Station News and Blog page

07/02/2020 SE wind kicked in yesterday evening bringing in more moisture and raising dewpoint back into the 50's. Yesterday we did reach 90° after a brisk morning low of 48° in north Valentine. Looking at forecast over 7 day we have chances of thunderstorms and high temps in the 90's throughout.

07/01/2020 North Valentine June 2020 ended +5.1° above normal and +.44" above normal in precip. Mean max 85°, min. 59° with 9 days exceeding 90° and 0-100° days. For details look at NOAA report under Reports/Daily. Yesterday afternoon a cold front pushed through drying out the atmosphere, lowering our dewpoint into the 50's and eventually 40's with all precipitation well east of the area. The result was a nice cool morning low of 48° north and 45° at the GC station.

06/30/2020 Added North Central District Health dashboard to external links.

Moist unstable atmosphere again today. Areas that have thunderstorms develop could receive heavy rain especially if they develop over the same areas multiple times and train like we've seen several times already this summer. Valentine is in the 40% chance of precip in the morning forecast with areas to the east more likely to receive severe weather if any.

Yesterday heat index reached 97° north Valentine with thermometer topping at 89°, 90° at the GC station 1/2 mile east. NE side of town the dewpoint temperature peaked at 75 degrees late afternoon with a strong moist SE breeze. The reason I mention dewpoint this shows the true amount of available moisture and stickiness we should focus on. Relative humidity is only relative to the ambient temperature and can be all over the place and is so irrelevant we could remove from current conditions and not miss it if we have the dewpoint temperature. 100% RH at 20° is still a very dry atmosphere when the dewpoint is 20°. When I check the weather out in areas like Houston Texas where much of family lives, I look at the temperature and dewpoint. It's common in the summer to see the temperature 92° and dp 82° reminding me why I don't live there among other things. Evaporative coolers (Swamp coolers) stop being efficient at 55° dewpoint so once the dewpoint gets between 55 F and 65 F the evaporation of (moisture) slows or stops from our skin, making it feel "sticky and muggy." Anything above 65 F means there's a lot of moisture in the air, and most people will start to feel uncomfortable when the ambient reaches above 80°. Once the dewpoint gets above 80° it's smothering. AKA Houston Gulf Coast.

06/26/2020 Only .09" north Valentine, .10" GC, .10" KVSH and .06" reported off the airport ASOS after a very promising wet forecast. Link for airport ASOS is HERE The atmosphere seemed really ripe for big thunderstorms but everything skirted around or just didn't develop as expected. Radar return to service is unknown at this time. Data feed seems to be the issue, and not the actual radar itself. Meanwhile will leave the Rapid City feed up. Here is the direct link to the KLNX radar HERE for returm.

06/25/2020 Radar KLNX is down with unknown return. Last scan was 5:10pm central time. The doppler feed for Gr3 is now on Rapid City and pieces together areas surrounding so works best. Also you can use radar found under radar/sat tab called "local and US" and select SD Rapid City. HERE

1pm: For any new visitors I try to have the Doppler feed from GR3 software running at Br .5° during thunderstorms. It gives a closer look at the cells in area. Link can be found under Radar/Satellite tab. The page should auto refresh put occasionally needs user to manual refresh browser. Images are updated between 3-9 minutes normally. Also camera images are a good source when thunderstorms are in the area. You can leave open multiple tabs. Camera images will refresh on their own.

Storm Prediction Center has Valentine with a slight chance of severe thunderstorm later today and evening, Image. After tomorrow high temperatures look to be mainly 90's cooling to the 80's in days 6 and 7.

06/24/2020 Something I noticed in the North Platte FSO region Valentine is the only station normal this June with well above normal precip 4.7" while North Platte comes in second at 1.6", Broken Bow 1.4" and Imperial only has .85" for the entire month of June. An area 40 miles south off Goose Creek rd. is also wet 4.38" .

06/22/2020 Picked up .15" additional rain today from afternoon thunderstorm, north Valentine. (.24") daily total. Airport ASOS updated now reporting (.88") new with (.94") last 24 hrs. total. Golf course station only picked up additional .05" in auto gauge .07" manual so heavy rainfall was concentrated leaving far north and NE side with much lighter amounts. Parts of Valentine had street flooding with pea size hail. Here is doppler estimated rainfall around town with southside receiving the heaviest. image

.20" at golf course (GC) station overnight. This was the Cocorahs gauge. 2 different gauges confirmed. Only .08" at north Valentine.

06/18/2020 Added more Doppler rainfall images including Sparks Norden areas. Storm Prediction Center was right as a mesocyclone developed just to the NW of Valentine yesterday luckily missing us. Later in the evening multiple storms developed and moved southwest to northeast not at the strength of the first supercell but with large amounts of rainfall. 1.77" north, 1.67" at GC station. Airport total is being reported at 1.71". Here is a look at the doppler storm rainfall totals here. This is an image of a scud cloud hanging off the backside of the supercell yesterday evening scud image.... Closeup of rainfall totals around town here. A close up of the Norden Sparks area here...FYI adjusted the website rainfall total to match the Cocorahs gauge.

06/17/2020 Storm Prediction Center has Valentine at slight risk of severe thunderstorm activity.

06/16/2020 52 MPH gust at the Golf course (GC) station (Renamed from NE) for better location reference, 49 mph north Valentine, and airport reported 55 mph. High temperatures both north Valentine stations managed 93° but fell well short of the blast furnace feel which kicks in near 100°. 40 miles south Goose Creek road 300 feet higher elevation only managed 89°. Here are the Mesonet stations in Nebraska high (Max) temps Tuesday. The Sparks station on the SD border is 18 miles from Valentine as crow flies 91° and Merritt 92°. here.

What's new another windy day with temperatures expected upper 90's.

06/14/2020 7:20pm: .05" with thunderstorm north Valentine and big cool down mid 70's. More trying to get going across Cherry county so will leave the GR3 doppler feed running.

Haven't done this for some time so took a portable radiation shield and TraceableŽ Extreme Accuracy Standards Thermometer link here out to airport, tested for 40 minutes, departed at 12:22 pm. Trying to see where the big discrepancy is I've been seeing +4 to 5° warmer at times coming off the ASOS. The highest temperature recorded during the test was 86° while the airport ASOS was coming in at 87.8° between 12 and 12:20pm. This same time-frame north Valentine max was 84.2°. I have no reason not to trust the thermometer used during test it matches all my other units made by Sensirion. Test location was a couple hundred yards from actual ASOS just for clarification using a passive radiation shield with a stiff breeze. What's absolutely clear it was actually warmer during testing at the airport +2° vs north side of Valentine but add the additional 2° instrument discrepancy makes it worse so the +4° to +5° difference I'm seeing at times vs airport... ASOS testing image with arrow pointing at ASOS.

06/10/2020 North side of Valentine picked up .14" since yesterday morning. Cocorahs gauge 2 day total 1.77".

06/09/2020 Here is the doppler storm estimated total. Report that just came in 2.70" off Goose Creek road 40 miles south of Valentine Cocorahs gauge. Zoom in on Goose Creek road. here. The pink is 3-3.5" estimate usually over done but gives a good idea.

Heavy rainfall amounts vary around town with multiple thunderstorms embedded as of 5:45 am some 24-hour totals range from 1.80" reported at the airport., automatic 8" diameter gauges 1.65" north, 1.76" at NE stations. The wind is expected to blow again approaching 50 mph gust today. These trees on property eventually have to go, cleaning up hundreds of twigs and branches every few days is getting old. 7:15 update, Cocorahs gauge amounts 1.63" north, 1.69" NE. FYI my experience the Cocorah gauge measurements can run slightly lower than full size 8" diameter gauges especially with heavy rainfall due to splash out with the shallow funnel. I've often said the shallow funnel is a poor design and needs extended deeper. In my side by side test with standard 8" gauge the 4" dia. cocorahs have shown as much as .05" per inch undercount. I've sent this information to Cocorahs, but they don't actually make the gauges so it's went nowhere.

06/07/2020 Crazy day for wind, 64 mph at airport after a 70 mph gust Saturday evening from a nearby thunderstorm & 56 mph at NE station. High temperatures reached 95.1° at north, 96.5° at NE station and (100°) was reported from the airport ASOS. Notice I said reported. Looking at all weather stations in the area including HW stations the only one close to 100° was the NE station and it was still -3.5° cooler. Let's say even if the airport was somehow right it's not representative of the area or city of Valentine. It's in its own bubble with the temperature...... The forecast going forward has a couple 70% chances coming up, we could use the rain in this area.

3:40pm: Very hot wind sustained in the 32 mph range gusting to 47 mph at the unobstructed NE station. Airport reporting similar numbers but hotter. NWS issued a Watch for Severe Thunderstorms tonight.

More thunderstorm misses yesterday continuing abnormally dry period. T to .01 rainfall on north side town. High temperature yesterday 95° with 96° at the NE station where it recorded a west 50 mph wind gust in evening with TS, while the airport recorded a 70.2 mph (21:52 CDT 06/06). Lawns that are depending on rainfall as supplement are really stressed and yellowed.

06/06/2020 If monitoring high SE wind speeds today, check the live NE station near (Golf course). Trees obstruct SE direction (summer foliage) at the north weather station location.

06/04/2020 Small thunderstorm popped up over Valentine this morning leaving .04" both north and east stations. Received a report 40 miles south just off Goose Creek road from yesterday's thunderstorm north of Thedford dropped .64" and hail was piled up in small drifts. No report on hail size they weren't home at the time of storm, hail was still piled up 2 hours later.

06/03/2020 4:36pm: Good view of the thunderstorm sliding south of Valentine on the WSW view camera currently.

3:15pm: Reminder when thunderstorms are in the area I'll turn on the GR3 Doppler feed when I can. Found under radar tab. Those that have my cell number can also send a reminder text.

06/01/2020 Hot start to June, north Valentine high temperature peaked 98° at 17:37 under full sun and light wind.

Expecting our first 90°+ day today. We reached 88° yesterday and expecting above normal temps all week with chances of thunderstorms in the 20-30% range. May ended (-2°) below normal and (-.21") below on precip. Full look at north Valentine weather station summary HERE.

05/25/2020 Light drizzle started just after 7am this Memorial Day. Radar shows mainly light rain and drizzle over a large area of north central Ne. including eastern side of Cherry county. Not expecting thunderstorms but went ahead and turned the GR3 doppler feed on for better local coverage. Found under Radar/Satellite tab.

05/24/2020 NE station is back online, reported rainfall totals from last night (.46"), North this station (.43"). Still running below normal on the month, but cousin 40 miles south and 9 miles east on Goose Creek Rd. a different story after 1.12" last night 4.22" on month using a Cocorahs rain gauge.

3am update: 2.3 hour power outage restored. Rainfall total this station (.43)". Power outage took out the airport ASOS it looks like also with the last update at 0035 with (.18") reported. The NE station is still offline and can't communicate with it.

05/23/2020 NWS issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for this evening. Our dewpoint has been around 60° today so plenty of available moisture. GR3 Doppler radar feed is on.

Another night of dense fog between 2am and about 7am. This is the time of year as dewpoints rise on clear nights the ambient temperature reaches the dewpoint resulting in heavy morning dew and 100% humidity. Reminds me of the Arizona mountains during the monsoon in mid summer the temps reached the dewpoint almost every morning on clear nights creating heavy dew. Any clothing or gear left out overnight was wet in the morning. Some may also remember the clinging bed-sheets before AC with the higher dewpoints. Chance of thunderstorms this evening with 80% chance of precip in the forecast.

05/21/2020 10:50am Update: Internet is back up. Mist and light drizzle continues north Valentine. Additional .02".

We did get the 20% chance of TS early this morning, .07" in manual gauge. Auto rain gauge .06". Yesterday airport reported a high of 80°....cough. The real high temps yesterday 77° this station, 78° at NE station with SE wind gust recorded at 44 mph. Only .02" rainfall was recorded at NE last night. Replaced the north station humidity/temp sensor yesterday morning. Nothing was wrong with old sensor just wanted a fresh new Sensirion SHT31 for the summer period. DATA sheet Here Temperature accuracy is .2c or .36F.

05/20/2020 FYI due to increasing tree foliage during late spring through fall SE wind is obstructed at this station location. Check out the NE station (Linked) for accurate wind speeds coming out of the east. Dew point is hanging in mid 50's with moist air flow and small chance of TS late tonight in the forecast.

05/18/2020 Here's the proof the airport ASOS temperature reads high. Relative humidity never exceeds 93% even in soupy fog down to zero visibility. This isn't a one-time event this has been ongoing for several years now. Ice storms that never reach freezing is another phenomena with the KVTN ASOS at Valentine. I checked other ASOS in the area Broken Bow reached 100%, North Platte reached 100% without fog. The reason this is important if the temperature is reading high it alters the RH to read low. RH is relative to temperature so if you subtract the 2F it reads high all those 93% humidity readings adjust to read correctly at 100%. You can look at the full image of the KVTN ASOS 5/18/2020 here and compare the visibility to the RH. It never exceeds 93%.

How do I know its the thermometer and not the humidity (Dewpoint) sensor? Simple the Coop thermometer and other area weather stations all disagree with the airport temperature along with the fact the airport has a long history of reading above freezing during ice storm events which I started pointing out years ago. It's an obvious problem... They want us to follow the science but when the data is so obviously skewed and nothing is done to correct how can anything be trusted, especially due to the politicization of climate change?

05/16/2020 These weather models are starting to remind me of the coronavirus models. Maybe they are all Made In China. FYI they did a mass covid-19 test the other day of 87 with no new cases. So only 1 person has been confirmed positive not community spread yet we have 15 positive cases in Todd county and many if not most from that area do shop in Valentine yet it's not here. Raises my suspicion was COVID19 already here like many have been saying starting back in December? I would be more interested in a community antibody test to determine if herd immunity is present. If the virus is as contagious as advertised you would think it would be here with the Todd county exposure.

05/15/2020 3:30pm: The latest midday model runs are in good agreement predicting between 1"-1.9" additional rain for Valentine through Saturday. I'll leave the GR3 doppler feed running during this time period.

6:30 AM: Total rainfall north Valentine Cocorahs so far including last night before midnight .41" total image

As far as predicted rainfall totals for Valentine the 00z model runs range from 2" GDPS to only 1/2" with the driest model ARW which I linked directly on external links. Several are putting the heaviest amounts in south-central SD now while others further south around the NP area of Nebraska. The GR3 Doppler feed found under Radar/Sat tab will try to run for a closer local look during periods of thunderstorms especially. Page will auto-refresh on its own now so it can be left open and unattended.

05/10/2020 11:20AM: Occasional light snow flurries continue on north side of town. Airport sensor still hasn't picked it up after almost an hour so may be very isolated in coverage.

4AM: 26° currently north Valentine, 25° at NE station 1/2 mile east. Hard freeze in progress tonight. We reached freezing around 11:40 pm so about 8 hours expected with much below the 28° mark. Around 4AM satellite shows clouds rapidly moving down from the north, this should moderate temperatures somewhat as we approach sunrise.

05/07/2020 5:15: Thunderstorm added .10" north side daily total .16". Main storm skirted south of town again. Very cool currently just 43°.

Starting to hear distant thunder, started the GR3 feed of Doppler radar. Link found under Radar/Satellite tab. Select BR1 at top of radar screen tab.

05/06/2020 North Valentine reached the freezing mark this morning with roof frost visible. Looks like below normal temperatures ahead with a couple more light freezes in the 7-day forecast and showers especially Thursday.

05/04/2020 5PM: Storm total 2-day north Valentine (.97").

05/01/2020 Lasted HRRR has Valentine picking up about 1/3" by 7am tomorrow. Looks like a wet weekend ending Monday.

04/28/2020 Internet is back up live data is streaming at 7:30pm.

Internet went down around 9:30AM so (live data) is currently not updating. Message from Centurylink: An outage has been reported in your area. Our technicians are looking into it, and it should be resolved by Apr 29, 2020 12:00 AM. Meanwhile for current live weather conditions link to NE Valentine station live on external links. Peak wind gust at 6:13pm was 53 MPH north station. 60 MPH at NE station at 6:14PM.

Strong winds with gust 41-42 mph overnight across Valentine.

04/26/2020 Another freeze overnight making it the 180th of the season. Even though we had a mild winter this is the most seasonal freeze days since station started. Freeze data comparison can be found under Reports/Daily tab.

04/20/2020 6:15am: Critical fire weather conditions are expected today with wind gust reaching 35-40 mph along with low relative humidity and warm temperatures approaching 70° this afternoon. Wind has started to pick up this morning north Valentine 10-14 gust to 17 mph pre-sunrise.

04/12/2020 6:40am: 5.7" measured new snow. Total Cocorahs precip .66 since 7am yesterday making for a storm total .77" as of 6:40am today. Snow started about 10 pm and has been steady since with periods of heavy snow mixed in. This is where the heaviest snow band set up and was stationary for 9 hours before moving east. Doppler storm total Image

04/11/2020 2PM: Winter Storm Warning, rain to snow change over around 10pm then all snow after 11 pm. Models continue to focus the heaviest precip along SD border or just north, however, UKMET, and ECM latest run have a second area developing more E, SE but NAM and HRRR continue with heaviest along the SD/NE border. As we get closer models will become more fine tuned. Also starting to see a possible isolated TS as seen on radar at 2:40pm.

04/10/2020 Looking at the 12z model runs several of models including ECMWF have the heaviest snowfall setting up just north of Nebraska border. Valentine looks to be in a position to receive several inches of snowfall. The GFS is the outlier forecasting heavier snowfall western panhandle and the southwest portion of Cherry county. The NAM and UKMET have Valentine in the bullseye for heaviest potential.

NWS issued Winter Storm Watch for Saturday through Sunday evening. 4-7" snow potential with wind gust as high as 40 mph making travel very difficult.

04/09/2020 Looks like our April snow is right on schedule. No mention of blizzard conditions in this one yet.

04/06/2020 Humidity reached a low of 11% this afternoon after light fog this morning.

04/03/2020 6:30am: The windchill this morning -6 with temperature 8°. Looks like a quick rebound with 60's Sunday and even 70's next week. Final lows 7° both north and east stations.

04/02/2020 8pm: (.04") in Precip today mostly flurries. Very cold day with windchill near 0° all day. We peaked at 18° for a short period between 12:30-1pm daytime high. It was much warmer 28° before the full brunt of arctic air arrived near midnight hour. Just wanted visitors to know the airport continues abnormally warm here is a snapshot as you can see the airport is reporting (18°) at 7:35 pm. Also, note every other thermometer in the region is reading 15° or less. Region snapshot here

03/31/2020 (.29") rainfall overnight.

03/27/2020 Added WorldOmeter COVID-19 cases link. The best one I've found for simplicity and not bloated. Shows yesterday along with (Now tab) of new reported cases. Click the USA tab and breaks down into the states.

03/26/2020 Added the new DHHS COVID-19 for Nebraska interactive map link to external links. This makes it easier to follow exactly where new cases are and to take extra precautions to prevent the spread. Valentine residents please consider taking advantage of grocery delivery services being offered this will help stop the potential spread. Quicker we stop this the sooner we can get back to normal.

03/19/2020 6PM update: 6 PM totals rain and snow manual Cocorahs gauge .50" adjusted website. (.25") fell as rain, (.25") fell as snow. 2.5" average snow depth measured, stake is not accurate with lots of wind today.

1pm: Moderate/heavy snow visibility low. Looking at radar the main snow band has shifted further north slightly from the area previously expected.

Update 11:20am: Rain has turned to snow 34° north Valentine.

03/14/2020 12:30pm: 2.2" snow storm total, Snow-melt (.22") 10:1 ratio....Switched radar feed from NWS link which went down to WU feed. Temporary

03/13/2020 6:10 pm: Light snow has started temperature 35° and dropping.

03/09/2020 4:50am: Freezing rain earlier on now a light snow.

03/03/2020 Very strong wind gust this afternoon. 50 MPH north station, 53 MPH NE. Airport only reported a 41 MPH gust.

02/25/2020 7:40am: 1.5" new snow (.13) melt so far today. Still light snow falling. The temperature is 24° currently.

02/20/2020 6:50am:Low temperature so far this morning (2°) north station, (1°) NE. Much colder with temperatures below zero south of Valentine with fresh snow cover. Fresh snow can lower the temperature as much as 10° easily with good radiational cooling conditions.

02/13/2020 9:00am: Final Lows (-10°) north Valentine and (-11°) NE station. This was impressively cold air with a lack of snow cover. We could have been pushing -20° with a few inches of fresh snow. Looking at area temperatures the Sparks Mesonet was the coldest reporting (-15°). This station is located 18 miles NE exactly on the state line. Link to the Mesonet stations is under external links.

As far as models went the 00z Canadian (GDPS) had the best handle forecasting (-7°) from what I saw yesterday. The GFS and NAM were least accurate forecasting (+4 to 5°) followed by the ECMWF, UKMET all keeping temperatures at or above zero last night. So a 10-15° whiff is very poor performance and why forecasting is still a challenge. The official NWS point and click forecast came in close at (-7°) same as Canadian model.

