moisture," Fech said. "This really was a good wet snow, and because it rained on Friday, there was not much runoff."
Barbara Mayes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, said Omaha's Eppley Airfield recorded 9.1 inches of snow. Lincoln got 11 inches and Grand Island got 12 inches. Lesser amounts were recorded in Iowa.
How wet was the snow? Mayes said Eppley's snow translated to about eight-tenths of an inch of moisture. Plus, the airport got about .15 of an inch of rain.
Mayes said January was the fifth-driest on record in eastern Nebraska but December "was pretty close to normal" in terms of precipitation. The Omaha area received a 4-inch snowfall on Dec. 3 and .75 of an inch of rain on Dec. 13 and 14.
"This storm (Saturday) went a long way toward getting us to where we need the moisture to be," Mayes said. "It certainly helped out a lot."
Horticulturist Scott Evans, the garden shop manager for Mulhall's Nursery, said recent warm weather kept the ground from freezing hard. That should allow the snowmelt to seep in and "thoroughly penetrate" the soil, he said.
"The recent warm weather had been very concerning because things were getting so dry," Evans said. "It was especially noticeable in evergreen trees and shrubs. It's hard to judge how much damage, but I'm sure there was some."
Fech said the warm weather had led to an imbalance in soil moisture. Areas that are in the open likely had very little soil moisture, but areas protected by trees or buildings probably fared better.
"One way to tell how much moisture you have is take your longest screwdriver and push it deep into the ground," Fech said. "Where the soil is protected, the lower part of the screwdriver will be moist and cool, but out in the open areas you will find very little soil moisture" on the screwdriver.
Fech said it was too early to tell how much damage has been done to the soil and plants, or to forecast planting conditions.
"We've got a long way to go," he said. "Broadleaf evergreen shrubs probably had more damage, and turf grass crowns are dehydrated."
Other updates from the storm:
» City snow crews worked on a handful of remaining snow-covered residential streets Sunday. They also made second passes through already-plowed residential areas to clear snow pushed onto streets after people shoveled their driveways, said Scott McIntyre, Omaha's street maintenance engineer.
McIntyre said street maintenance workers planned to treat major routes with ice melt overnight to prevent slick spots during Monday's commute.
» Repairs to the University of Nebraska at Omaha Soccer Dome will allow the facility to reopen on a limited basis starting Monday, a UNO spokesman said. Spokesman Tim Kaldahl said Sunday that heavy snow is being blamed for a rip that caused the dome near 68th and Spring Streets to close Saturday. The rip caused the dome to deflate, but there were no injuries, he said.
» Power was back on almost everywhere. The Omaha Public Power District, the Nebraska Public Power District and the Lincoln Electric System all said Sunday that they were down to a handful of scattered outages.
World-Herald staff writers Maggie O'Brien and Larry Sparks contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com
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