02/12/2020 2:40pm: The arctic air is squeezing all the available moisture out with flurries even with the sun shinning. Current WC 0° at 15° air temp. WC could dip near -20° later tonight as we get below zero.

02/11/2020 A short-lived blast of arctic air is due to arrive Wednesday into Thursday before a big rebound on Friday. Depending on the model the low temperature could range from a couple of degrees above zero to -7 or so early Thursday morning. The official forecast is currently at -4.

02/08/2020 The models really whiffed on the arctic air yesterday and this morning. Yesterday's daytime high was 24°, 10° under expected and this mornings low in 9-10° range 7° colder than expected.

02/01/2020 The January summary Above normal temperature with the mean (26°), or (+2.4°) above normal and 2nd warmest since the station started in 2014, average high was (37), low (15). Precipitation (.50" ) was (+.21") above normal. Snowfall only 2.6". Monthly extremes: high (52), low (-6), with 31 days freezing or below and 5 days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2020 click for summaries

01/31/2020 Dusting of snow overnight (.02) melt. Big warm-up tomorrow before modified arctic air arrives.

01/30/2020 Sneek peak of January summary this will go down as 2nd warmest since the station started June 2014 with the warmest coming in 2015. What's interesting was the few arctic air outbreaks this December and January due to the symmetrical rotation around the pole of the polar vortex.

01/28/2020 Light snowfall this morning .03" moisture total.

01/22/2020 11:45pm: Today's rain and snow total (.15") Temperature has stayed above freezing 33° with slush accumulation around 1/2", light snow currently falling.

01/20/2020 6:10am: The temperature this morning is hovering around 0° or slightly lower. With a couple more hours before sunrise we could slip into the -1 to -3 range. Update final lows (-1) North, (-2) NE.

01/19/2020 Overnight low reached 0° north Valentine, 1° NE station.

The NE station will be relocated back to the original location due to dropped packets using the repeaters. The wind data appears most affected by packet loss around (60%), the move is needed so repeaters aren't needed. Hope is to get this move done within the next week or so. More will be posted after move is complete.

01/18/2020 Reached 30° north end. Back into the low 20's tomorrow.

5am: Windchill in the -12° range at 9° currently. Peak gust I've noticed in the area was 64mph at the SD HW83 weather station 15 miles north of town. Peak gust north Valentine was 49 mph, while the airport reported 52.9 mph. Actual high temperatures all week have been running below (as much as 10° Wed.) what most models have forecasted so won't be surprised to see the same result today. The closest model to actual air temp this week has been the ARW linked below coming in with 20-22° high temp today. The arctic air has been settling a little further south than model positioning.

01/17/2020 A high wind warning for later this evening has been issued by the NWS.

9am: All snow now after (.12") of freezing rain mix.

7:20am: Interesting precipitation this morning a blend of freezing rain and ice pellets AKA sleet. Everything has a light ice glaze and the ground is turning white with ice pellets.

01/16/2020 (-4°) last night occurring just before 1 AM.

01/15/2020 4:45pm: We experienced our coldest day this winter season with lots of sunshine. The thermometer struggled to reach 10° at both north stations. Forecast shows a big warm-up on the way with mid 30's tomorrow and 40's Friday before cooling back down.

8:10am: Arctic air spilling in, Just hit (0°) at both north and NE Valentine locations within seconds of each other. Windchill north Valentine -17° currently. Our forecast high moved up +4 (17°) from yesterday so it looks to be short-lived with 33° tomorrow. FYI the ARW model still has Valentine topping out around 13-14° today. Just a reminder the Airport sensor always reports (+2°) high and that's indisputable. (Freezing rain events have proven this sensor wrong multiple times, ICE does not form and cover everything when above freezing.)

Added a few selectable forecasts for other locations outside Valentine on the 7 Day forecast page. Cody, Ainsworth, North Platte are a few. I'll possibly add others later.

01/11/2020 Final numbers of coldest morning this winter so far (-9°) NE station (-6°) North. The forecast has trended away from the bitter cold outbreak for next week.

01/10/2020 3:25pm: Light Snow flurries new snow measured 0.9" on snowboard. Current temps around the area NE Valentine (14°), North Valentine (14°).

Models are split on just how cold we can expect to get with the Canadian still the coldest with a low around -10° midnight Thursday. The trend has been not as cold for all models going back a couple of days ago.

01/08/2020 Looks like the balmy January is ending with Arctic air expected to spread over the region with possible negative teens just beyond the 7-day forecast. These air masses can squeeze an inch or so of snow out depending on available moisture. The Canadian model GDPS latest run 00z is the coldest having Valentine around -16° next Thursday morning.

01/06/2020 Light dusting of snow last night with just a trace amount in rain gauge. Yesterday recorded a 46 mph gust on north side of town.

01/01/2020 For the year 2019, 8 of the 12 months were below normal on temperature with February brutally cold. The year ended -2.8° below normal. Precipitation at this station 34.40" which is a whopping 14.38" above normal. FYI 2019 data was split between west and north valentine due to move in June.

The December summary very different from the year came in Above normal with a Mean temperature (27.5°), or (+3.7°) above normal and warmest since the station started in 2014, average high was (39), low (17). Precipitation (.87" ) was (+.50") above normal. Snowfall 9". Monthly extremes: high (60), low (3), with 31 days freezing or below and 0 days below zero, also a first for December. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2019 click for summaries

12/30/2019 One of the bigger snowdrifts about 43" in front of west view camera. Image

6am: Wind still howling with occasional flurries. Snowdrifts have shifted a few feet and redeveloped in areas cleared yesterday like the front of garage. Sigh! North Valentine 4 day snow total (5.7"), thankfully less than the expected (8-12") but bad enough with the high wind. FYI HW 83 going north out of town was closed down early yesterday evening while out and about. Nebraska 511 still shows closed at 6am.

12/29/2019 4:30pm: 49 mph gust at 4:24 pm, Light snow and very windy 40+ mph gust sustained around 32 mph, picked up another 1" snow since 7am (.07") snowmelt. (5.3") 3 day total. 3 foot plus SnowDrift now all along the west side.

6:40am: Snow falling with blowing and drifting. North Valentine measured snow total since 7 am yesterday 4". (.28") snowmelt. The seasonal snow Report page has been updated.

12/28/2019 2:40pm: Snow very light, the temperature has dropped to 30° along with NW winds picking up over the last 45 minutes. Report from cousin 40 miles south on east side of HW83 they don't have much snow, image sent also verifies grass still showing on the lawn.

12:35 pm: Snow heavy at times. 2.3" of snow measured on snowboards.

Picked up 1/2" measurable snow most fell before midnight. (.19") total moisture in Cocorahs gauge, adjusted website to reflect the correct amount. Temperature is hanging right at the freezing mark this morning with fog. The airport has been reporting 34° and 86% humidity but that's not real. It's 32° with 96% humidity. The winter storm is expected to get cranked up later today and evening.

12/27/2019 9:45 update: Snow large flakes 32°. Avoided the freezing rain so far tonight.

I'll be doing some pre-ice storm prep today once the roof has thawed of frost. Going to try Dupont snow and ice repellant on the anemometer. Hoping it prevents freeze up again. Fingers crossed.

12/26/2019 Snowfall potential has been updated by NWS. How things have changed suddenly from the Dec 24 blog about how it was looking December would end much milder than normal.

12/25/2019 Freezing fog early Christmas morning. Interesting development overnight, 2 Models GDPS and ECMWF are now advertising a significant snowstorm potential with deep low starting around the 28th. Not all models are in agreement on location (GFS) is further east, stay tuned to the official NWS forecast for any updates.

12/24/2019 This December looks to go down as the mildest since wx station started back in 2014, currently looking like we will end about +5° above normal range with no below zero days. This is also a first where we averaged 5 occurrences in December the previous years. Question is will we have to pay the piper? Some side streets are still not fully ice and snow-free even with the above seasonal temperatures due to low sun angle. Snow coverage on the north side has dropped just below 50% even though some areas still have significant snow depth triggers trace amount or (1/2") on the Cocorahs report. The far west side of town is still slightly above 50% as of yesterday at the previous station site on W 3rd St.

12/19/2019 5am: Model uncertainty has developed between runs on potential Christmas snow. Confidence with forecasters is low at this time.

12/18/2019 Another micro-climate morning the 2nd or 3rd this winter season with almost a 10° split across town (2 miles). Far north and NE side in the balmy low 20's while far south low teens.

12/16/2019 8:34am: Final low temperatures (3°) north station occurring 2 minutes after sunrise, also (3°) NE station occurring 23 minutes after sunrise. About the 2.7" of new snow yesterday I was a little surprised we received that much. The storm kind of came out of nowhere and most of the models had the heavier snowfall staying south of the area.

Low-level clouds cleared off allowing the temperature to reach single digits before midnight. The question now how much lower before sunrise? Looking ahead at forecast models it looks rather mild for this time of year with the only hint of snow coming from just one model GFS 00z run around Christmas so can't put much into it 9 days out unless others also start agreeing.

12/15/2019 6:20pm: Low level fog/cloud deck rolled in around sunset currently preventing temperatures from tanking with the fresh snow.

6:10am: Cocorahs report 2.7" new snow. (.23") snowmelt. Very light snow currently.

12/14/2019 Something to blog about after several quiet days. Winter Weather Advisory has been issued by the NWS. Confidence isn't great on snow amounts expected due to uncertainties between models. Leftover snow and ice around Valentine has refused to melt leaving some side streets still partially covered due to the sun angle this time of year.

12/10/2019 8pm: South wind has picked up this evening warming our temperature above the daytime high of mid 20's.

Very cold morning as of 6:30 AM (3°) North and (4°) NE station. Feels like: -7°F north Valentine. Airport must have a blowtorch under their thermometer at (9°). Trace of snow north side overnight.

12/09/2019 Arctic front brought a dusting of snow overnight (.02") snowmelt. Moderate winds have the feels-like (windchill) temperature near negative (-11°) this morning with single-digit temperatures (7°) both north-side stations at 5 am.

12/08/2019 Snow stake camera is up with solar lighting for nighttime found under camera images: Yard/Full image. This location won't have the blowing snow issue as before being located on the east side and fenced.

12/05/2019 Reached 39° both northside stations today with a fairly brisk breeze. Snowmelt continues but it's slow this time of year with the low sun angle despite above freezing days. Most side streets are still partially covered throughout town 5 days after the snowstorm.

12/04/2019 Snow stake camera was moved due to major drifting on the west side caused by open exposure and wind direction. I have the camera on the east side now but the ground is frozen currently so can't get snow stake down all the way. We need a temporary thaw, so for now the stake is missing.

12/03/2019 Snowfall Potential script has been updated. Thanks to SE Lincoln Weather.

12/02/2019 At 12:34pm the NE Station anemometer broke free of ice. The NE station low temp bottomed out at 3°, North side 5°.

12AM (9°) Fresh snow does seem to make a difference how cold it gets because it still breaths and not compacted. (6°) at the NE station currently. (Anemometer still stuck NE station from freezing rain). Not sure models have figured the fresh snow out yet. Valentine has always been unique when it comes to how cold it can get.

12/01/2019 Added the ARW temperature model loop to external links. This model is usually the best performer for temperature forecast in our area during winter with arctic air especially.

9:35am:HW 83 is open, hard-working city crews have plowed most streets already but they are slick, realized the first stop sign the anti-lock brakes don't work that great, peddle pumping still works the best.

7:00am: Pretty much buried in this morning. It's going to take some time to shovel out once the wind stops. (.04) additional snowmelt measured since midnight.

The November summary is HERE. It was a wet one + (.85) precip and (-1.1°) below normal mean temperature. 29 days of freezing temps and 2 days Below zero. 7 days highs never reached freezing and (11.9") of snowfall for November. For comparison to other years with this station, check out the Summary page and look at the mean temperatures HERE

11/30/2019 Adjusted website to reflect manual snowmelt catch since midnight @ 8pm (.45"), Blowing snow continues, drifts are getting rather deep. Snow stake is not accurate due to the drifting.

10am : Picked up another 2.8" of new snow since 7am. Light snow currently.

8:30am : Heavy snow, found a pole to break the anemometer loose but one of the cups is full of ice so it's not spinning as it should.

7AM: Cocorahs report (.75") 24 hour total (.46") freezing rain, (.29") snowfall. New snow 2.9".

The anemometers are frozen from the freezing rain at both North and NE stations. Possibly if we get those 50 MPH winds the anemometer will break free. The roof is treacherous for climbing on right now with the ice and snow build-up. The long extension pole I ordered last year never came so didn't follow through. I'll look in Valentine hardware stores today for something meanwhile reordered a 24' extension pole for next time this occurs. 2+ inches of new snow fell overnight. Full Cocorahs report will be done around 7am.

11/29/2019 BLIZZARD WARNING has been issued by NWS. From midnight CST /11 PM MST/ tonight to noon CST /11AM MST/ Sunday. This afternoon freezing (31°) rain (.46") north Valentine fell. Image of the rain gauge froze over HERE. Noticed trees have icicles now.

The airport ASOS KVTN reported an above-freezing temperature of 34° throughout the entire extended freezing rain event. (11/29/2019) Due to this fact, along with this continuing issue and not just a onetime event the NOAA Weather Radio broadcast will end from this website. I cannot with a clear conscience continue to propagate false information knowingly when conditions are actually hazardous for driving and flying. I hope those that used the broadcast understand my concern and obligation to safety. The winter storm is projected to dig a little further south giving Valentine a higher snowfall potential.

7:24 pm update: Cocorahs gauge collected (.46") freezing rain

11/28/2019 5:45pm: Snowfall potential map has been updated by NWS LINK to their site for additional details.

Winter Storm Watch has been issued by NWS with post-Thanksgiving winter storm looming ahead. In the Thanksgiving spirit and weather-related here is a link to Newspaper Blog titled "A Blustery Valentine Thanksgiving" Dated Nov 26, 1896.

11/27/2019 Storm total from 11/26/2019 manual Cocorahs gauge (.33"). TBRG heater always has some evaporation especially extended periods of light snow like we experienced yesterday recording only (.24"). Website adjustment was made to accurately display storm total with (+.09) correction added on today. Even at 10:1 we received 3" of snowfall with 2.5" currently on ground north Valentine. Slightly more at the old west Valentine location 2.9" at 5pm yesterday.

Something I've learned with 19 years of trial and error even light rain and drizzle will evaporate with these rain gauge heaters. I've found the solution for light rain, just make sure the heater stays off. For snowfall, there really is no solution with heater in use. 30% undercount error is common with the heater running and light precipitation. For anyone interested I have the heater set to turn on at 33.5°f off at 34.5°. I use a precision thermocouple and switch with tenth of degree adjustment ability.

11/25/2019 Winter Storm Warnings across the region have been issued by the NWS. Bad timing with winter driving conditions likely to impact holiday travelers. For Valentine locally the forecast has 3-5" with the first storm Tuesday, followed by a second stronger system Friday night through Sunday with heavy accumulations possible. Beyond today if you must drive the best day provided road conditions are decent looks like Wednesday.

11/22/2019 6:AM: Excellent radiational cooling this morning with single-digit lows and light wind. Low temps so far (7°) North Valentine, (6°) NE station. Airport has also reported (7°) earlier this morning. Looking at next week models have shifted snowfall potential further north again so stay tuned to official NWS forecast for any holiday travel concerns.

11/21/2019 High temps both north and NE station stayed below the freezing mark today. The snow that was being suggested by models next week has moved south so some uncertainty for Thanksgiving currently.

Last night only trace amount of what looks like freezing rain on outside surface of rain gauge.

11/18/2019 Some weather of interest our peak wind gusts around town today, 3 different stations 46,47,48 MPH. If we don't reach freezing by midnight our 22 consecutive freeze days will be broken at north Valentine location. Update: We did make freezing before midnight so consecutive freeze days was extended to 24. This can be followed on freeze data found under Reports/Daily tab.

11/12/2019 North Valentine low reached (-4°) while the NE station 1/2 mile east was (-7°). The low-temperature yesterday occurred around 10 pm (-3°) giving us two subzero days for November so far. We expect temps closer or above normal for this time of year over the 7-day forecast. Normal for November 12th H-50, L-23. The airport also reported two days of (-6°) lows, yesterday morning and at 1 am last night.

11/11/2019 At 8:00 am windchill average -13 to -14° with air temperature (1°) north Valentine also (1°) at the NE station. Airport is reporting (-6°) 7:35 am with very little wind while North side still has 10+ mph. Snow stake is no longer accurate due to the wind overnight. (2.7") was the total snow recorded prior.

11/10/2019 12:00 am update: New Snowfall total 2.7" (.18") moisture content. Wind has picked up gusting, snow stake won't be accurate for long, with a air temperature currently 13°, windchill -2°. Still have some light snow falling.

We ended up with a little more than expected, the fresh snowpack will accelerate radiational cooling tomorrow night especially if the south wind holds off as it sometimes does.

10:00 PM: 2.2" new snow currently on flat surface snowboard and sidewalk. Grass areas always show more at 3". This is a nice gentle snowfall something we don't always experience so the snow stake should be close to actual amount received. Looking at radar 10:30pm the main snow band is shifting south off the SD Nebraska border.

The NWS has extended the Winter weather advisory to include Eastern Cherry with 1-2" snow potential. Light snow currently, radar echos have increased across SD and now reaching into Nebraska. I think looking at radar HRRR may have missed where the heavier bands are developing at least early on.

1:30 PM: Ice has developed on exposed metal surfaces image

12:50pm: The air temperature has dropped below freezing North and NE stations. The airport ASOS (33.8°) may take another hour to reach freezing due to the +2° warm bias. Unfortunately, it won't stop ice from developing. HRRR is still showing light snow starting between 4-5 pm and still advertising around 1.3" snowfall total which is in line with the NWS official forecast.

11am: Mist continues, freezing temperature arrival looks around the noon hour. Sparks Mesonet 18 miles ENE at the SD border is reporting 32°, Martin SD airport is currently 30°.

6:40am: Arctic front to push through today. Short-range HRRR model suggest around 1.5" snow over the next 18 hours for Valentine on the latest hourly run. Linked on external links and runs hourly.

11/08/2019 Solar Radiation at the North Valentine station is now running, and reports on the website as well as CWOP and WU. During the peak, full sun summer will produce around 1100 W/m2. This decreases during the winter where it reaches the lowest point. Clouds of course also reduce solar radiation.

11/07/2019 6am: Clouds have rolled in with a light south wind early this morning warming us from single digit (9°) to 18° at the N and NE stations and heading for mid 40's later today. Upper 60's on the horizon Saturday before another arctic air mass moves in with a high of only 20° on Veterans Day. One of the little perks about living in Valentine are the occasional nice warmup days to enjoy during fall and winter. We are running much colder than normal this fall even without much snowfall due to the cold air already pooling near the Hudson Bay and spilling south, question does it continue into the winter? Exceptions go both ways. It's a ENSO neutral year so there are (no outside factors like El Nino or La Nina) going on.

Pivotal Weather is offering free ECMWF HI-RES for non-commercial use now. Linked under "External Links". They are asking if you would like to help keep it free consider a small donation if possible, apparently its very pricy.

11/06/2019 Added a snow stake normal size image to go along with the full-size closer look zoom if needed. Both are found under the camera images tab.

11/02/2019 North Platte NWS Forecast Office says October 2019 was the 5th coldest on record for both Valentine and North Platte. This dates back to the late 1800s.

11/01/2019 3PM Update: Peak wind gust so far today Airport 46 MPH, North Valentine 44 MPH, NE Valentine 43 MPH.

October summary below normal with Mean temperature (40.3°), or (-8.2°) below normal, average high was (54), low (28). Precipitation (1.52" ) was (+.27") above normal. Snowfall occurred 2 times totaling 1.8", trace amounts occurred a couple more times. Monthly extremes: high (85), low (5), with 19 days freezing or below and 0 days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2019 click for summaries Note this was the coolest October by far in the 6 years of records. The warmest occurred back in 2016 with a mean temperature of 54.2° or +14° warmer than 2019.

10/31/2019 (45) degree spread today at both North and NE stations H-50°, Low 5°

It may feel like December but this is just Halloween, our final low temperatures this morning on the north side has been 5.1° while the NE station 1/2 mile east got down to 5.4°. The wind was calm on north side of town allowing for excellent radiational cooling. Expecting a big warm-up with the forecast high today 46°.

FYI North Valentine station official name is CWOP EW3958, NE is CWOP EW7498. Locations 1.8 and 2 miles crow flies from airport ASOS.

10/30/2019 6am: Cold morning for October at 9° currently and could drop another couple before sunrise. To make you feel better I was looking at the Peters Sink Utah Station linked below (yesterday) it's -43° currently. The forecast has us warming to 31° today and another cold morning tomorrow at 10° before we get back into the 40's for high temperatures later in the week.

10/29/2019 Arctic invasion in October, at 3 PM we are setting at 23° and looking at single-digit low potential in the morning. The forecast has Valentine at 10°, it could be worse with a little snow cover we would be looking at 0°. Even the Mountain West is getting in on the act. One of the coldest places lower 48 occurs at a natural sinkhole in Northern Utah called Peters Sink was down to -35° today. This weather station holds the second coldest record of -69.3°F. Nobody lives their BTW, it's just a weather station. More about Peters Sink and current conditions here

10/28/2019 10AM: Snow Stake camera is up with full size image for better night image 2304 x 1296. This is a large image, slide lower bar to locate Snow Stake. The image will auto update every few minutes.

"Major Change" The website is now receiving weather conditions from North Valentine (CWOP) PWS located on N side of Valentine above City Park. The decision to make this changeover was based on unknown long term availability of property NE station is located, travel distance/time back and forth, communication issues (internet) especially during weather events and lack of power for wintertime heater snowmelt. This station North Valentine does sacrifice wind data primarily from non-dominate directions, NE through SE due to trees so it's more representative of inside the city conditions unlike the NE station completely unobstructed and open. The NE station will continue collecting weather data for the foreseeable future, viewable via Weather Underground linked under "External Links" or any site that includes CWOP reporting stations like MesoWest.

10/27/2019 NE Station high temp came in at midnight. H-34.8°, new North station H-35°. Today's lows we still haven't reached at 9pm currently 24°, should occur around midnight. Both stations follow each other closely when the wind is blowing.

10/26/2019 With the new residential North station I'll be logging high and low temperature comparisons with the NE station for a few days. Lows this morning North 34.2°, NE 34.1°, Highs today North 61.8°, NE 61.8°.

Looking at snowfall potential forecast by NWS, Valentine is on the eastern edge of 1-2" for Saturday night currently 80% chance of precip with another 1-2" potential for Sunday at 50% chance. A good model to watch once we get inside of 18 hours of an event is the HRRR snowfall. The Hi-res short term models adjust rapidly so can change hourly run to run. Linked on External links. The current forecast has NW Nebraska once again receiving the brunt of snowfall. What is more certain our temperatures are going to be winter-like next week and it's still October with below freezing highs and near single-digit lows.

10/25/2019 *Update on the new North side residential station: Changed from passive to FARS (fan aspirated radiation shield ) because of lower airflow in residential area. The fan helps prevent heat buildup inside the radiation shield on low airflow days. Also located sensor for better air sample away from building.

Added a second online weather station. This station doesn't have optimal wind exposure, with exception SW to NW directions have good wind exposure. Also, the station air temperature sensor doesn't have sunup to sundown full sun exposure. Mornings will be shaded for first 2 hours (Oct.) after sunrise due to a nearby building. Beyond morning the shielded temperature sensor will have full sun exposure. The station automatic rain gauge and anemometer are roof-mounted, with the air temperature sensor mounted at the standard height 5'. Instruments have the same accuracy as NE station but without the wide open exposure. Precipitation amounts will get adjusted with ground level manual gauge if needed. This station does have an electrical source so the heater is available for snowmelt. The link can be found under "External links" as Valentine North .

10/23/2019 3:PM Update: Getting some light snow flurries on NE side of town. (34°) currently. Looking at temperatures upstream of cold air, Martin SD airport is currently 30°. Sparks Mesonet station (18 miles ENE) on SD border was reporting 34° at 3PM. Link for Sparks is on external links with top of hour updates only.

Looking at forecast I can safely say this October will go down as coolest since station went in service 2014. Look at the history mean temperatures: HERE. As of Oct. 23, (44.2°) with a winter like forecast to close the month out.

10/21/2019 Storm totals West Valentine (.50"), NE (.51") NE weather station (.54").

2:28pm: 52 MPH peak gust at NE station, 55 MPH at airport. East side cameras are working again (wireless internet fixed)

7:00am: Website precipitation total updated (.33"). West side also received (.33") with 1/2" snow still on grass. Airport reports (.30") precip. NE Cocorahs (.31"). Peak wind gust this morning 47 mph both airport and NE station. Saw lots of deer (15-20) congregated this morning while getting the NE station snowmelt.

5:30am: Light snow with rain mix this morning current temperature is 33.5° so not accumulating much. Images from cameras east of town are also not updating normally with wireless connection issue.

10/20/2019 8 pm: Forecast for tonight has some strong winds moving in again with gust in 45 mph range with decent rain chances mixed with snow. Looking at the tight rotation spin on radar it looks like the low pressure is centered directly over us currently.

10/19/2019 Another freeze this morning with a low temperature of 29°. Yesterday we received our first moisture since the snowfall over a week ago .02-.03" of rainfall late afternoon. Wind speeds were gusty, peaking at 41 MPH (NE station), 40 MPH (airport).

10/18/2019 4:PM update: With all the complaints about the airport thermometer locally I took advantage of the wind mixing today by driving out to both NE station and airport KVTN ASOS and physically checking temperatures side by side against a certified traceable +/-0.05 degree C thermometer. The airport ASOS is running a full (+3°) warm at 66° with actual air temperature 63°. The NE weather station was running only slightly cool (-.2F) which is within spec. (+/- 1/2°) at 63°. I went ahead and compared the radio station Coop thermometer later, it was coming in .6 to .7 tenths low but the temperature at the time was unstable because of cloud cover moving in so may have been within (1/2°). The airport thermometer has serious problems and not even within horseshoe range at +3°. The problem is also reflected by the fact it can no longer reach 100% humidity.

No freeze this morning with NE (this) station low at 35°, airport ASOS reported 36° just before 8am.

Over on north side of town backyard thermometer sensor the low was 37°. The heavy tree cover and branches act like cloud cover reducing radiational cooling, which in turn hinders accurate low-temperature data at backyard location. Trees are not friendly to weather data collection influencing wind, temperature and precipitation accuracy. Forecast today has a high near 62° with a slight chance of a shower.

10/17/2019 10am Updated: Another chilly morning 29° at the NE Station, airport reported 30°, after 7am. Forecast high expected near 80° so enjoy another warm fall day. After an above normal September, October so far is running below normal on temperatures with 9 (10 at airport) recorded lows freezing or below and its just Oct.17th. If you are/were wondering about this winter we are in an ENSO-neutral condition so (neither El Nińo or La Nińa is present) which basically means a typical type pattern without influence from extra warm or cold Pacific waters.

10/16/2019 8am: Morning lows so far NE station 21°, airport ASOS 23°, also this location on north side town currently 23°. Little wind anywhere this morning with layer of frost on exposed surfaces.

10/15/2019 Nice warm up yesterday from a morning low of 25° to afternoon high of 78° (+53°) as a cold front approached. At 7am 37° both NE station and airport ASOS.

10/13/2019 3:40am: Little micro-climate going on this morning where NE side Valentine wind speeds have not subsided and still gusting into mid/upper teens while far west and south including airport 3:35 am 0 mph, temperature 20°f creating a 10-degree differential across town with NE side @ 30°. Toward sunrise winds may subside and temperatures equalize.

10/12/2019 Temperature dipped to 21° @ 1:00 am before wind picked up again. Airport 20° at same time.

10/11/2019 Update on cameras: Changed the west camera view toward the porch for light when weather is happening. Added west and yard cam found under camera images. Both are indoor cameras so may have window glare at times. All cameras can be viewed under Camera images tab. Porch ... Yard... and West

7am update. Final 2-day storm totals as of 7am including rain/snow/sleet. West Valentine (.35"). NE side (.32"). The (.02") for today on website was an adjustment that fell yesterday. Wind speeds have been brutal for an October type storm, this was more like dead of winter. Still seeing a little on radar this morning so more flurries can be expected.

10/10/2019 6:55 am: Current website precip totals are up to date from last nights rain, snow, sleet mix. Cocorahs NE Valentine (.26") everything was frozen solid in and outside of gauge. NE weather station manual gauge also (.26"), 29° current air temperature. I've unplugged the NE weather station automatic tipping bucket rain gauge so melting won't add to overall total. The west Valentine Cocorahs precipitation report will be done later after the event is over. FYI the Airport ASOS is reporting (.22") total @7:30am.

4am: Line of thunderstorms tracked south to north through the area. Mixed bag of precip. We did get some icy accumulation on surfaces with the temperature freezing. Back deck image. Frozen precipitation liquid measurements will be delayed and not real-time due to station relocation. (no heater power supply)

10/09/2019 Added link under "External Links" to HRRR snowfall loop. Use drop-down box for latest hourly run.

Looks like we are back into the 2-3" range for snowfall accumulation this morning. Models have moved the system north on the latest runs. With the warm ground any snow should melt rapidly. There is some thought it may all end Thursday evening now in the forecast discussion. Eastern Cherry will likely not go into a "Warning" unless models change track again. Western Cherry is still likely to become a Winter Storm Warning.

Beautiful day yesterday with temperatures soaring to 85° at the NE weather station. Little cooler inside town (83°) at this location with the tree foliage and grass.

10/08/2019 4:40pm: Winter Storm watch has been added to eastern Cherry county. Looks like snowfall potential map has been updated by NWS. Valentine currently 6-8" through the 11th (Friday) 7pm. Reminder this station all frozen precipitation liquid measurements will be delayed and not real-time due to station relocation. (no heater power supply)

10/07/2019 The first freeze of the season occurred at NE station, the low reached 27°F... in town 1/2 mile west 29°. Airport ASOS reported 28°. Looks like we are in for an early season snow event later this week with high temperatures near freezing. Watch the upcoming forecasts for possible headlines.

10/05/2019 Windy day, peak gust NE weather station recorded a 49 mph gust. The forecast later in the upcoming week has a major cool down with even snow wording in the forecast. The growing season will likely end with lows getting into the low to mid 20's so those with sprinklers should consider winterizing.

10/04/2019 2pm update: looks like a chilly homecoming parade and game. 51° with a rather brisk wind 22 mph gusting to 30 mph this afternoon. 50% chance of rain this evening after 7pm.

Moved the heat pump blog updated with performance numbers on first freeze here

10/03/2019 7:50am: Light frost this morning, temperature has stayed above freezing so far on NE side of town at 33° and 34° at the NE wx station.

10/02/2019 9:40am Update: Temperature has dropped down to 39° currently at NE station, 40° in town on NE side. Heavy mist continues. We did have a light band of showers toward the morning with some thunder. If it clears off tonight we should have no problem reaching the freezing mark.

10/01/2019 7am: Bands of showers with a few embedded thunderstorms overnight. Some rainfall totals overnight west Cocorahs (.25"), NE (.29"). NE Wx station (.30"). Looks very fall-like and wet at times then clearing off for the first frost Thursday morning with the potential for our first freeze also. Difference between frost and freeze, with a frost only exposed surfaces, IE windshields, ground (grass), roof shingles frost over and with a freeze the actual air temperature measured 4-6' above the ground reaches 32°. For accuracy to prevent thermometer from experiencing the same radiational cooling as exposed surfaces like grass and windshields its sheltered inside a radiational shield and away from any heat sources which could raise temperature such as building, concrete, etc.

The September summary, highlight was abundant rainfall again along with warm temperatures, recording 3.38" at this station which is (+1.25") above normal, the temperature also was running well above normal (+3.4°) with 2-90° days. For the full summary click HERE.

09/30/2019 7:40am: Cold front passed through last night with misty conditions this morning.

09/23/2019 Finally got the solar radiation sensor going after NE station relocation. Apologizes for dragging my feet, ended up bringing solar cell home and rewiring to find the problem.

7am: Cool this first day of fall, so far this morning (37°) at NE station, (40°) in town on NE side after a August like September running (+5.5°) on month to date. Signs of changes ahead as we go into fall just beyond the 7 day. Stay tuned to official forecast for updates. Here is some data on average frost and freeze dates

09/21/2019 Rainfall amounts from last night, west valentine Cocorahs (.16"), NE Coco(.12") and NE weather station 1/2 mile further east (.14"). Airport ASOS reported (.08"). Winds gusted into 40's yesterday afternoon with peak of 47 mph recorded last night associated with the thunderstorm at the NE wx station.

09/17/2019 Reached 93° at the NE weather station Sunday and 88° on Monday and 89 today. We may be done with the chance of the '90s after today for the year. Overall it's been a cool summer with below normal temps.

09/11/2019 7:35pm: Currently fog and mist. GR3 Doppler feed is running. Found under Radar/Sat tab. Refresh every 6 minutes or so for new image.

Update 8:10am: Keller Ranch 39 mi South of town, using an official Cocorahs gauge recorded 4.1"..More rainfall totals as of 6:40am west Valentine Cocorahs (1.48"), NE (1.39"), at NE weather station (1.38"). Another round of thunderstorms tonight with 100% chance of rainfall with some storms reaching severe level again. Ainsworth airport recorded (4.81") with road report HW20 covered in water but passable.

Image of mesocyclone as it approached Valentine yesterday.

09/10/2019 8pm:West side of Valentine reported near 1" hail. Wind speed peaked at 51mph at NE station. Airport reported 82 mph (WOW). I'll work on rainfall totals after it's over. Still lot of radar returns in area.

7:20 am: 52° Fog and 100% humidity this morning.

Totals from yesterday morning west and NE manual rain gauges both (.40"). NE weather station manual gauge came in with (.42"). More activity with forecast mention of possible severe expected late afternoon and tonight with 80% chance followed by another round tomorrow night. Looking at the HRRR model updraft speeds the Valentine area is near bullseye on the morning run IMAGE for 8 pm. Here is the image from latest run of total precipitation potential. This model updates hourly and may change with adjusted input throughout the day.

09/05/2019 5:30PM update: About concerns for the HS football game Friday night and lightning, the updated afternoon Official forecast looks like only slight chances less than 20% during game time 7-9pm. Onset of thunderstorm activity is expected after midnight.

09/03/2019 Noon hour update: A noticeable cold front went through with NW winds picking up and dewpoint crash from 70° down to 52°. Today's low temperature will most likely occur just before midnight tonight.

09/02/2019 9am update: Currently mist with 97% humidity. 1° spread between dewpoint (68°) and temperature (69°). Rainfall totals from last night, westside (.03"), NE (.12"), 1/2 mile east at NE weather station (.14"), Airport reports (.10"). Today, Labor Day 2019 may be the last 90° day looking at 10 day if it makes it. Beyond looking at last year we did have somes 90's mid month. Most models have us topping out upper 80's° today. The 2 GFS models make it into 90's.

1am:GR3 Doppler feed running. This TS seems to be drifting north slightly and may reach Valentine. North movement is slow.

09/01/2019 6:40am: Patchy fog is developing just before sunrise. The August summary, highlight was rainfall again, recording 5.73" at this station is a whopping (+3.55") above normal with the temperature running below normal (-2.8°) with no 100° days. For the full summary click HERE.

08/31/2019 6am: Fog has developed this morning. Light additional rain amounts fell toward midnight yesterday with additional +(.07") at both West and NE gauges.

FYI if the airport KVTN ASOS sensor temperature (image) was correct (lower), it would also be reporting relative humidity of 99% instead of 88% with fog.

08/30/2019 6:10pm Update: NE Valentine Cocorahs picked up (.35"), NE station (.34") and west side Cocorahs (.34") image. Airport reports (.38").

Nice view of approaching thunderstorm from NW. Local GR3 Doppler feed is running under Radar/sat tab.

08/26/2019 Thunderstorms after midnight, rain totals around town: West Cocorahs gauge (.50"), NE Cocorahs (.50"), NE weather station (.49"). Airport shows (.48") on 24 hour total.

08/16/2019 Last nights rain (.10") west and NE rain gauges.

08/15/2019 Thunderstorm overnight rain amounts across the area: Airport ASOS (.96) corrected, Westside Cocorahs (.85"), NE side Cocorahs also (.85"). 1/2 mile further east at NE weather station automatic gauge recorded (.87") Corrected. Both ASOS and NE WX station have corrections.

08/12/2019 Thunderstorm complex weakened as it approached Valentine. Last nights rainfall amounts NE Cocorahs (.32"), West side Cocorahs (.41"), Airport ASOS reported (.44").

08/11/2019 9:20pm update: Fast moving complex of thunderstorms moving toward Valentine. Looking at current movement near 45 mph.

08/09/2019 9:30pm Rain update: Intense downpour from thunderstorm starting 8pm with minor Street flooding, rain total (.49"). 1/2 mile east at NE station (.53"), West side Cocorahs on W 3rd (.27"), Airport reports (.25"). Heaviest area fell on NE side of town, Doppler image.

08/08/2019 Thunderstorms again last night around 11:30pm. Amounts recorded West side Cocorahs (.20"), NE side Cocorahs gauge (.16"). Manual gauge at NE wx station also (.16"). Airport ASOS reports (.08").

08/07/2019 Rain gauge totals from last night: West 3rd Cocorahs (.05"), NE side NE Cocorahs (.20"), Airport (.04"), and the manual gauge at NE weather station (.31") with fog image at sunrise.

08/06/2019 At 10pm: Small but potent thunderstorm moving out of SD clipped NE side of Valentine dumping (.31") at NE weather station in just a few minutes. 1/2 mile east (.20") on NE Cocorahs gauge. Looks like south side of town airport reports (.04"). Doppler image as it rolled through.

08/05/2019 11:30am update: The NE station actually recorded (2.22") in manual gauge located at station, adjusted NOAA report and website reports to reflect correct amount.

08/04/2019 The rain rate per hour on NE side peaked just over 7". RR image... Storm totals as of 8:20pm. Airport ASOS (1.72"), NE WX Station tipping bucket (2.22")corected, NE Cocorahs (2.29"). west side Cocorahs (2.12"). Here's a look inside the NWS style gauge on W.3rd St. overflows into outer cylinder at 2" mark. High School was flooded, water wraps around the main building from Green almost to 5th street (HW12). image

7:11pm Currently seeing street flooding on NE side Looks like water is backing into driveways. 2.06" unofficially on tipping bucket. Image of standing water N Huge St. Backyard.

7:06pm : Very heavy rain 1.70" currently on tipping bucket NE side and no let up yet. Will update official Cocorahs once it ends. Backyard now has standing water.

6:15pm: GR3 radar feed for Doppler is running, under Radar/Sat tab. Looks like hail currently at Kilgore. This is a pretty strong thunderstorm.

08/03/2019 Dense fog with visibility only a few feet at times this morning. Airport sensor says .24 mile. At times less on NE side town. Use caution while driving.

08/01/2019 July summary, the highlight was rainfall recording 5.3" at this station is (+2.09") above normal and temperature was slightly below normal (-1°). No 100°F days recorded for July is a little unusual and likely due to the abundant rainfall and higher humidity. With the rainfall we have seen the dewpoint reach into the low 70's on several occasions making it uncomfortable. For the full summary click HERE. At (21.42") we are on pace for another 30"+ year of rainfall and not helping the excessive groundwater issue.

07/31/2019 7:20am: Light thunderstorm activity in area last night. West Cocorahs (.10") NE side (.07"). Didn't blog yesterday morning amounts (.02") everywhere. If anyone wants to pick-up west-side Cocorahs send an email. You can use existing rain gauge location preferred for historic reasons but if inconvenient I have a spare gauge you can use at own home. Official 4" diameter Cocorahs gauges made by Stratus are the only gauges allowed and good site exposure is preferred. There are Cocorahs knockoff gauges found with Official Cocorahs label but are not allowed and have been found not accurate. The Stratus gauge is the only official gauge and has been extensively tested against NWS standard 8" diameter metal gauge and considered most accurate.

07/28/2019 8:00am: Light Thunderstorm activity last night. Cocorahs gauges last night west side (.10"), NE (.09"). I would link directly to Cocorahs but their map isn't secure (which would drop this sites security padlock) until then I'll add measurements in the blog.

07/26/2019 8:45pm: Thunderstorm activity rain gauge totals. West 3rd Cocorahs (.48"), NE Cocorahs (.24"). NE weather station received the least (.17"). Airport 24 hour total (.33").

9:15am: Starting to hear thunder, the GR3 Doppler radar feed is on for a better view locally. Found under Radar/Sat tab.

07/24/2019 Finally updated (About) weather station after relocation and move.

07/18/2019 6:25am: Dewpoint 70° this morning, windows confirmed by fogging up with interior temperature just below 70°. Airport weather stations used a chilled mirror for years and was highly accurate but has since been changed for a more low maintenance sensor for dewpoint measurement.

07/16/2019 8:00am update: Heavy thunderstorm with wind driven rain last night. Totals Cocorahs NE (1.37") , west side Cocorahs (1.07"), NE weather station (1.16"). Airport ASOS reported only (.29") somehow and suspect IMO after looking at radar storm track. NE Cocorahs rain started 11:29pm and ended at 01:25am. Saw a few smaller broken tree limbs while out. Looking at the rain rate at NE Cocorahs station peak was 6" per hr. rate Image

07/14/2019 8:50pm:Picked up some light pea size hail on NE side, over on west side reports of nickel size. Totals reported this evening not counting last night, read 8:40am report below for those.. Airport (.30") was heaviest, west side Cocorahs (.17"), NE side Cocorahs (.13"), NE weather station (.16"). GR3 Doppler image feed running, link found under radar/sat tab with another healthy looking storm to SW.

8:40am: Last nights thunderstorm recorded rainfall amounts west side Cocorahs (.30") while NE Cocorahs only (.16"), NE weather station picked up (.19") and airport ASOS reports (.17"). Forecast high for today is 100°. With the moisture from last night still around dewpoint this morning is still mid 60's, it may dry out later today as the temperature rises, if not heat index will approach 100° also.

1:35am: Doppler radar feed on under Radar/sat tab. Radar shows hail potential has diminished (weakened) considerably as thunderstorm approaches.

07/12/2019 8:40am: The stiff wind gusting into 30's must be unexpected today, don't see mentioned in the forecast. Dewpoint has risen significantly also with low 70's this morning. Feels like something is in the making today with the atmosphere getting this moist and expected heat. Kind of an odd direction for moisture to move in on a north wind.

07/10/2019 6:45am: Cool morning 56°, it's really dried out with dewpoint 50° this morning. Looking at forecast daily thunderstorm activity may finally be ending with Friday night being next chance. Yesterday Cocorahs gauges west side (.05"), N. Huge St on far NE side (.06"). NE weather station picked up (.10") as a heavier area of rain fell just east of Valentine early evening.

07/07/2019 6:25am: Last nights rain from thunderstorms, NE Cocorahs received .48", west side Cocorahs .45", NE weather station (.41") and (.23") reported on south side town at airport ASOS. FYI airport ASOS is 1.3 to 2 miles distance from other locations. Looking at radar there is another small line developing to the west. Doesn't look like much currently. Turned the GR3 radar feed back on just in case it develops more.

07/06/2019 6AM fog has developed this morning. Like a broken record another round of thunderstorms last evening, this time before midnight. Manual gauge readings, NE Cocorahs (.72"), west side Cocorahs (.63"), NE wx station (.60"). When the updated afternoon forecast came out with only 30% chance I thought maybe it would end. Tonight's forecast has 40% chance of repeat.

07/05/2019 More thunderstorms overnight. Rainfall totals since midnight west side Cocorahs 1.18", NE weather station 1.16", NE COCO 1.13", Airport 1.09".

Another likely chance of thunderstorms tonight. We are approaching, now within 2" of our yearly normal precipitation total again with the year just past the halfway mark. This will make 5 of the last 6 years well above normal for moisture and not helping the Ogallala aquifer high groundwater situation with flooded highways.

07/04/2019 6:pm Started GR3 Doppler radar image uploads. Looking at storm in western Cherry currently. Found under Radar/satellite tab. Image needs refreshed manually ever 3-5 minutes.

2PM: 2 day updated Totals manual gauges, .96" NE station, west side Cocorahs .97", NE Cocorahs .89". The airport ASOS reported 1.07".

Happy Birthday America....4:40am update: Thunderstorm activity in area is relentless. Another round this morning. GR3 radar feed is back on. I'll do rainfall totals once its all over. Looks like NE station got hit the hardest on this one .51" (6am) since midnight so far. Unfortunately heard a unconfirmed scanner report someone may have been stuck by lightning in last nights storms. Lots of lightning this morning so stay safe.

07/03/2019 8:05pm Update: Strong line of thunderstorms appear to be holding together and heading east tonight currently in western Cherry county Cody area. GR3 Doppler feed is running. Radar/satellite tab. Image needs refreshed manually ever 3-5 minutes.

A super mesocyclone developed in SD near Allen again with 3 different reports of tornadoes.

2:48 am update: TS weakened considerably as it approached Valentine. Less than a tenth of rainfall (.08") NE Cocorahs, NE wxstation (.04") and (.07") at west side Cocorahs.

2am: GR3 Doppler image upload is on. Line of thunderstorms approaching with gusty winds out front located just north of Crookston.

07/02/2019 Positioned WNW camera for a better view. Found under camera images tab. Patchy fog this morning with temperature and dewpoint near the same. About the camera with wide angle lens objects appear further away than they are. Distance across draw to other building is 241 yards.

07/01/2019 6 am update: Another round of thunderstorms last night. The very heavy rain/hail has avoided Valentine. Some totals from yesterday evening west side Cocorahs .35", NE Cocorahs .32", and NE wx station .27".

06/30/2019 Hot day yesterday with temperature peaking at 103° at NE station, 102° at NE Cocorahs. Rainfall amounts last night with thunderstorms just over tenth. .12" W. side Cocorahs, .14" NE Cocorahs, .12" NE wx station. There was a confirmed tornado yesterday near Allen SD. Tornado story HERE. A funnel cloud was also reported near the Rosebud Casino last night. Not sure if it was by a trained spotter, scud clouds can easily be mistaken as funnel clouds. Scud clouds will be just floating along with no clear rotation. Scud image

06/29/2019 Dewpoint temperature slightly lower in upper 60's this morning. Forecast has the high temperature near 100°, offsetting any moisture difference. Along and east of HW 83 the NWS has issued an heat advisory for this afternoon.

06/28/2019 8:am Still have scattered dense fog in area but its burning off, dewpoint has crept up also, now upper 60's to near 70°. It's going to feel uncomfortable today, with possible heat advisory later this afternoon mentioned in forecast discussion.

6:53am: Fog currently very dense with just a few feet visibility. Fog this morning with the higher than normal dewpoint temperature mid 60's and air temperature also mid 60's fog has developed with near 100% humidity. As air temperature rises the dewpoint temperature will separate dissipating fog after sunrise.

06/27/2019 91° both NE WX Station and NE Cocorahs location today. Upper 90's tomorrow and near 100° Saturday. Heat index could approach 100° tomorrow with the moist south flow and mid-60s dewpoint temperature.

06/23/2019 Update 4:30 pm: Thunderstorm developed directly over Valentine dumping heavy rain especially on west and parts of north Valentine with highest total coming from far W. 3rd St. Cocorahs (.53") followed by (.36") at NE Cocorahs. Go just 1/2 mile east at NE weather station only (.19"). The airport reports (.29") since midnight.

06/22/2019 Moved all camera images to Camera image tab.

06/21/2019 Strong thunderstorms around the area last night. The airport on southern side Valentine picked up heaviest rain since midnight (.65") while far west Valentine 3rd St.(.50"), NE side town just behind at (.48") both NE Cocorahs and NE weather station.

06/20/2019 5:50 Update: Strong thunderstorm, south and west side of town picked up heaviest precip and highest winds with possible small hail. (.36") rainfall N. Huge St, (.37") at NE weather station, airport was reporting (.57"). Cocorahs west side (.52")...Moved camera back under front porch cover to help protect lens from rain and snow.

4:15am: Thunderstorm 13 miles west of Valentine with radar indicated hail moving toward Valentine. Gr3 radar feed is turned on.

06/18/2019 Rainfall totals from yesterday around town. west side Cocorahs on 3rd .51", NE Cocorahs .45", NE weather station .50", airport .47".

06/17/2019 Started GR3 radar image upload, fingers crossed changing frequency stops the temperature spike around lightning. Looks like we are about to see and running out of ideas.

06/16/2019 Weather station will stop transmitting while I change frequency for about half an hour this morning. Still getting the temperature spike while lightning is in area.

06/13/2019 West looking camera image now available from northeast side Valentine.

06/10/2019 Chilly morning for mid June, dropping down to 36° this morning at NE weather station.

06/09/2019 west side weather station and images have closed. A new image looking west will be available from NE Valentine location later this week.

06/02/2019 Strong thunderstorm north of Cody currently heading Valentine direction. Turned on GR3 radar for closer look. Found under Radar/Satellite tab.

06/01/2019 Summary for May mean temperature well below normal -5.6°. Precipitation well above normal by +4.85" critters are growing webbed feet... For full summary click HERE

05/29/2019 Adjusted rainfall NE side, automatic gauge over counted .14". The move last week must have knocked calibration off so gauge has a new calibration. Total rainfall last 24 hours NE station was 1.13"

05/26/2019 As of 1pm most of the activity has been developing over northern Cherry county with precipitation and a few embedded thunderstorms.

05/23/2019 Patchy ground fog this morning. More rain with a thunderstorm overnight, northeast picked up heaviest 24 hour amounts, around 1/2". Next storm activity potential Sunday evening through Tuesday in forecast with Memorial day looking active at this time.

05/22/2019 Major move starting today 6:25 pm, website data is being uploaded from the newly relocated NE Valentine station. The station now transmitting live is situated for maximum accuracy minus snow melt-ability. Cameras will stay unchanged for now. Valentine West is still available with 5-minute updates on the external link menu bar.

05/22/2019 Yesterday 24 hour totals 2.45" both west and east sides with 2 day totals 3.42" west, 3.39" east. Totals from storm do not include what has fallen since midnight today. East Valentine ahead on monthly May total 5.40", while 5.20" has fallen on west side as of midnight. This is normal for May since 2015... Rain summaries here

05/21/2019 Rain continues with intensity ramped up a little this evening, at times around .5" per hour rate. Current total 6:20 pm 1.8" since midnight, 2 day total approaching 3" soon.

Yesterday light rain all day with around 1" both east and west Valentine. We could see an additional 2"+ cold rain through Wednesday. More unsettled periods with chance of thunderstorms later this week.

05/10/2019 Widespread freeze this morning for Valentine area. 174 freeze days is 5 season record for this station with average last freeze occurring mid May. With nothing in 10 day forecast other than 36° for Sunday morning this might be the last occurrence.

05/02/2019 Hard freeze this morning east side station down to 23° currently, west side 24° and no wind. Looking at 10 day don't see any freezes in forecast. Currently tied with 2017/2018 for station record of most freeze days in season of 172.

05/01/2019 Rain and snow mix early this morning turned all rain later. (.16") total. Did a calibration on west side tipping bucket today.

Summary for April mean temperature ended slightly below normal -1°. Precipitation also slightly below normal by .12"... For full summary click HERE. For snow report here

03/25/2019 Light Freezing rain/snow mix this morning. image .. Meanwhile the airport reports 34°.

04/30/2019 Update: .14 moisture all snowfall at 8:15 pm. Ground is covered but warm and melting as it snows....hard to measure about 1.2" at 8pm.

04/30/2019 5am: all snow 32°. (.03) accumulation so far. Valentine is right in that zone of winter weather. Will it ever end?..

04/29/2019 Below freezing west Valentine this morning with light wind, 30° currently, east side still above at 34° with 8 mph wind but will also reach freezing should wind subside. Models continue to suggest snow upcoming but temperatures never reach 32° at the surface so have some doubt it falls as all snow. Last 5 years haven't seen all snow above 32.0° except maybe a short-lived flurry with grass accumulation. We have had rain-snow mix before several times in 33° range and turnover all snow right at freezing mark 32°. Exception airport running couple degrees warmer has reported snow at 34° several times.

04/25/2019 Rainfall total from last night west Valentine .64", 8" SRG. East side tipping bucket also .64". Airport .54". Further south less moisture on this one. Looking at some models chance of snow next week in 2" range for Valentine. Still 5 days out so likely it doesn't happen but freezing potential still high for gardeners and planting seedlings.

04/15/2019 Snow stake camera will be removed until next fall sometime in next few days for lawn mowing season. Not seeing anything in forecast on 10 day other than maybe a snow shower. Will be installed again next October. 2018-2019.. Season total inches- 53.9"

04/12/2019 Anemometers both east and west thawed finally. I've got a 30' window cleaner pole coming for next winter should this happen again.

04/11/2019 8:50pm update: Everyone wants the snow stake, so its back by popular demand.

3:18pm Snow light or stopped. Radar returns clearing out, it may be over except wind. Sun peaking out also solar 642 W/m2. I'll be doing snowmelt on the 4" Cocorahs gauges both east and west sides comparing snow amounts. I'll report findings here. The east side gauge was emptied just before snow started 4pm yesterday. It doubled the freezing rain on west side. This is to satisfy my curiosity why the east side cameras seem to show less snow and disappears much quicker.

Results of test between Coco gauges. East side +.01 more snowfall catch. But received double freezing rain yesterday +.10", so storm total +.11 vs West side. These are surprising results for me. Snowfall was a wash .01 is negligible. Something else of interest the 4" dia. coco gauges caught same amount as the 8" dia. on snow collection. Why I had the 30% difference last snow not sure now. They are surely easier to handle vs the big 8" gauge for snowmelt.

Tipping bucket adjusted to match manual 8" gauge at 12 noon. Blizzard total snowfall west Valentine 7.4" estimated (.62) snowmelt. Last April's Blizzard still hasn't been surpassed, no doubt the most intense storm I've experienced.

5:20am Currently snow and low visibility with blowing snow. SRG 8" diameter .67 storm total includes yesterday, of that (.56") snow. Snow equivalent ratio revised 12:1 (6.7") 24-25°F. Tipping bucket shown on website is .04 behind actual. NOTE: (Airport precipitation has reported nothing since midnight).

04/10/2019 Anemometers have froze up both east and west Valentine stations. At midnight .37" total (.11) freezing rain (.26") snow

11:20am: Freezing drizzle continues with elevated surfaces ice covered. .09" so far. Airport reports light snow only a flake or two west side. Just drove roads, still warm enough not iced over yet.

6:55am: 31°, Freezing rain verified only .01 so far, ice on outside surface of Coco rain gauges. Airport ASOS reports 34° ? KVTN sensor image .

Fog with temperature reaching freezing 32.0° at 6am this morning. Could get ice development soon on surfaces. 32.5° east side currently. This is with the Campbell scientific sensor (SHT75) both east and west stations. The Davis SHT31 is showing 31.8° currently. What I like about the SHT75 is the fast response times, as much as 1° per scan. Humidity is also better. The SHT31 will be used exclusive for very cold weather sub zero where it stands out and the SHT75 all other times going forward. Both sensors are on a data logger, I've been comparing since last fall.

04/09/2019 8:15pm update: Thunderstorm .04 new precip

Here are a few model predictions this late afternoon until we get into the shorter range models. GDPS-22", GFS-FV3-18", ECMWF-16", GFS-14". Correction on ECMWF 12z run still at 16". The source used for ECMWF is free but flaky sometimes. Tonight 10pm the shorter range HRW's HRRR, RAP will start coming in, HRW linked on external links.

A few updates: Snow stake relocated, moved north about 10 feet, timelapse for snow stake has been added back for storm. East side 8" diameter rain gauge is fixed, this gauge has no heater so will not record snowfall accurately. Also setup a 4" manual rain gauge east side location for comparison to west side 4" diameter manual. (Wish I had a spare 8" ) Results between the 2 locations will get posted post storm. Reason I wish for another 8" diameter, the 4" under collected 30% vs 8" on last blizzard. Personally not impressed at all with these 4" diameter plastic Cocorahs gauges, had to modify to prevent heavy rain and hail splash out with shallow funnel top portion.

Blizzard Warning now issued by NWS, 18-24" of new snow potential.

04/08/2019 Winter Storm Watch issued by NWS with big snow amounts projected by some models. ECMWF and GDPS has Valentine receiving around 20", yikes! NWS snowfall potential link has Valentine at 10" most likely with as much as 14" potential. Still a couple of days out so this could change. Deja vu last April 14, 11 inches.

04/07/2019 Models are predicting heavy snowfall potential. Here is a summary of wettest model Sunday evening. ECMWF has 2.4" total precip for Valentine. Of that .6 falls as rain so the potential of very heavy snowfall using this model and 10:1 scale. This model has rain to snow change over around noon Wednesday. Other models are not as wet, with several more days expect changes but something to watch for mid-week.

04/03/2019 Update: 4:30pm. Today's rainfall so far, west Valentine, 8" manual gauge .33", automatic .32".

3:20pm Something is wrong with East side weather station rain gauge so plugged in backup 6" diameter Davis rain gauge. .20" was amount manually started from with unknown true amount. Currently .30 in town.

04/02/2019 NOAA Weather Radio feed back up.

04/01/2019 Weather Underground rapid fire is working again. Live data updates now available for east Valentine station, found under External Links.

Summary for March mean temperature ended well below normal -7.4°. Precipitation 2.02" almost double normal +.95", of that 9.2" fell as snow. West Valentine stands at 46.5" of snow on the season. For full summary click HERE. For snow report here

03/25/2019 Light Freezing rain/snow mix this morning. image .. Meanwhile the airport reports 34°.

03/17/2019 Moved camera images off main index page reducing website load time. All found under Navigation bar. Images will auto refresh.

03/14/2019 .02 new moisture. (.46) total form of snow. The wind is brutal this morning, several 50 mph gust in town. East Valentine station wind gusted to 64 mph, west side in town 55 mph. 2 foot drifts now common, some higher like in front of garage door. Reports of 20 foot drifts just a few miles north of town off HW83. Highest observed west side town 6' against fences.

03/13/2019 The 8" manual gauge total on day 1.58" of that .44" was caught as snow. I'm sure some was missed by the horizontal nature caused by the high wind so estimated around 5.5" new snow, further explanation behind reasoning the 4" diameter Cocorahs gauge missed 30% of the snowfall catch vs the 8" diameter gauge so odds are the 8" underperformed also to some degree with the conditions experienced. I'm confident the 5.5" is a more accurate estimate of snowfall vs going straight 10:1 ratio under conditions experienced. The heated rain gauge caught 1.60" total precipitation. Areas are drifted deep, amazing what a little snow will do with this much wind. For the record altimeter pressure bottomed @ 29.17".

Snow stake area is flooded, ground is froze so can't move it. 2:10pm HRRR knew what it was talking about on timing of snow start and on the nose of 32°. Measured and dumped 8" SRG for snow catch. 1.14" was rain accumulation. Turn over to snow occurred right at 32°.

Standing water is backing up in places it shouldn't like my shed. So far today rain .83" 8" dia. SRG. Also 8" tipping bucket. Cocorahs 4" dia. gauge .80"

Blizzard Warning still in place. Rain should change to snow after 4pm. 6 inches is Forecast for Valentine, minimum 2", Maximum 11". Snow stake is under standing water so don't expect to accurately reflect snow depth. With the expected wind gust to 60 mph snow measurements will be difficult so will use 10:1 ratio of snow caught in rain gauge. I'll empty the 8" diameter gauge once snow starts and use as primary catch gauge for snow measurement. FYI next winter snow stake will be relocated to higher ground.

03/12/2019 Update 10pm: HRW model (linked on external links) just updated. Results of model has Valentine at around 11" snow. Any shift eastward could bring more. Snow is disappearing today slush and standing water most areas.

Blizzard Warning has been issued by NWS. Snowfall potential NWS looks like 7" most likely with maximum 15". I'm concerned about freezing rain build-up so would rather have more snow. Pick your evil I guess.

This is unofficial: Enthusiast but not a trained meteorologist. What I'm seeing today (may change) looking at ECMWF which has a snowline feature some others don't, Valentine gets around .7" moisture after atmosphere is cold enough to turn all snow around Wednesday 6pm. Surface temperature does drop below freezing prior around noon with cold air under cutting the moist warm air from above so between 12pm-6pm what precipitation type is the question, freezing rain or snow? Around 6pm when atmosphere is cold enough for all snow the bulk of precipitation has already fallen 1.5" leaving around .7" to fall as all snow using 10:1 ratio equals about 7" new snow + what has fallen during that questionable period (12-6pm). Here is the 5pm image just before atmosphere goes all snow. Click. Here is image of how much precip has fallen at 5pm Click. The reason I say leaving about .7" this model on this run has storm total of 2.2" for Valentine and could change with each run. So going by this model run puts down 7" new snow, maximum depends on snow change over timeline. One more thing ground is frozen so the rain on front side will melt much if not all the current snow so this water needs a place to go, some will seep in but most will run off or just pool.

03/11/2019 Afternoon Update from NWS: "This system has the potential to be one of the stronger storms in the last 10 years or so - with very deep surface low pressure and abundant moisture resulting in very strong winds and heavy precipitation. Please monitor the latest forecast information." FYI in forecaster discussion they say deep low pressure taking a negative tilt, progged to drop to 972mb (that's 28.70") inHg, that's considered very low.

Winter Storm Watch issued by NWS. All the longer range models are in pretty good agreement with Valentine near the bullseye or real close on some models. As we get closer the Hi resolution short range models will fine tune so changes can still occur this far out. Stay tuned to forecast updates.

Update 2pm: Here is the latest ECM one of the better models for placement of systems. Valentine is the red dot in the 2" range of moisture. click for (ECM)

03/10/2019 The forecast has Valentine above freezing today. It will be our 2nd day this month and only 3rd day dating all the way back to Feb. 3rd if it does. Major winter storm potential coming next Wed. and Thur. but lots of questions still on impact. Several models have crazy snow numbers in 18" range but we've seen those turn into nothing before, but with calving season starting worth keeping eye on considering the unusual cold and snowy late winter nothing can be ruled out yet. 18" added to the 7-14" already on ground would create drifts 4+ feet making movement very difficult.

Update: I'm back on the Win7 computer without battery backup. HP is sending replacement due around the 21st. FYI apologies yesterday Windows 10 decided without permission to do a reboot on weather computer that I didn't catch for 6 hours. I need to replace the battery on the Win 7 weather computer so I can use again. Using Win 10 with forced updates and reboots makes reliability nonexistent.

03/07/2019 Cocorahs 2.7" new snow, Snowmelt (.22"). Average ground snow depth at 10" this morning. Heated 8" diameter rain gauge came in slightly higher (.22") moisture. FYI snow stake has been running just over 1" lower than actual accumulated total depth. There is the potential of several more storms, some with substantial snow accumulation in future starting Friday evening. The never-ending winter continues. First 6 days of March, west Valentine this station average high 18°, Low -6°, with 5 of those 6 days going below zero. Can't imagine how cold it would be without Cows.

03/06/2019 1pm update: Latest models have shifted track of storm we may see adjusted forecast snowfall amounts later today.

Valentine well below zero this morning, low temps so far -8° west, -9° east side occurring around 5:15 am. Winter Weather Advisory in place instead of Winter Storm Warning just across SD border because of the speed of system limiting snowfall amounts. The fast-moving system will move through this evening into tomorrow morning with snow amounts of 3-5" possible. Friday night another chance of 1-3". The forecast has 33° Friday. If this comes true it will be our first day above freezing since February 13. How cold has it been? 5 of our first 6 days of March have been below zero. If we get the forecast 3-5" snowfall, ground accumulation will be at its peak for this winter averaging 9-13" throughout the immediate area. Good thing temperatures are moderating so melting will increase moving forward.

03/05/2019 Gusty winds this morning as high as 36mph east side earlier last night. 5° currently west Valentine. Our low was 1° around 1am. Image this morning near HW20 and 83 intersection Click... Cold temperatures have moderated with 20's-30's for highs expected this week with more snow in the forecast starting Wednesday evening. Watch upcoming NWS forecast, including snowfall potential tab. Another tool I've found useful are short term models. Around 9am look at the WRF-ARW latest Wed12z run found external links. This model updates twice each day around 9am and again at 9pm.

03/04/2019 Wind speeds were higher than anticipated overnight gusting to 25mph east side station with WC of -33°, west -31° at times. Current air temperature -15° west Valentine. East side -10° with wind speeds consistently higher, being wide open. Areas that were sheltered from wind dropped very low overnight, like Gordon airport before midnight was down to -22°. Low temps may drop further especially if wind subsides a little prior to sunrise. I'll update current temperature as it does.

Statement from NWS: At 5:24 CST, North Platte officially recorded a temperature of -25F, shattering the previous record of -17F set in 1960, and also beating the coldest temp EVER recorded in the month of March, which was -22F, set in 1960 and 2002!

Another NWS statement: Valentine airport recorded its 8th coldest February since the 1890s.

(My Statement) Global warming may be what we wish for, if computer models that track sun energy are correct. Sometime starting in 2030's models predict low sunspot activity lasting for decades, similar to this year bringing on another mini ice age. You won't hear about it because it doesn't follow the popular (false) narrative currently pushed until it actually starts. The suns energy has always been the main factor in climate.

03/03/2019 3:45pm update: High temperature today 3° west side but only managed 1° at wide open station on east side Valentine. Gust were up to 34mph making for brutal WC east side today. Forecast has wind staying up overnight 10-20 mph range this will prevent strong radiational cooling preventing temperatures from completely tanking, -12° is current forecast low. WC will be low again tonight with any kind of breeze. Silver lining 37° Thursday but snow in forecast Friday.

7:00am: -14° west side with WC -32 below this morning. East Valentine -14° with WC -35°.

03/02/2019 7:pm update: light snow most of day Cocorahs new .8" (.03") moisture, 7.5" total depth. Currently -1 with windchill -19 west Valentine. HRRR has Valentine cloud free between 1-2 am.

3:20pm: Windchill Warning starts tomorrow morning at 6am and goes through 10am Monday. This afternoon east side weather station located in open field is experiencing windchill of -18 at times. Temperature is 3° currently at station. Link for live data is under external links. In town west side windchill is -13 with air temperature 4°.

03/01/2019 6:50pm: Winter Weather Advisory was expanded by NWS to cover eastern Cherry and several other counties.

6:00am: Yesterday 2 different snowfalls totalling 2.8" official Cocorahs for Valentine. That additional (.9"), (0.07") moisture content of snow we picked up late yesterday and measured at midnight. Today Winter Weather Advisory starting midnight for western Cherry county, does not include Valentine. Summary for February below:

February summary west Valentine extreme and well below normal temperature Mean (12.5°), or (-14.7°) below normal, average high was (23.5°), low (2.4°). Precipitation (1.02" ) was (+.54") above normal. Snowfall occurred 11 days totalling 16.5". Monthly extremes: high (68), low (-18), with 28 days freezing or below and 13 days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2019 click for summaries 13 of the 28 days were below zero, if not for the first two very warm days, record warmth Feb.1 & 2 we would of been inside top 5 coldest dating back to 1890.

One thing to remember when looking at old records the official Valentine weather station has moved several times. Miller Field didn't get the weather station until 1950's or later. For years the station was ran by the Weather Bureau, one of the later locations was down-town ( Many here still remember ) with instruments on top of the building of all things so records are skewed from having temperature readings measured at 25' for those years. Centennial Hall in Valentine has many of the old historical Weather Bureau daily log books for viewing.

02/28/2019 11:59pm: New snowfall tonight .9" makes 2.8" daily midnight total. Monthly Feb. total 16.5", season 37.3". Next update tomorrow morning if snow continues. Looking at the monthly temperature west Valentine we are -14.7 below normal has to be one of coldest on record. I'll do a complete summary tomorrow or look here: CLICK.

6:50 am: Cocorahs Report New Snow 1.9" (.17") snowmelt, 7.3" total snow depth. Low temperatures this morning west Valentine 8°, east side dipped to 5°.

02/27/2019 7:40am: -6 west and east Valentine this morning. Single digit high temperature yesterday 9° west Valentine, forecast has around 1" of snow starting late Wednesday into Thursday early morning, with most models agreeing. The one exception is HRW WRF-ARW keeps snow in SD. This model run however is old and only runs twice a day, next updated run will be around 9am. Same model has been very good with temperatures and the arctic air having Valentine -7 to -8 this morning. Play the updated Wed12z run when available 9am, found on external links.

02/25/2019 Yesterday's low temperatures occurred around 9 pm, west Valentine bottomed at -5°, east -8° before clouds rolled in. Early this morning temperatures hanging around 0° with windchill of -11 to -15° currently. Forecast high-temperature today single digits (5°) Burr... The forecast has backed off on snow Wednesday night with Thursday evening being next best chance of 1/2". Warmest day looks like Thursday mid 20's. Coldest looks like next Saturday night Sunday morning, just how cold remains to be seen with forecast currently -9°. We are gaining almost 3 minutes of sunlight each day, 18 minutes by this same time next week so winter will end.

02/24/2019 Excellent radiational cooling early on tonight, then should cloud up around 11pm bringing rise in temperature. HRRR has temps -7 to -8°, 9-10pm then rising to around -2° by sunrise with full cloud cover.

Strong winds especially open areas like east side, experiencing steady 20+ mph with peak gust 45mph this morning producing windchill in -16 range with air temperature down to 5°. Still no real break from winter, in fact another real cold arctic outbreak looks possible early March maybe coldest of winter with ECMWF suggesting -25 March 5th in Valentine. Still early so models may change but worth noting when that extreme. Image of Euro March 5th 6am

02/23/2019 Advisory cancelled. Little or no accumulation only 20% chance expected in Valentine forecast.

Yesterday was an unusual snowfall, we started out with 19:1 ratio and ended around 7 or 8:1 ratio. Snow Ratio expresses how much volume of snow you get for a given volume of water. Example a ratio of 10:1 for every 10 inches of snowfall equals one inch of liquid water. Storm summary is below.

02/22/2019 11:59pm: For breakdown of midnight to midnight use the snow report link tab under climate/daily history. For storm total including yesterday evening 4.0" new snow, (.34") snowmelt. Total snow-depth average currently 7.0". Snow settles after falling even with extreme cold and why snowfall measurements are encouraged to be taken as soon as possible. The reason I mentioned this was something I heard (about spilled my coffee) that couldn't be further from the truth, you can't just add-up all the snowfalls, because ground is frozen solid and air temperature is so cold expecting that amount of accumulation on the ground. It doesn't work that way. Snow settles under its on weight until density reaches 30% of water no mater how cold it is. Main reason a snowboard is used so new and old can be separated with the old snow being compressed from weight of new snow you would undercount how much new actually fell. So 6" new snow on snowboard may not show up as 6" on snow stake or ground.

7:00am: Cocorahs measurements 2.1" new snow (.11") 19:1 moisture ratio. Freezing drizzle in the forecast after 2pm. Winter Weather Advisory in effect almost all of area today. Good day to avoid travel especially after 2pm when freezing drizzle could occur. Looks to dry out beyond this weekend but temperatures stay cold throughout month with 31° warmest forecast day on 28th.

02/21/2019 10:00pm: New snow 1.7", Next update will be tomorrow. Snow stake started at 3.7" today, also available is time-lapse video which updates hourly about 10 min. after the top. Not a great indicator of actual new snow because old snow will compress to certain point from weight of new snow.

11:45am: Radar echoes building to SW moving north at noon. Winter Weather Advisory eastern Cherry in place with several inches of snow expected through Friday evening. Final lows -9° west Valentine, -11° east side.

Depending on which model you look at (linked eternal links) light snow moves in this evening between 5 and 8pm. HRRR is the later time. *Radar is already picking up snow moving up so my confidence is low on HRRR start time currently.

02/20/2019 6:55am: Still a few flakes with air temperature currently 9°. Cocorahs report 2.8" new snow total on snowboard, .09" moisture content. This has most likely settled some being the snow is so light, settles fast with 31:1 ratio which previously was running around 40:1 when snow started. These last 2 snows are the lowest water content events in the 5 winters I've done this in Valentine. Typical 15:1 to 17:1 is what we see.

02/19/2019 10:30pm: 1.2" new snow, light snow falling.

Looking at some of the long-range models this evening there is a lot of snow and cold ahead. Parts of eastern Nebraska are especially being hit hard with snow in the 2-foot range of accumulation. This goes all the way into March. I'm thinking lack of sunspot activity is playing a major roll this winter. Some scientist have been predicting a mini ice-age by the 2030's similar to the Maunder minimum a 70-year period between 1645 and 1715. Normally there is a 11 year cycle of low activity which we are in currently, but in about 15 years these scientist predict a long term reduction in sunspot activity bringing on long cold winters for several decades, that should be fun.

2:30am: Down to -12° both east and west stations early this morning, light wind with very thin veil of high clouds visible in distance may prevent further temperature drop. Radar shows snow echoes around 40 miles to south. Added the HRRR model to external links, which updates hourly using drop-down for latest run. While there you can select 10:1 ratio or the Kuchera ratio which is high at times.

02/18/2019 8:10am: Low temperature came in after sunrise 8:07am at -8° west Valentine, east side of town warmer at -5°. Had it cleared off few hours earlier last night we would be flirting with negative mid teens this morning.

6:00am: Light snow flurries finally ended overnight. Valentine is on edge of cloud cover but clearing off with temperature dropping below zero west Valentine and likely to continue dropping through sunrise.

02/17/2019 9:00pm: Still getting light flurries, it will end eventually. Temperature down to 6° with windchill -10°. FYI HRRR model has clouds clearing out just before sunrise tomorrow morning, most others don't. Forecast leans toward conditions to stay cloudy so bottoming out around 0° vs -9° HRRR should it clear off. Western Cherry will be mostly clear and gets below zero most areas.

3:00pm:Storm total 4" (.16") moisture, temperature has dropped to 11° with windchill -5 currently. Still light snow with gusty winds at times. Peak gust this afternoon west Valentine 31 mph, east side 32 mph. Ground snow depth has shifted with the fluffy light snow and wind. Drifted areas getting deeper other areas getting less.

Great images coming from snowplow tracker. Here is snowplow coming into Valentine, HW12 corner of Hospital and High School. "click for image"

9:00am: 3.7" storm total. Snow stake is no longer accurate, stuck at 4" since 1am and dropping with the wind. But the drift behind it is increasing. Actual total depth 5.2". Winds gusting to 25 mph, air temperature 8°. Forecast has potential 1" additional today.

02/15/2019 7:00pm: New Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for Saturday. Today's Cocorahs snow total 1.8" (0.13") snowmelt.

Winter weather advisory continues this morning with 1-3" snow possible, however heaviest areas of snow expected today have shifted south and west of Valentine. The arctic air had dug a little further south which I noted yesterday (since deleted) may have impact where heaviest snowfall occurs. The models started correcting late yesterday, now putting heaviest snowfall between Mullen, Thedford to Broken Bow where 4" plus could fall.

Don't forget about the snow plow tracker. Linked on external links. Getting some good images this morning.

02/14/2019 9:30pm: Temperature currently down to 3° west, 2° east side Valentine. Clouds are starting to move in, so this may be as cold as it gets tonight. Latest model run HRW WRF-ARW just finished. If you hate snow you may like, take a look from latest run, moisture content 0.1" . This isn't official or part of the forecast and may be wrong. Unfortunately if you want snow its been right more than wrong since I started watching about a month ago. On a high note for snow lovers even if we only get an inch there's more snow in the forecast for Saturday.

7:35am: Down to 4° with windchill -15°, wind gust this morning approaching 30 mph. Models are struggling again with how cold the arctic air is.

Winter Weather Advisory issued by NWS. Forecaster confidence is high so they issued advisory early with all models in agreement 2-4" is likely for Valentine Friday, with 1-3" additional Saturday and another 1-2" Saturday night. Near the SD border this first snow Friday could actually be heavier so additional statements could be issued later by NWS. The HRW WRF-ARW model mentioned below yesterday 00z run also agrees for Friday 3.2" using (10:1) with 0.3" moisture could be as high as 6" with the arctic air.

02/13/2019 11am : Looking at a few model runs we may actually get more than our typical half inch of snow on Friday. Both NAM and Canadian are suggesting several inches. Most interested in the next HRW WRF-ARW (about 10pm) for confirmation, this model normally doesn't over extend snowfall amounts for our area. Model linked on external links look for Thursday 00z run this evening. The official NWS forecast also has 2-4" snow possible Friday.

Today's forecast is for 50's, with rest of 7 day below normal temperatures with snow chances on Friday and Saturday, mixed in are several days of near or below zero lows. This February is on track with last years very cold February, only thing missing is snow. Last year we had 10.5" total for month, so far this month 1".

02/12/2019 -1 west Valentine, 0° east side this morning. We get a nice one day warm-up this Wednesday near (50°), before we go back into the deep freeze. Enjoy!

02/10/2019 7:00am: Light snow, 2° this morning Valentine. -12 to -17 windchill east side.

02/09/2019 Colder this afternoon than expected for Bull Bash. 3:15pm and it's already down to 15° with nasty windchill 3°.

02/08/2019 5:15am : Coldest morning this winter after several very cold days. -17 to -19 currently west to east side of town, with still over 2 hours before sunrise. Very light wind this morning. Temperatures recover today with 20's in the forecast before another glancing shot of arctic air due Saturday evening into Sunday with high temperature low teens again. Bull Bash Saturday should enjoy the best weather for some time with high temperature near 30°.

02/07/2019 5am: Currently -5° both east and west Valentine. Windchill -30 east side, -25° in town west Valentine. Total 24 hr. snow accumulation Cocorahs report. 0.6" new snow, .03" moisture content. We may drop a couple more degrees this morning lowering windchill even more around sunrise. Some of the colder air is filtering in this morning so another very cold day near or below zero for high temperature.

Tomorrow morning is most likely the coldest of the winter. Models are all over the place, -2 to -17 with Canadian sticking to its guns. The model performing well with this arctic air has been the linked HRW WRF-ARW, very close with the official forecast -11 to -12°.

02/06/2019 6:40pm: Temperature -0° both east and west Valentine, with windchill currently -19° to -23°. Light snow continues with heavier bands starting to fill in and moving closer to area.

02/05/2019 5pm: Winter weather advisory issued by NWS. Snowfall being arctic variety with anticipated very low windchills and blowing snow causing reduced visibility.

Stayed above zero last night coming in at 1° for a low temperature both east and west Valentine. Forecasters have backed off on ideas of much snow with this system similar to previous where most energy stayed in SD. German and Canadian models sticking with -20 for Friday morning. Euro has also lowered to -15°.

02/04/2019 5:45pm: Snowfall potential link has updated. Visit the NWS link on same page for more detailed information.

3:30pm: High temperature west and east Valentine 10° so far today. Forecast discussion has mention of a possible snow event development later in week. Still some uncertainty so watch for upcoming NWS forecast updates. Earlier several models were showing some extreme cold Thursday, still cold but not -20's cold. Couple models still holding on to near -20 Friday morning are German, Canadian standards.

Very cold this morning, -1° low so far with windchills observed coldest of this winter -17 west to -24 below east Valentine. We may struggle reaching teens today with moderation tomorrow 20's but in general a very cold week ahead. Worth mentioning most models not just a couple like yesterday are suggesting some extreme cold Thursday with sub-zero highs and approaching -20's for low. Coldest model German standard suggest -27° with the Euro (ECMWF) coming in at -20°. Model forecast link, Select model top of graph. Best viewed with ad blocker on... If we get any snow cover prior will be determining factor just how cold. NWS forecast has potential 2" this week with models suggesting between 2-3 tenths moisture which could equate to little more but we know how bad models have been overestimating snowfall this winter, at least for Valentine area.

Little off subject, you may remember all the El Nino talk for this winter and how they were 85% sure it would develop. Never developed, so best chance is a weak spring El Nino about 65% is what they say. Spring El Nino's have little impact on global climate.

02/03/2019 10:30pm: Arctic air continues filtering in. Current temperature 7°, windchill -10° west Valentine. Tonight's low expected to bottom around 3°.

12:40pm: 22°, windchill 13° The arctic air and stratus has seeped in much sooner (12 hours) than expected. Looking at SD temps just north are upper teens and levelling off as has Valentine at 22°. Radar returns are staying west of area. One of the forecasters mentioned possibility of this happening (315 PM CST Sat Feb 2 2019) discussion.

Record high yesterday breaking 128 year old record of 66°. This station west Valentine 68°, east side recorded 69°. Big change starting this evening as arctic air moves in and continues next 7 days or longer with below normal temperatures. Mixed in are chances of snow. Keep an eye on NWS forecast for details.

02/01/2019 January summary west Valentine Slightly above normal with Mean temperature (24.2°), or (+0.6°) above normal, average high was (36), low (14). Precipitation (0.28" ) was (+.02") above normal. Snowfall occurred 7 times totalling 3.3". Monthly extremes: high (56), low (-10), with 30 days freezing or below and 4 days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2019 click for summaries

01/30/2019 With clouds overnight east Valentine managed -13, west -10. Winds are light this morning. 50's in forecast Friday, Saturday and cools back into teens by Tuesday with potential storm toward end of 7 day.

01/29/2019 9:15pm : Currently -5° west, -6 east Valentine with windchill -17 range. IR satellite is showing clouds starting to reach Nebraska border.

01/28/2019 8:30pm : Seeing some light snow developing around area. Dusting to a few tenths possible.

1:00pm Update: Snow currently light wind blown with sun peeking through. Manual moisture melt .02" moisture and 0.3" new snow.

01/26/2019 Storm total Cocorahs 1.6" new snow, snowmelt .11". Looking at radar echoes persistent redevelopment looks likely.

01/24/2019 8:30am: 2° this morning windchill -16° west Valentine, -20° east side. In extended looks like shots of arctic air through end of month. Some models spread the arctic air more westward, most keep main core of cold east of area with only glancing blows.

01/23/2019 Added Nebraska snow plow tracker link under External links tab. Now you can locate all State snow plows and see visual of road conditions.

01/22/2019 10:15am update: Light snow has picked up, starting to see areas of blowing snow, 14° with windchill -3°. Radar isn't picking up the light snow well, current stateline image.

*Added a couple model forecast loops to external links: After loading press the play button. You can position mouse over area of interest during loop (Valentine coordinates 42.86 -100.55). At upper left side of page, under forecast hour you can select latest run.

01/20/2019 Temperature jumped up to (36°) for few minutes last night as light precipitation moved through. Wind has shifted back to the NE as the arctic air is filtering back in. Geographically Valentine forecast are challenging with arctic air moving back and forth.

01/19/2019 Clouds cleared off overnight. Temperatures -6° east, -5° west Valentine, Sparks Mesonet at 7am -6°. The airport ASOS as expected is warmer.

Updated forecast has possibility of 1-2" snow Monday night with blowing snow potential, plus another shot of arctic air moving in Thursday just before the ice tournament next Saturday. Looking at the moon surrounded by ice crystals, sunrise may produce a nice sundog.

01/18/2019 9:50pm update: Getting some light snow again, temperatures 5° both east and west Valentine. Sparks Mesonet was down to 4° at 9pm, while Merritt was at 6°. Many are concerned about the ice conditions for the big Merritt ice tournament coming up January 26th.

4:40pm update: .05" total moisture. 0.6" new today on snowboard. Light snow continues to fall with arctic air squeezing out moisture.

9:30am update: Light snow started west Valentine around 6:30am. Currently ended, With the extended freezing fog from yesterday and last night surfaces will be slick. Trees, fences around Valentine are covered with thick hoarfrost. click for image ... West Valentine roads have light cover of snow, this is front of house on 3rd St.

01/16/2019 4:35pm update: Freezing mist/drizzle occurred with light snow currently, surfaces have layer of thin ice.

01/15/2019 Dense ice fog overnight leaving a layer of hoarfrost, cleared up just after midnight. Winter weather returns starting this Friday with 1 to 3 inches new snow possible.

01/12/2019 Hoarfrost this morning with the arctic air and light mist. Temperature continues to slowly drop this morning, currently 18° at 10:44am. Sparks Mesonet station, located 19 miles NE was down to 16° at 10am. Hourly Mesonet link is lower left under external links.

01/08/2019 Light rain and dusting of snow overnight 0.02" moisture.

01/01/2019 December summary west Valentine Above normal with Mean temperature (25.2°), or (+1.4°) above normal, average high was (38), low (14). Precipitation (1.09" ) was (+.72") above normal. Snowfall occurred 5 times totalling 11". Monthly extremes: high (55), low (-10), with 31 days freezing or below and 4 days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

Winds stayed up last night only recently slowed, so didn't get the radiational cooling expected. -8 below has been the low so far. Forecast server appears back up.

Government server error with forecast, Getting BAD Gateway 502 error.

12/31/2018 8:25pm update: Forecast low by NWS is now -14. Air temperature is very cold when wind is blowing this hard and near zero... Windchill is running near -20. When or if wind stops temperature will plummet tonight. Last New Year we went down into -20's, not a prediction just saying it does happen around here. That's how Valentine gets all those -20's this time of year. Happy New year all.

5pm update: Snow light but still blowing, 3° everywhere but airport 5°. (.08") snowmelt west side town today estimated 2" new snow using NOAA snowmelt chart which uses temperature to calculate snowfall.

12:50pm update: Driving conditions very low visibility 50-100 yards this is 3rd street, middle school on left.. What a couple inches of snow can do with 40mph winds. snow drift.

Arctic air has arrived with gusty winds and light snowfall. Coldest airmass of winter season so far, with single digit air just north of Valentine moving south this morning. Click on area observations Magpie Creek and Martin Airport (8°).

12/29/2018 Excellent radiational cooling for ice making tonight with -10° west side and -13° east side so far. Will update later if it dips any lower toward sunrise.

12/28/2018 6am update: Since midnight another .01 moisture of snowmelt making storm total .09 or approximate 2.3" powdery snowfall based on air temperature and using NOAA snowmelt guideline. Winds have lightened up only slightly from yesterday and still gusting 48mph east Valentine station and 40mph in town overnight. Air temperature currently 11.4° both east and west Valentine. Windchill is ranging between -6 to -11 below currently. Temperatures expected to bottom around 8° this morning and rise to 15° this afternoon both official forecast and RAP model suggest.

12/27/2018 12am update: Light snow and wind continues. At 11pm .08" total moisture 2" new snow. Will update snowmelt total in morning as light snow continues.

12:20pm update: Radar is showing large area of snow working back west of HW83, snow has picked up in Valentine with low visibility 100 yards at times. Temperatures still bitter cold 12° windchill -5, after low 10° with high winds near 38 mph.

4:45am Update: Winter Storm Warning dropped by NWS with Advisory in place. Bitter cold this morning with windchill below zero -3 and currently wind is howling and just peaked at 42 mph here at west Valentine, 44 mph east side, 45 mph at airport. FYI RAP unofficial forecast has low this morning around 11° and high temperature already reached at midnight and peaking around 15° today so the air is very cold.

Completed snowmelt from yesterday for Cocorahs report .12 was actual 24 hour total including light rain/mist and yesterdays 7am report vs .11 reported on automatic. 0.8" was total snowfall with 0.5" current depth.

12/26/2018 8:15pm Update: Colder air is starting to filter in from NW.

4pm Update: North Platte NWS has adjusted down snow amounts into 6-8" range for Valentine area.

FYI, not official, some models are trending heavy snow bands well east of HW83 leaving Valentine out of any significant accumulation.

12/25/2018 NWS has issued Winter Storm Warning, for powerful winter storm. Precipitation can start late tonight 50% and expected to end Friday with heaviest amounts Wednesday night and Thursday.

12/12/2018 Light rain/snow mix so far this evening. Still running above freezing 34° at 10:30pm.

12/11/2018 Some of the forecast models underestimated the snow cover combined with low sun angle, temperatures only managed to reach above freezing for 2 1/2 hours yesterday. With initial melting, settling done days ago and now frozen ground, very little snow/ice melt occurred yesterday. We should have better luck moving ahead with 40's in forecast starting Friday. 6am update: Airport and west Valentine so far have been down to 11°, east Valentine 9°. Final lows can come in just after sunrise but with clouds moving in may have already bottomed out.

12/10/2018 After this morning, the forecast is showing warm-up with above normals mixed in through this coming weekend. Slight chance of precip. Wednesday. Normals for today are H-37°, L-12°. Update 8am: Low's this morning East side 5°, airport 3°, West side this station 7°.

12/08/2018 First below zero's of meteorological winter. Conditions were just right with strong radiational cooling, snowpack, clear sky, and light wind. Coldest -5° at the east side station and just barely below 0° was west side at -.1. The airport has reported -4.

12/07/2018 9:05pm update: Looks like temperatures are threatening to go below zero tonight under calm winds clear sky. East Valentine station already at 2° same with the airport. Warmer on the west side this station currently 8°. Starting to see ice fog developing on south camera.

12/06/2018 The coldest day of the week with forecast high 21°, currently 17° at 10:30 am and single-digit windchill. Looking ahead next 7 days temperatures closer to normal after the weekend. Normals for this date Valentine are H-38°, L-13°.

12/02/2018 Flurries this morning with temperature on slow decline since midnight. 21.6F at 10:30am.

12/01/2018 Update: 9:40pm Storm Summary. Total snow accumulation came in below expected due to warm temps that lingered. Total snow 6", moisture (.99") including yesterdays rainfall. There was enough moisture to support 10-11" had it not been for extended warm period. Will have monthly November summary done tomorrow and insert below. Looking at the forecast over next 7 days below normal temperatures with highs 20's to low 30's and lows dipping into single digits at least once. Light snow has started again will update tomorrow if needed.

November summary west Valentine Below normal with Mean temperature (32.2°), or (-2.3°) below normal, average high was (45.5), low (22.0). Precipitation (.89" ) was (+.24") above normal. Snowfall occurred 3 times totalling 2.2". Monthly extremes: high (72), low (6), with 27 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

11/30/2018 10pm:Light rain 35° (.07") so far. Started GR3 Doppler radar feed under Radar/Satellite tab.

6pm: Afternoon update by NWS has backed off some on snow totals with wintry mix ( freezing rain and sleet) may continue on longer by a couple hours reducing several inches of snowfall. Changeover to all snow time frame will be determining factor on totals.

6am:Snowfall potential by NWS has been updated. Check the potential tab, current range early this morning is 12-18" with least expected amount updated now 10". Other than the blizzard last April (11") this may end up as one of the bigger snows in several years. As we know this time of year even a couple inches tends to stick around with the short days and low sun angle.

FYI: NOAA weather radio stream feed back up after Wednesday power outage, forgot to restart.

Winter Storm Warning has been issued by NWS Forecast Office North Platte. Stay turned to official NWS forecast as winter storm approaches should updates be needed. For more details on snowfall go here and click on probabilistic tab. It's also linked with the Snow Potential tab on this website.

11/28/2018 Winter storm watch has been issued by NWS impacting area Friday night through Saturday night. Stay tuned to NOAA weather radio and NWS forecast as winter event gets closer.

South camera stopped working today for unknown reason and now working again. Will have replacement available Friday if it continues to fail.

11/24/2018 1.7" new snow. Moisture total (.23) .08 fell as rain, .15 snow

4PM update: Snow/rain mix started with temperature 34.7° west Valentine. This will soon turn all snow as temperatures drop. (.07) fell as rain so far.

11/23/2018 Update 9:30 pm. NWS Winter Storm Watch has been dropped, Winter Weather Advisory now in place.

The NWS forecast discussion, confidence for upcoming winter storm has risen with all models tracking together. Winds 35+ mph and heavy snow possible now looking at 3-5". Stay tuned to NOAA Radio and NWS forecast for updates.

11/22/2018 Very warm Thanksgiving day in forecast with upper 60's. Looks like chance of snow Saturday night. Forecaster confidence currently low on amounts at this time because of timing on rain to snow change over and speed of system. Generally 2-3" being forecast currently. Watch Snowfall Potential tab and updated forecast as storm approaches.

11/20/2018 Ice Fog developed around 1AM, temperature low 20's.

11/13/2018 Snowfall Potential map for North Platte FCO is working again. Changed default location to North Platte.

Soil has frozen (31.5°) at 4" depth today measured 8am. The shallow depth fluctuates mornings coldest to heat of day warmest while the deeper sensors continue trending in direction of season. Soil temperature history can be found under Climate/Daily History tab. Last November was abnormally warm (+4) vs this year (-4) so soil temperatures are running 5-6° lower now vs same time a year ago.

11/12/2018 Light snow gusty winds near (30mph) as Arctic front moved through overnight, trace to tenth inch snow with a few flakes still this morning. 6am 16° with cold windchill near 4° early this morning. High temperature stays below freezing today with forecast 26° and getting into single digits tonight (9°). Much warmer with Pacific air, 60° Wednesday. Normals this time of year High-50, Low-23.

11/09/2018 7:35AM update: Temperatures currently 6° in Valentine with windchills as low as -13° at east side the more open location. To our NE few miles the Sparks Mesonet station was reporting 5° at 7am. Our High temperature for the day already occurred at 1am 24°.

Arctic front moved though around 3:35am bringing snow showers and very gusty winds... 43mph west Valentine, 40mph airport, 39mph East side.

11/08/2018 Snow potential updated Forecast from earlier has decreased to less than 1" around Valentine.

11/05/2018 Another rain overnight totals including prior to midnight (.18) west side, (.20) east. Looking at future forecast this morning, winter like temperatures ahead with highs near or below freezing by Friday. Only mention of snow is chance on Thursday.

11/03/2018 Cold rain overnight (.15) 6AM both east west Valentine. NWS gusty winds western Cherry county and most of western Nebraska. No wind advisory currently for eastern Cherry. 30-40% chance precipitation tonight turning to snow late. No accumulation mentions.

11/02/2018 Few hundredths moisture (rain) around the area last night breaking the long stretch of no moisture. 60% chance again tonight, followed by lower chances through Monday.

11/01/2018 12:pm update: RAP short range model shows Valentine finally receiving some rain, (.05) or so, ending our 18 day dry spell. click for RAP outlook over next 20 hours. Beyond that NWS forecast has 60% chance rain Friday evening for even better chance.

October summary west Valentine Below normal with Mean temperature (44.1°), or (-4.4°) below normal, average high was (58.7), low (32.3). Precipitation ( 1.92" ) was (+.48") above normal and all falling early in month. Snowfall occurred twice totalling 4.2". Monthly extremes: high (83), low (13), with 15 days freezing or below was most recorded for October since station startup in June 2014. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

10/14/2018 2:30pm update: Thought we would melt more snow today but with clouds and wind temperature still 27° at 2pm. Our high temperature occurred at midnight 30°, now thinking we may not reach the midnight reading unless cloudstence freezes with most leaves now off trees. click for complete look After a wet October start we are now 14 days without more than a trace of moisture.

10/19/2018 Added East and West Valentine WS back with Weather Underground which includes live data and useful graphs. Links are found External/links east or west. Those with phone apps are now able to link stations through WU once again for near realtime conditions using WU app. FYI East side weather station near golf course is reporting again. Pointed antenna toward tower but not locked down or tuned so images and data may sometime hang. This upcoming week may have another short outage while permanently mounted. Link for station data found at External links "East Valentine".

6:00am update: 3.1" new snow West Valentine image, (.29") total moisture. NWS issued Winter Weather Advisory which includes Eastern Cherry and Valentine. Roads are snow covered 5am inside Valentine. Ground temperature still above freezing (40°) this morning at 4" depth so settling and melting should occur rapidly today. (If we get sun which we haven't at 1pm)

Testing of the MeteoShields this is what the temperatures look like vs the AC powered fan aspirated shield this morning....Top shield FARS is the official shield used for station and warmest by few tenths because it draws larger air sample and mixes vs the passive shields.. Image shield comparison...... FYI East Valentine station has been logging in sending weather data even though wireless antenna is down for roof work. This upcoming week antenna will be installed correctly and station transmitting ever 5 minutes along with camera images.

10/12/2018 East Valentine weather station and cameras will be down extended period and will go back online sometime next week. Wireless antenna removed for roof project. Removed images from main page temporarily until internet service is restored.

10/10/2018 Update 7:25am: Light snow 1.1" accumulation image, 32° west and east Valentine while Airport as usual +2°.

10/09/2018 So much for fall...Winter Storm warning... issued by NWS FCO North Platte 3-6" possible with locally higher amounts over higher elevation of Sandhills. Forecast is for rain changing over to snow around 7pm central. FYI airport ASOS may struggle to reach freezing throughout much of event, per last check (1720) it was running +2° above both east & west Valentine CWOP stations along with COOP thermometer in town. 39 vs 37°. Sign of the times. Stay safe and avoid travel if possible this evening.

10/08/2018 Winter Weather Advisory has been issued by North Platte NWS office for Valentine area Potential image * WHEN...From 4 PM CDT /3 PM MDT/ Tuesday to 9 AM CDT /8 AM MDT/Wednesday.* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Plan on slippery road conditions,especially Tuesday night. Expect reduced visibilities at times.....The snowfall potential link out of North Platte isn't working yet. If you select South Dakota Aberdeen it is currently working.

7pm update: Cold rain the last two days with .81" total so far west Valentine. Ground soil temperature west Valentine 48° at 4" depth so upcoming potential snowfall should melt rather quickly. Soil temperature compared to Oct.6 2016 is 5° cooler this year due to recent cold rain.

10/06/2018 Update 7:50am, Second freeze this morning, harder this time and more widespread. East side Valentine link near Golf course low has been 24°, here on west side town slightly higher elevation (30 feet) 26° so far this morning. Anyone wanting to track freeze data this season link is here and found under climate /history tab. Stretch of wet weather coming up over next 7 days with some snow wording included.

10/04/2018 Update 7:30am: Light rain with temperature hovering just above freezing (33°), no ice build-up currently. East side station Cocorahs observer also reporting no ice build-up where temperature is 32.4°. First Freeze overnight with West and East stations Valentine reaching 32° 1-1:30am and staying around 30° majority of night. Forecast today chilly with high around 42° & 80% chance of rain.

10/03/2018 Peak gust so far today in town west side 51 MPH, Airport 58 MPH, East side Valentine station 52 MPH. This was at wind-shift with colder air from NW as front moves into area.

10/01/2018 At 6:00am some light drizzle occurred overnight (.03") . Radar showing some light showers hugging SD border and working eastward toward Valentine area. May or may not hold together over next hour or so. Will turn the local Doppler image on as it approaches. Found under radar/satellite tab.

September summary west Valentine Above normal with Mean temperature (63.3°), or (+1°) of normal, average high was (75.5), low (53.2). Precipitation ( 2.23" ) was (+.59") above normal for month. Monthly extremes: high (96.4), low (35), 4 days above 90°, with 0 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

09/26/2018 Scattered frost west Valentine this morning, roofs, some grass and vehicle surfaces. Low was 35° on west side. Frost

09/25/2018 6:00am update. Rain overnight and some thunder (.77") currently west side Valentine, (.74) east side. Rain possible 80% mainly before 10am.

Update:3pm Frost advisory extended all Cherry county for early Wednesday morning. Covering tender plants advised. Freeze warning now extended for Sheridan county. Average first freeze (32°) for Valentine September 28 looks on schedule for some tonight especially the colder spots. Historical Freeze data provided by Crop Watch & High Plains Regional Climate Center (1896-2012) data. Click average freeze dates.

09/20/2018 Light to moderate rain overnight currently has stopped 5:10am. Radar shows more light showers working toward Valentine with showers expected through about 3pm. 2 day storm totals at 5am: west Valentine (1.07"), east side automatic gauge south of city golf course (1.16").

09/19/2018 4PM update: Thunderstorm activity currently ended. Light mist off and on with occasional embedded rain shower not showing on radar. Around town rain totals so far: (.39") west Valentine, (.46") east side automatic, (.41") airport. More activity expected tonight with surface cold front with possible hail.

Some info on east side and west stations: East side is using the passive Barani Design MeteoShield Professional shield. This open unobstructed location has enough air flow the fan aspirated shield isn't required. In town this station after testing for a month its been determined air flow isn't sufficient all the time for passive shield so fan aspirated radiation shield (FARS) is still in use. Long term testing will continue of the Barani shields.

09/18/2018 Why does it look so dry when we are over 6" above normal on year? To summarize we've only had 2 rains above .01 totalling 2" at this station west Valentine since end of July. The camera on weather instruments shows how dry it is with area naturally watered.

09/15/2018 Dense fog this morning. Areas of visibility less than 100 feet.

09/06/2018 Cool morning with airport and east side Valentine 48°, west side this station 50°. Not much happening weather-wise last 3 weeks except for nip in the air. Paper wasp are starting to show up, with queens looking for place to winter.

09/01/2018 August summary west Valentine below normal with Mean temperature (70.3°), or (-2.5°) of normal, average high was (84.5), low (57). Precipitation was near normal ( 2.11" ) at (-.07") for month. Monthly extremes: high (98), low (42), 11 days above 90°, with 0 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

08/29/2018 Cool morning, 42° both east and west Valentine before clouds moved in.

08/24/2018 Anemometer move complete. Thanks to Neil's Tree Service & Lawn Care. Mounted on pole approximately 60' south and 30' tall. This should give better wind exposure being farther away from trees with solid mount providing better accuracy.

08/22/2018 Both east and west Valentine stations solar shield/screen are now using the new helical design Barani Design MeteoShield Professional The company Barani Design Technologies started with development of Formula race cars and later wind turbines. Barani Design has now entered the civil aviation ground meteorological station development arena. I'm currently testing for Barani Design both Professional and standard design shields long term against Davis fan aspirated 7755 and another gilled shield 7714. Testing includes data logging shield level wind data, solar, temperature.

08/22/2018 Added State Roundup link under almanac tab State Roundup This is hourly only, near top of hour.

08/16/2018 Here are some Doppler estimates of rainfall. Hint it usually over estimates but you can still see where heaviest rains fell. Regional estimate, and Local estimate.

08/15/2018 10:00 pm update: Currently clear skies, 60° with 100% humidity, radar returns all east and south of Valentine. Rain totals today west Valentine (1.71") with heaviest downpour 4" per hr. rate (see graphs page) coming around 6:25 pm, airport report is always a mystery? With 24 hr saying 1.52" but 1.42" as new record maybe they end record at 6pm instead of midnight? Never really figured it out, click for REPORT. , Radio station announcer reported coop gauge (1.76"), east side near golf course (1.55") automatic rain gauge. Official Cocorahs on east side 1.59".

6:30 pm update: Heavy downpour mainly north side of town currently reaching almost 4" per hour rate. Yearly rain total now at 22.82" west Valentine, Airport at

First substantial August thunderstorms with (.80) west Valentine, (.77) airport, (.72) far east side automatic gauge. More rain is few minutes away and mention of redevelopment later this evening. Will update totals after it stops. Don't forget for local look at radar GR3 Level-3 radar LINK. Will be active during storms only.

08/11/2018 Uncomfortably warm day for outdoor activities at Cherry County Fair and Rodeo. Highs around town west side 95°, east 96° and airport 97°.

08/09/2018 (Updated Analyses) Field test very near airport ASOS yesterday for temperature comparison. ASOS did surprisingly well with high temperature down to the tenth of degree. Low temperature however was warmer on airport ASOS by 1.4° vs test thermometer. Airport does display warmer daytime vs in town by average 2° (summer) with heavy in town vegetation, unlike the big cities with large amount's of concrete, steel causing reverse of heat island is best guess. You see same thing in orchard areas where it cools down substantially from surrounding areas. The one however that sticks out is east side weather station with similar geography wide open, no trees, watered grass etc. also reads lower than airport 1-2°... During the 1 day test the low temperature as reported ran above certified test thermometer, reason is unclear. Had the high temperature been off leads one to believe its just an calibration issue, 'but it wasn't off'. A possibility but unlikely because test thermometer was also shielded is nocturnal radiative cooling played a role being it was a calm clear night. The other more likely possibility is the test thermometers very rapid response rate to temperature change, higher than the airport ASOS ability to change. But! Even if the case, 1.4° is substantial difference so no conclusive reason for the large low temperature difference. Results of field test click here.

08/03/2018 Added Doppler GR3, Level3 radar link for primarily local Valentine area, whatever user looks at will be displayed on internet feed. This is Doppler radar software uploading images to website. FYI may not keep on all the time it's just using bandwidth if nothing is happening. Newest image will update if in play mode. Reload page also works shows latest still image 10/10. Link is under Radar/satellite tab. GR3 Level-3 radar LINK.

08/02/2018 July summary was slightly below normal with Mean temperature (74.0°), or (-.5°) of normal, average high was (86), low (63). Precipitation was well above normal again (+ 2.66 ) with (5.87") total for month. Monthly extremes: high (99), low (52) with 0 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries Valentine has already exceeded it's yearly average rainfall. Airport came in above normal both temperatures and precipitation.

07/30/2018 Thunderstorm early this morning with heavy rain reaching 4.2" per hour rate for few minutes... 24 hour Rain totals..... (.24) west Valentine... (.30") east side automatic... east side official Cocorahs (.34")... airport (.18). Beyond today no mention of rain with only slight chance Saturday, always subject to change with forecast models. Temperatures back into 90's later in week.

07/27/2018 Rain amounts from TS west Valentine .24", airport .22", far east side near golf course only .09". I think Valentine dodged a bullet on this one with storm sliding just west of town, storm intensity peaked about 12 miles SSW with very large area of hail.

5:20pm UPDATE: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING just issued for Valentine area. Hail is showing on Doppler radar, small but nasty looking thunderstorm dropping out of north again. Update 6:10 PM TS is SW of Valentine updated image here, looking really nasty as hail ball has increased Hail is pink, Click for image.

07/25/2018 Another round of showers & some thunder early hours. This station west (.43"), east (.39"), with airport leading again with (.55"). Tiki torch availability running low around town with perfect mosquito breeding weather. Next good chance rain coming Friday and Friday night 60% with Saturday 30%.

07/22/2018 Update 9:14PM: Three different rain events today since midnight, west Valentine (.97"). Airport (1.00"), east Valentine (.94"). Will update rain totals if they change. Looking at radar the surface trough is slowly moving east and clear of immediate Valentine area and taking thunderstorms with it.

8:30 PM...Another TS from north working and building this direction, bigger with hail. Click for image.

07/21/2018 3.5 magnitude Earthquake struck 10 miles north of Valentine 2:11am, shaking and waking many including barking dogs, rattling shelves and beds. I could hear it first thinking it was large gust of wind before the house shook.... Odd experience.

07/18/2018 Some information for weather geeks you might find interesting on last storm. difference in rain gauges, this was a very wind driven storm. Not surprising the NWS style 8" diameter gauge caught the most with the tipping buckets unable to keep up even at 4" per hour calibration. Rainfall rate of 18" per hour was recorded. Click for graph of high rain rate.

4" diameter cocorahs with modified extra deep funnel for hail catching.......2.13": 8" diameter NWS style made by Novalynx ..2.21": TE 8" tipping bucket rain gauge calibrated at 4" per hour rate..2.03": Rainwise 111 8" tipping bucket calibrated at 4" per hour rate..2.02"

07/16/2018 Updated images again on 18th: Major thunderstorm with high winds uprooting 2 foot diameter trees and blowing power line down. Peak wind this station recorded 60 mph behind a group of large trees but estimate 75-80 mph wind in area. Airport recorded gust 74 mph. This was some of trees down in area most west of main (HW83) with exception of one 1 block east on 3rd St. in Valentine, click for few images. clink for large tree..., snapped..., uprooted and snapped..., uprooted.... clink for large tree on house 1 block east of main... Power went out west side for 2 hours while power line was restored (Good job by city workers in adverse conditions). (2.13") total morning update from CoCorahs gauge. 8" SRG manual (2.21") total rain (adjusted website to Cocorahs) . East Valentine automatic gauge picked up 1.74", Airport 1.73". Estimated Doppler radar storm totals at midnight red and pink the heaviest. click for rainfall totals

2 cameras are down I'll trouble shoot tomorrow possibly rain damage from driven rain but not sure. Something I've noticed since returning to Valentine storms during July dropping out of north WATCHOUT they carry lots of wind. The 30' anemometer flag pole was bent so far over I thought it was going to break so was surprised it recorded only 60 mph gust and that might be why. Need to guy wire keeping it up straight. (Next project).

07/14/2018 1:20 PM update: Cold front has been slowly pushing east with a light band of rain showers approaching Valentine area.

07/13/2018 Storm update: Rainfall amounts west Valentine 1.77", Airport 2.18", East Valentine located just south of golf course 1.64" automatic gauge, some 100 yards east official Cocorahs gauge 1.68". Also airport set a daily record for date with 1.87" at midnight.

FYI changed humidity/temperature sensor west Valentine just before rain yesterday. Also new sensor install complete today at east Valentine station. I'll be changing these out in spring next year as yearly maintenance.

07/12/2018 Good chance for heavy rain today. July typically doesn't get many rain days compared to May and June but when it comes can be heavy. 1"+ possible with storms later today and night with slight chance severe weather which would include large hail and wind.

07/11/2018 Final high temperatures west Valentine 99.5°. East Valentine just south of golf course 100.0°. Not much in heat index increase with dew points around 58° during peak of heat. Rain still in forecast Thursday night increased to 80% so more confidence.

Valentine has been upgraded to Slight Risk severe weather for Thursday, #2 on 0-5 scale. Somehow slight doesn't seem very likely even though it's above marginal. Tomatoes are turning red so expect hail.

07/01/2018 June summary this station. Temperatures above normal, Mean temperature (70.1°), or (+2.6°) above normal, average high was (82.8 ), low (58.6). Precipitation was well above normal (+ 2.41 ) with (5.97") total for month. Monthly extremes: high (100), low (44) with 0 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries More information below on wet June...

East Valentine Cocorahs monthly rain total ended up with: Station NE-CH-3 June total (6.55") and west side NE-CH-1 (5.98")...In contrast the Brownlee cher013 (Nebraska Rain site) some 36 miles south only reported a monthly total of (2.83") ? on possible missing data. Going west Cody 8.2 SSW another (Nebraska Rain site) reported (6.53") and finally just 16 miles north of Valentine in South Dakota, Olsonville 4.5 SE reported a monthly June total of (7.57") and was highest official amount in immediate area with Valentine airport right behind at (7.30").

06/30/2018 11PM update: Another round of heavy rain this evening with peak rainfall rate 3.2" per hr. on west side town. Rainfall amounts since midnight West side (1.30), Airport (1.14), East side automatic gauge (1.13). East Cocorahs may be slightly different. Airport monthly total came close to record, adding today's total now reported lower at (1.12") monthly looks like (7.30") preliminary subject to change. Record is (8.63") in 2014. In comparison west side Valentine June total this station (5.97"), Monthly summary tomorrow. Climatological Summary numbers are updated and available each day about 5 minutes after midnight with NOAA reports 2018 click for summaries

10:AM Doppler radar storm estimates with yellow and red the heaviest, blue lightest. Click for images, around town and region More thunderstorms are expected to develop late this afternoon and continue into the evening hours. 40% chance for Valentine after 2pm.

06/28/2018 Heat index west Valentine (100°-102°) was common for several hours this afternoon. Still muggy out 7pm with upper 90's. Strong cap in place so forecast has only slight chance thunderstorm development this evening. (91°) was high (non heat index) temperature both east and west Valentine today, with warm morning lows of 70-69°.

06/26/2018 6:00am update: Heavy fog early this morning with visibility low looking at cameras on east side near HW 12 and HW 83 cameras at SD border looks like near zero visibility.

06/24/2018 Thunderstorm brought brief but very heavy rain. Updated totals (.68) West side this station in about 17 minutes. (.62) East side CWOP automatic station also a second Cocorahs gauge 100 yards distance recorded (.63), and airport (.57)..... Rainfall rate peaked at 5" per hour for brief period west side. Image of wild rain west side click for downpour image.... Forecast has more rain chances around 50% into Monday.

06/20/2018 3PM update: New daily record rainfall for date airport (3.04), crushed old record (1.17) set 1904. Airport is now 5.28" on month putting it +2.86 above normal for June and for the year total moisture 14.17" since Jan 1. This station west Valentine yearly total is 12.8", missing out on most of heaviest rain last night.

4:35 AM. Valentine had a near stationary heavy rain cell parked overhead with parts of town getting dumped on. The airport south side 2.06" in 1 hour, east Valentine 1.25" while west Valentine only around .55" same period.

At 5 AM: 24 hour rain totals Airport (2.34"), West Valentine (.72"), East side, automatic gauge (1.43").

06/18/2018 4 PM: Much needed rain with lots of cloud to cloud lightning making for a constant rumble. Since midnight (1.28") west Valentine, East side automatic gauge (1.32"). Airport if I read correctly is reporting (1.17") since midnight. I may need to revise airport amount if I find out different. Potential of more heavy rain Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

06/17/2018 Warm front moved closer to Valentine bringing rain and thunder overnight with (.14) rain since midnight making 24 hr.total (.55), East side (.52), Airport (.39). More chances of rain and thunderstorms coming daily over the next week.

06/16/2018 Update 6:10 pm second round rain lighter this time. Total so far today west Valentine (.41). East side wx station (.36), airport rain gauge (.22). Atmosphere still juiced for more convection, looking at dew point temperature still upper 60's more to come is very possible this evening should the stationary front drift east a few miles. The SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH continues until midnight.

5:48 pm: Rapid thunderstorm development and heavy rain west Valentine. Small hail ball associated with 36,000 foot top storm passed just west of Valentine less than 1 mile. (.32) precipitation fell west Valentine in few minutes. We are still under a severe thunderstorm watch currently.

06/14/2018 Hot day reaching 98° both east and west Valentine stations. Heat index high was 103° so felt warmer than actual thermometer. Looking ahead chance of thunderstorms increase Friday night into weekend. At sunset 9:20pm dewpoint had dropped back into 40's from mid 60's earlier.

06/11/2018 Thunderstorm cluster clipped Valentine area last night, heaviest rain stayed WNW with (.03) west Valentine and mainly gusty winds felt around town 2:30am. Airport south side (61)mph, over on east side and open station (51)mph, here on west side Valentine with heavy tree foliage (41)mph. At 5am another small line developing 41 miles west of Valentine moving east.

06/10/2018 Heat index reached 98° east and west Valentine stations today. Dewpoint range was 70-73° most of afternoon verified with sling psychrometer. Thunderstorms far NW zone tonight, at 10pm moving NE direction into SD but can't be ruled out with 30% chance between midnight and 2AM. More normal like temperatures early week before heating up into 90's on Thursday. Slight chance of rain returns Wednesday.

06/09/2018 First measurably rainfall for normally wet June as line of thunderstorms developed and moved through area yesterday evening. Cody Ne. and NW of Mission SD both reported hail. The Cody hail estimated (1.5") to near golf ball size (1.68") from images. Highest tops noticed on Doppler radar were around 44,000' same area hail was reported. This station west Valentine Cocorahs recorded (.54) rain, east of town Cocorahs gauge recorded (.51) with CWOP automatic tipping bucket gauge 100 yards distance picking up (.58).

06/08/2018 4PM: Atmosphere is getting juiced this afternoon. Mid to upper 60's dewpoint temperature both east and west Valentine. Risk of severe weather has also increased with Valentine area within enhanced risk zone this evening. Wind damage is main concern with potential large hail 1"+ according to forecaster discussion.

06/06/2018 First 100°F degree day both east and west Valentine stations recorded yesterday. It's been an abnormal dry stretch for this time of year (9 days) without more than trace of moisture along with temperatures already heating up reminiscent of the blistering hot July of last year. Hopefully this trend doesn't continue before it turns into drought. Dry conditions tend to feed upon itself until a major weather pattern shift occurs.

Unusual event last night, temperature spiked into low 90's around 1:30 am. Result of decaying thunderstorms in area last night called 'heat burst'. I've seen wind reaching into 60mph range here in Valentine couple years ago from same phenomenon which usually only occur at night.

06/02/2018 Yesterday's thunderstorm development started here in Valentine area first with a juiced atmosphere, dewpoints reached into low 70°'s. Fortunately for Valentine as storms gathered strength they had drifted few miles to E, NE with many of those areas reporting 1-1.5" hail including storm chaser report of 2.5" with photo 1 mile from Ainsworth. Doppler radar indicated tops on some storms reaching 50,000' which can produce significant hail/wind damage.

06/01/2018 May summary this station. Temperatures well above normal with Mean temperature (63.1°), or (+5.5°) above normal, the average high was (75.9 ), low (50.4). Precipitation was above normal (+ 1.27 ) with (4.40") total for month. Monthly extremes: high (94), low (34) with 0 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

Looking at Forecaster discussion from early morning, the convection outlook for today has shifted east for main supercell development. We still have a 30% chance of severe weather but main area for development is east of HW 183 going more SE. Update: 7:30am RAP is trending convection chances higher back toward Valentine this morning on latest hourly runs so good day to monitor weather sources for any changes.

05/29/2018 Goes 16 Satellite is now operational for public, link has been added Radar/Satellite tab for high resolution image loops. GOES 16 link There have been recent issues with images not updating so current Zulu time has been added. Upper Mississippi Valley and Northern Rockies both cover this region.

05/24/2018 Late update this evening strong thunderstorm developed east of Valentine multiple reports including video and photo's of small well developed funnel cloud. No reports of touchdown. Image of funnel cloud Not my image from Valentine cemetery was posted to public on facebook.

05/24/2018 Another line of TS followed by showers last night, 24 hour Cocorahs totals 7am (.31) west Valentine, (.32) east Valentine ... Airport 24 hour reports (.30). Warm temperatures ahead looks like upper 80's to mid 90's through Sunday with next chance rainfall starting Sunday evening and continues into next week.

05/22/2018 Patchy ground fog this morning near the east Valentine station location. East side station location

FYI West looking Valentine camera went down today. Until replaced rearranged front page index, if missing satellite loop visit USA Full page Satellite Loop

05/20/2018 Light soaking rain yesterday, (.44) west side, (.39) east side and airport. May has exceeded the normal monthly total by +(0.37) west Valentine so any additional rain will be bonus. We also avoided any late spring freeze thanks to heavy cloud cover when it did get cold so the Lilocks are blooming nicely for first time in 4 years.

05/18/2018 Strong line of thunderstorms last night followed by several hours of rain. No hail observed this station west side. Cocorahs amounts West Valentine 1.34, East Valentine 1.50. Airport is reporting 24 hour total 1.28" and peak wind gust 54mph. East Valentine peak gust 46mph while in town (this station) west side only 38mph with blocking tree foliage out now. Another round of rain and TS expected tonight.

05/17/2018 Active wet period ahead with potential rainfall amounts through Saturday evening. NWS Rainfall potential graphic

05/16/2018 5:35 update: Hearing several cracks of thunder. Isolated TS cells developed. Cell to NW has strengthened 33,600' top with small hail ball, moving off NE.

05/11/2018 7am:Cocorahs 24 hour rain totals West Valentine (.76), East Valentine (.72). Airport reported (.77). More cells moving though area this morning primarily southern Cherry county some working this direction.

Some visible wind damage as heading toward East Valentine weather station this morning, 1-ridge cap on roof lifted, 1-flag pole blown over, several shingles dislodged along with broken tree limbs. Rather large tree approx. 36" diameter snapped at trunk.

05/10/2018 Update: 11:00 pm rain has stopped after several thunderstorms rolled though area followed by steady rain. West Valentine daily rain total currently (.76). Airport reporting (.77). East Valentine automatic gauge (.80) but unofficial until Cocorahs 7am tomorrow. Airport reported amazing 77 mph wind gust while in town west side 46 mph, east Valentine reported 49 mph gust. This high wind occurred toward end of rain event with rather cold air temperatures in the low-mid 40's the strong ESE wind developed, may have been some sort of broad outflow wind with this huge area wrapped like a cyclone but will wait for an official explanation if given by NWS. They were very busy with a couple tornadoes down south last night. UPDATE: NWS explanation : outflow from storms to the east

05/10/2018 One of the forecast guidance models Rapid refresh HRRR from 12 noon CTZ model run has potential 1" rainfall Valentine tonight. Rainfall potential . The next 6-7 weeks are generally considered wettest period for Valentine with potential big rainfall numbers through end of June. Last year we missed out on the big spring rains resulting in drier than normal conditions going into summer and the blistering hot July resulted.

Still not seeing any mid to late May freeze on horizon which is a little unusual, especially considering how cold this winter was. Fingers crossed, garden is planted.

05/08/2018 First significant thunderstorms last night. Cocorahs reports west Valentine this station (.49), east side Valentine reported (.60), Airport between at (.53). Highest peak wind gust with TS last night occurred west Valentine 45 mph around 1:12am, while airport and east Valentine peaked around 40 mph.

05/07/2018 Added station solar sensor today . Solar radiation can be seen on bottom 2 graphs of graph page along with front dashboard. Also solar data is being transmitted to CWOP from this station.

05/03/2018 Starting today station and website will display adjusted SEA LEVEL PRESSURE (SLP) instead of aviation Altimeter. Sea level pressure use several parameters to calculate pressure including 12 hr. Mean Air Temperature, Outside Humidity, Elevation, Atmospheric Pressure. CWOP prefers altimeter because of simplicity with few PWS having ability to calculate SLP so will continue sending altimeter to CWOP as before. For altimeter 5 minute updates here.

05/01/2018 April summary this station. Temperatures well below normal with Mean temperature (39.2°), or (-7.5°) below normal, the average high was (53.5 ), low (26.3). Precipitation was below normal (- 0.52 ) with (1.70") total for month including 17.6" snow along with 24 hour spring Blizzard. Monthly extremes high (83), low (6) with 19 days freezing or below and (0) Days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

FYI removed the east of Valentine cameras temporarily. UPDATE: wireless Internet provider for East Valentine station and cameras back up 9pm.

04/26/2018 Switched ISP service for website to DSL, hopefully this proves more reliable with inclement weather. The phone lines and DSL stayed up throughout the Blizzard unlike cable. All time high 411 visitors when internet went down and stayed down throughout most of Blizzard. The east of Valentine cameras and weather station (doesn't record snowfall) did stay up throughout however. (different ISP) NWS updates also continued.

04/18/2018 Another snow last night. (.27) moisture with light snow currently at 6am and couple new inches on ground.

04/16/2018 7:15am: Cold again this morning for mid April with lows in single digits. East Valentine down to 6° while west side this station 9°. This is second day with back to back record low temperatures, the old record in 1951 was 12°. Still have areas of snow drifts 30" deep measured yesterday west Valentine. Snow melt yesterday slowed down likely due to the very cold morning low from yesterday morning. My guesstimate today if averaged out is around 5" still on ground. The deep areas and their are many may take some rain or warm temperatures before melting. Ground soil temperature sensor this morning is 34° at 4" depth.

04/15/2018 Cold Sunday morning underway for mid April. Updated 7:20am: Lows 6° west Valentine, 9° east Valentine where wind speeds are higher. Revised estimated snowfall yesterday 11 inches from 11.5". Snow loss guestimate yesterday due to melting and 7 hours sunshine with above freezing soil temperature around (4").

Just noticed the old record low for Valentine (Officially) was 14° on April 15, 1905... So the unmentioned thermometer may even get there, due to back in the good ol'days when it was acting normal winter lows ran 2-3° lower than in town, especially with ground snowcover sometimes -5° lower. That's normal.

04/14/2018 Some images 3:15pm with snow already melting around town and plows busy everywhere. West Valentine 3rd St. & Thatcher this wxstation location I think west Valentine wins on snowfall again ....... downtown area side street...... Digging out garage this morning, finally short clip of brave soul changing Cocorahs gauge yesterday. Click for video clip.

04/14/2018 Snowfall from blizzard of 2018 is 11.0" revised estimate from snowmelt. Total moisture .84 of that .73 was snowfall. 2-4' drifts common in area with some reported higher. Our snowfall experiment at East Valentine station failed with bad location selection. 1.62 inches moisture was recorded which would of been 20+" snowfall. Apparently the nearby windbreak of trees (small pines) also collected and wind drifted snow into gauge due to the strong winds 60 mph at times was best estimate what went wrong.

FYI the ground being warm above freezing (36°) today and strong sun angle the snow should melt fast.

04/13/2018 7pm update: Estimate current new snowfall using heated rain gauge for now (Manual rain gauges are also collecting moisture and will be primary once storm subsides) using the 15:1 moisture ratio 7.5" new snow. This includes subtracting the early rainfall. Visibility is down to near zero at times.. The snow stake will not show correct snowfall its blowing right by and drifting against buildings and other structures. Also something about Airport ASOS it stopped reporting snowfall at 4PM. (Its broke) This is why site only shows freezing Fog, I use the airport metar for conditions. ....

Some reported wind gust from Blizzard the East Valentine station 57 MPH, In town this station on west side 54 MPH, Airport ASOS 59 MPH

Reminder power outage/internet outages are possible today should website stop updating. Light rain overnight, ground/soil temperature is 45° this morning at 4" depth. The correct air temperature is 33 both east side and west Valentine at 8am. Reading forecast discussion this morning 15:1 is expected snow to water ratio, previous thought was higher at 20:1 so snow amounts backed off somewhat but still 9"-18" is forecasters thought for Valentine.

04/12/2018 UPDATE 11:45am: BLIZZARD WARNING issued by NWS.

5AM: Serious wording in forecast discussion this morning for dangerous winter storm ahead. Valentine area snowfall likely now at 14" for a crippling winter type system that will bring significant snows and extreme wind with Blizzard conditions nearly certain now for the Sandhills and northern Nebraska. potential for the loss of life of ranching values, especially newborn/infant calves as the forecast calls for a cold rain that will transition to snow with the arrival of Arctic air. Click for Snowfall Potential tool here.

Soil temperature this morning Valentine 4" depth 43° will have some impact on accumulation but as mentioned in discussion 15" snowfall even with ground temperature the high winds and certain drifting will have major impact. The 14" snowfall likely could actually be on conservative side using the NAM model with 21" Valentine and 30" just to west and north. Click for NAM image...Just FYI measuring snowfall with 40-50 mph winds is near impossible so moisture content along with snowfall temperature/moisture ratio table published by NOAA will be relied upon. Click for .pdf link to snowmelt table estimator. ......We were going to try and also measure the snowfall moisture at east Valentine station just for this storm, problem is we only have 1 spare Cocorahs gauge and it really takes 2 because snowfall will overflow 4" diameter gauge in a few hours so this may be off. Updated plan: for snow catch at east Valentine station, Cocorahs observer will be using a secondary container for storage preventing overflow in cold garage to prevent evaporation of sample. Cocorahs should be proud as I am with an Korean Veteran east Valentine station still doing something for America at 80+.

04/06/2018 11:40AM Cocorahs report: Sun breaking through but very cold with windchill 3°. (1.1") new snow with (.09) snowmelt today. Air temperature 16° but dipped to 12° about 9:30AM. Very light snow flurries currently but still have some green radar echoes developing to the west moving east.

Potential for breaking 2nd record cold low this April overnight. Old record is 6° at airport. Much depends on lack of cloud cover low wind speeds and how much snow is left on ground. At 9pm temperatures running 2° warmer vs the record low on 4th. Click for RAP forecast Lows

04/04/2018 Very cold last night for spring weather. Some lows this morning 3° at the East Valentine station, in town this station 6°, Airport had record low 5° reported. We are not out of the winter pattern yet with more snow in forecast Thursday night and Friday. Good thing about this time of year the sun intensity is strong and ground is above freezing so it melts fast.

NOAA Radio stream Valentine area live again. (Request from visitor) NOAA WXN82 STREAM

04/03/2018 FYI was looking at latest RAP model run at 6pm our low temperatures forecast by RAP single digits tomorrow morning. Snow pack melted down today so RAP may be over doing depth and cold. But with calving season something ranchers should be aware lows may dip below forecast. Click for RAP forecast Lows

04/03/2018 Cocorahs update 1pm west Valentine 2.7" storm total new snow. Additional .01 after 7am, storm total (.23) moisture from snow melt, air temperature 20°. Warm ground and high sun angle has already melted the roads.

04/01/2018 March summary this station. Temperature below normal with Mean temperature (34.4), was (-1.8°) below normal, the average high was (47 ), low (23.6). Precipitation was above normal (+ 0.63 ) with (1.70) total for month and 9.4" snow. Monthly extremes high (71), low (7) with 29 days freezing or below and (0) Days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

03/29/2018 1.3" new snow today. Snowmelt .13,

03/27/2018 Some winter statistics over last 4 seasons this station. Dec, Jan, Feb. 2017-2018 was coldest with mean temperature 21.5° , 2016-2017 mean 24.1°, 2015-2016 mean 27.8°, 2014-2015 mean 25.3°. Coldest single month was also this year February 2018 mean 17.9°. Next coldest month was Dec 2016 mean 19.2°. Snowiest month was February 2017 20" which also recorded most snow single storm 14" .

03/26/2018 Yesterday morning completed semi-annual testing of station thermometers verifying calibrations are within specifications (+/-) .2F. All 3 units used at this station passed against certified NIST Traceable accuracy (.09F). This test is done near 0C (+/-) 2C to fall within range of certification on test thermometer. Testing was done with stiff breeze so air is well mixed and temperatures fairly steady yesterday morning. Did have an older sensor no longer in use fail test. Test will be repeated in the fall.

03/25/2018 5:30AM: Freezing drizzle this morning forming ICE on contact. Temperature at 29° both east and west Valentine.

03/19/2018 10:25pm snow has stopped..Final Cocorahs update: 2.1" daily total, .27" storm total snowmelt.

1.5" as of 9:35am Temperature just below freezing this morning east and west stations at 31.6°. Airport +2° (33.8°).

2" accumulation is possible, we are almost there with radar returns building SD again with wrap around movement toward Valentine area. Here is best radar for site, Click for Radar Slow loading but works well once loaded.

03/17/2018 New snowfall 2 tenths added on late last night with additional .02 moisture making yesterdays total 4.8" (.91) moisture. 6am ground depth on morning observation 4". Also both east and west side wx station anemometers are currently froze and not moving from ice storm yesterday. They should start working again once the sun comes out or wind picks up. This was first time and rare event for anemometers to freeze up.

03/16/2018 3:20pm update final: Snow total 4.6". Cocorahs snow melt and mix total .89". Looks like winter event is over.

10am update: Freezing rain has turned to sleet. Several tenths of ice build up being covered by sleet with snow to follow soon. 11:30am Sleet turn over to mainly snow mixed with sleet until around noon before all snow and heavy at times.

Icy conditions this morning with light freezing rain. Sleet, freezing rain and eventually snow expected later today. This mornings Cocorahs gauge shows Ice build up with just .08 precipitation.

3:00 AM light freezing rain has started with surfaces freezing on contact. Current air temperature 31.0° both east and west Valentine, warmer airport thermometer reads 33°. Click for Ice build up. The airport ASOS thermometer continues to read +2° high. I've removed all direct airport thermometer links including NOAA radio broadcast from website until its accurate again.

03/15/2018 Winter Storm Warning updated by NWS for western and eastern Cherry county do to heavy mixed precipitation expected with 1 to 3 tenths ice build up along with snow accumulations of 3 to 5 inches with higher amounts possible going west toward Pine Ridge. Current thinking on snowfall amounts click on, Snowfall Potential ....Winter Storm Warning has been extended to include almost all counties on SD/Nebraska border.

03/06/2018 Updated 11am: Light snow this morning with wind gust still in the 30mph at times. 1" new snow estimated due to drifting using snow melt 16:1 ratio (.06) melt.

03/05/2018 Some High wind gust so far today with 30° air temperature 12 noon. East Valentine 55, west Valentine 53 mph. Winter Weather Advisory eastern Cherry extended until noon Tuesday. Snow amounts Valentine not expected to exceed 1" in upcoming winter event. So far only .2 tenths snowfall from last night.

03/04/2018 6:30am update: Fog (freezing) this morning with just below freezing temperatures both East and West side Valentine. ICE has formed on chain link fencing west Valentine with temperature between 31.1 to 31.5°. Airport visitors with ASOS thermometer still running 2 degrees warmer (33.8°) could be in for a surprise. Make sure you deice because the chain link doesn't lie. 10am update: Ice has melted as temperature above freezing with light mist.

03/01/2018 February summary this station. Temperature well below normal and coldest month station history (4 years) and ranks inside top 20 of coldest February's dating back to 1890. Mean temperature (17.9) below average (-9.3° ), average high (30.6 ), low (4.3). Precipitation was above normal (+ 0.21 ) with (0.69) total for month and 10.5" snow. Monthly high (53.2), low (-16.8) with all 28 days freezing or below and (8) Days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries

02/24/2018 11am 1.2" new snow, Moisture content 11:1 ratio. (.11)...Looking ahead more normal like temperatures with even few 40's over next 10 days, with slow absorption into frozen ground will experience more standing water until evaporated or ground thaws. Good setup for fog under right conditions.

02/23/2018 Below zero again this morning, -1° west side and just dipping below -.4 on east side. This makes 8 below zero days this February on west side with 22 total this winter. Another 1-3" of snow expected in next storm late tonight into Saturday.

02/22/2018 New snow total today at 5:00pm 1.3", moisture content (.09), 14:1 ratio

02/21/2018 Looks like a good chance of snow tomorrow 1-3", with one model at 1" another 4". Very cold temps last night as one of the colder February's continues with east side weather station getting down to -21° this morning. Big spread of temperatures last night reaching 10° differential at times between east and west Valentine. Final lows: Valentine west side -14°, east side -21°.

02/20/2018 7:40AM winter storm update: 4.2" new snow total with light snow continuing but radar echoes diminishing. FYI the snow stick has wallowed out around base about 1/2" deep from wind so shows less than actual depth off snow board. This snow turned into a 20:1 ratio with near zero temperatures.

Currently 6am light snow 1° air temperature both west and east Valentine stations, Mesonet stations in area Sparks 0° and Merritt -1°. Airport coming in warmest reporting 3°. Windchill west Valentine -13, open area east side -17.

02/19/2018 Update:10:05pm moderate snow at times 2" storm total. 4° air temperature currently, windchill -14. Note the heated rain gauge may not keep up with this type of dry snow and low temperatures. Manual snowmelt will be done and total precipitation count updated later.

02/18/2018 Upcoming winter storm NWS issued WINTER WEATHER AVISORY for eastern Cherry county with WINTER STORM WARNING for western Cherry, stay tuned for upcoming NWS forecast updates if necessary as we get closer to event. Another tool available is Snowfall Potential.

02/16/2018 If it feels like its been abnormally cold this month, it has. West Valentine through Feb. 15 average high 28.6°, low 2.3°, mean 16.1 which is -11.1° below normal.

02/15/2018 Arctic cold front moving through this afternoon with a little freezing rain just before snow. Between freezing rain and snow melt which produced standing water yesterday, lots of ice with roads slippery in area.

02/10/2018 Windchill warning issued by NWS this morning. Low temperatures so far around town west Valentine (-16.8°) east Valentine (-18.3°) . -35° east Valentine, -22° west Valentine.

02/09/2018 Evening update 10pm WIND CHILL advisory issued by NWS with temperatures starting to tank under fresh snow, arctic air and clear skies. Already -7° east, west Valentine with airport -8 and Merritt Mesonet -9. Any wind tonight will bring low windchills.

02/09/2018 Final storm Update today: 5:30PM.... Cocorahs new snow total 2.8", moisture (.20"), total snow depth 3.8". Current air temperatures around area 3° west, east Valentine, Merritt Mesonet. Sparks Mesonet at 2°, airport ASOS 5°. Temperatures forecast to dip single digit below zero tonight. (Doesn't have far to go even if it stays cloudy) Some areas south of Valentine reported 4+ inches while areas NW Nebraska 11" where models really underestimated.

5AM: Light snow overnight, (4°) currently both east and west Valentine stations. Other temperatures 5am Sparks Mesonet 2°, Merritt Mesonet 4°. Airport ASOS Miller Field coming in much warmer at 6.8°. New snowfall .4 tenth inch (.02) moisture at 4am. Rapid Refresh (RAP) models increased potential snowfall today, now 3-4" ending 4-5pm.

02/07/2018 Update: Models backed off on snowfall amounts now 1-2" for area, follow latest NWS forecast updates for details along with any changes as event approaches. For latest Snowfall Potential

Cold morning below zero with this station west Valentine just below (-.2 ) while east Valentine station (-2.3°).

02/04/2018 Final Cocorahs numbers from Arctic snow overnight with plenty of wind moving snow around. New snow .8" (.06") moisture. Overnight lows reached (-1F) both east and west Valentine stations with current air temperature 10am 3F west 2F east Valentine. Windchill was observed at -22° below overnight in town.

02/01/2018 January summary this station. Temperature below normal minus (-0.9°), Mean temperature (22.7), average high (35.1), low (10.3). Precipitation was above normal (+.37) with (.63) total for month. Monthly high (59.6), low (-25.7) with all 31 days freezing or below and (6) Days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2018 click for summaries East Valentine station summary below with monthly highlights.

January highlights East Valentine station *Near new golf course, mean temperature (21.6). Precipitation (missing), Monthly high (61) low (-27).

Today's weather note windchill around -10° early this morning with temperature 5F. Snow cover has diminished but still prevalent around town with 50% bare ground mainly non shaded areas. Going east of town HW 12 snow is 80-90% gone.

01/22/2018 Winter Storm final update 4:40am Official Cocorahs (6.1") total new snow. (.35) moisture total. Ground depth 5.7" at observation. The snow stake differs because wind has funneled around base of stake.. The stake is for reference only for this reason along with warming above air temperature in sunlight and melts snow at base.

Some storm observations, we do have drifting snow in area with wind gusting to 30 mph. Forecasters and models did well in predicting snow total for area. 6-8" was the general consensus with 7" being most likely. The heated rain-gauge kept up with manual Cocorahs snow melt readings with 25-32F temperatures surprisingly well only 1 tip of bucket short, unlike colder storms where much would evaporate. The airport thermometer reading +2F warm was above freezing through first half of storm. Why they don't fix I can only surmise.

01/21/2018 4:45 AM Winter storm still on schedule with NWS along with Winter storm Warning in place. Valentine snow amount still around 7" likely. RAP short term hourly model last run has Valentine in the no doubter category with 6-8" by midnight and still more coming. (Subject to change throughout day) This is just one model out of several but one I like during events because of the hourly updates. This model also shows first teaser flakes around 6am this morning with possibly inch by noon and then intensifying during afternoon. RAP Snowfall Potential

01/20/2018 Winter storm Warning issued. Looking at snow amounts NWS has Valentine most likely around 7". One model has 3" for lowest amount with highest at 9".

01/16/2018 Upcoming snow potential Sunday both NAM and GFS latest runs have area in potential 4-6" range. This will be warmer system with more moisture vs arctic snows hopefully avoiding the freezing rain like last storm. Still early on so changes likely, stay tuned for NWS forecast office updates. Added North Platte and Rapid City Forecast offices to Snowfall Potential

01/16/2018 8:25am: Doesn't look like it will make teens below zero with (-12) both east and west Valentine so far. Deeper snow pack would of helped temperatures really plummet which we don't have. Only patches snow on far east side and just inch on west. East Valentine wind stayed up some all night causing low windchills. Big warmup after today with another chance of storm on Saturday. Updated soil temps this morning. Frozen solid down to 28" with 4" depth at 9F and 36" depth 34°.

01/15/2018 Teens below zero expected tonight with optimal radiational cooling expected and wind speeds decreasing. Windchill warning has also been issued, even light winds can bring windchill dangerously low with air temperatures negative teens.

1PM: Coldest daytime temperatures of the year factoring in bitter windchills (-25°) range, current air temperatures east Valentine (-2), west Valentine (-1), old town Thatcher (-2).

01/14/2018 7PM and final update: (.2") new snow. We lost more snow during the rain than we gained. Current ground depth (.8"). Snow has ended with wind gusting into 30's this evening as temperatures plummet below zero by sunrise..

2:40 PM: Light snow (33.4°), East Valentine (33.5°) no new accumulation yet. Airport reports 2 degrees warmer (35.6°).. Freezing temperatures due around 4pm. Another Arctic blast moves in tonight with single digits around midnight. Bitter cold tomorrow with high forecast near 5°.

01/13/2018 Snowfall update 10:10pm (.8) inch new, moisture content (.06), Looks like radar returns have ended. Still few flakes falling.

01/12/2018 First new snow accumulation for month .9" at 1:30pm. (.05) water content with temperature during snowfall 2-4F. Radar returns have diminished.

01/11/2018 Update from yesterdays winter storm: Just a dusting and trace accumulation of snow, main snow band developed just east of Valentine area. Surfaces in Valentine are iced over from freezing rain which fell with temperatures as low as 15F. Total precipitation from storm (.07) mix of rain/freezing rain/sleet/snow. Bitter wind chills -20 common with gust as high as 38mph and -0F air temperature as of 8am. Peak wind gust yesterday in town was impressive 48 mph and 45 at east Valentine station. Doesn't happen often where in town gust is higher than open area East Valentine station. Lowest observed wind chill was -22 around 5am.

01/09/2018 Very warm today 58F both west and east Valentine stations. This was NOT A Record day in town or east side as the airport reported its 61 degrees. Wednesday's winter storm has some uncertainty with rain to snow changeover due to warm pre-frontal temperatures and how much falls as rain vs snow. Stay tuned for NWS updates if necessary will automatically appear top of home page images.

*Here are the Yearly Mean temperatures from prior years this station differences vs Airport. 2015 and 2016 only a few tenths while 2017 jumped to 1.5F

2015 (49.2F) ....... Airport ASOS 49.5F .3 difference

2016 (50.2F) ....... Airport ASOS 50.3F .1 difference

2017 (49.0F) (coolest of last 3 years) ....... Airport ASOS (50.5F) +1.5 difference ( 5th Warmest on record)

2017 suddenly in March airport went much warmer

Nearby Ainsworth airport (36 miles) is the same with 2017 being cooler than previous 2 years not warmer. Same with 14 miles south of Mission Coop weather station, 2017 was cooler not warmer. Evidence is clear starting in 2017 the Valentine ASOS started running warm beyond the fact I've compared physically against NIST certified thermometer and see +bias (1.7) on ASOS along with MADIS clearly indicating sudden rise in March 2017.

Ainsworth yearly Mean temperature

2015 (51.5F)

2016 (52.4F)

2017 (51.1F) Coolest of last 3 years not warmest

Yearly summary 2017 Mean temperature 49.0 (+1.1) above normal. High (108), Low (-20). Peak wind gust (49 mph), Precipitation 20.37 (+.35) This was the coolest year in last 3, or since beginning of this stations data.

Contrarily airport mean temperature was (50.5) 5th warmest ever. Airport was within a few tenths every year prior until now (+1.5) above this station and surrounding stations continuing into 2018. Changeover +1.7 was recorded and observed by MADIS in March which was same time I noticed the sudden rise. MADIS is meteorological observational database and data delivery system which tracks all data.

The irony of it all, its now confirmed right here in Nebraska "Man Made Warming" is real by just turning the thermometers up and bingo you have it. To my surprise while researching it was pointed out by another weather enthusiast, these Airport ASOS stations everyone thought so accurate including myself actually have loose tolerances on thermometer (+/- 2F) so weather records can get smashed by just having poorly calibrated instruments and still be within specs.

December summary this station. Temperature normal thanks to extended cold snap end of month only plus (+0.1F), Mean temperature (23.9), average high (35), low (13). Precipitation was normal at (.39) for month. Monthly high (61.6), low (-19.5) with 29 days freezing or below and (8) Days below zero. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries East Valentine station summary below with monthly highlights.

December highlights East Valentine station *Near new golf course, mean temperature (24). Precipitation (missing), Monthly high (61) low (-20).

1/01/2018 Update 8:35 : Extreme cold this New Year day morning (-26) this station, (-27) East Valentine station.

1/01/2018 Happy New Year to all, it was (-19)F in Valentine as 2018 came in.

12/31/2017 Temperatures this morning being held up slightly by clouds and light flurries. Wind is light with low wind chill at times. Lows so far (-15F) this station and (-14) east Valentine. High temperature today staying below zero and dropping near (-20) between midnight and sunrise New Years morning. Could be one of the colder News Years but not a record. Record lows -27 on 31st and -30 on Jan 1.

12/30/2017 Update: 9:30pm very light snow currently with daily total 1". Radar returns have diminished.

12/30/2017 Light snow flurries overnight and may continue off and on with better chance 60% this afternoon. At 5:30am .2" .01 moisture. Wind chill warning for tonight starting 11pm CTZ has been issued, high temperature today was at midnight (1F) with temperatures staying below zero dropping to around -17 by sunrise Sunday. Negative temperatures all day Sunday dropping into -20's Monday morning before warm-up next week with only slightly below normal temperatures.

12/29/2017 Today the arctic cold arrives with steady temperature decline down to 3F by 6pm per RAP model. Highs Saturday near zero & staying below zero Sunday, lows negative mid teens Saturday night and low -20's Monday morning. Chances of snow have trended down to 30% tonight and 40% Saturday.

12/26/2017 Light snow yesterday and overnight. Very cold morning with lows as of 7:40am (-12F) this station, (-13) East Valentine station. Another day of single digit highs around 4F. Cold forecast continues into New Year with single digit highs again possible Saturday. 4" ground soil temperature at 20F and froze to 16" depth 32F this morning.

12/25/2017 Update: Bitter cold with windchill Christmas day, high temperature 2.5F was coldest High since Dec.17 negative -2.3 (2016) this station. Light snow currently falling, low tomorrow morning forecast around (-9F) but if it clears off toward morning could go colder.

12/24/2017 Overnight temperatures below zero, this station (-3F). East Valentine just under (-0F) where wind stayed up. Very cold Christmas day forecast tomorrow with single digit high only (9F) and low (-9) with possible snow flurries, today blustery with gust as high as 30mph.

12/23/2017 11AM update : (.7") new snow today, (.05 ) water content. Next chance of snow looks small Christmas day 20%. Very cold forecast for Monday, Tuesday with reinforcing shot of Arctic air tomorrow. Forecast highs (12F) lows (-6), enjoy the White Christmas.

12/22/2017 Update: 7:20 Air temperatures below zero this morning, Lows so far (-1F) this station west Valentine, (-5F) East Valentine station. Ground soil temperature 4" depth this morning 30F with snow cover protecting somewhat from subzero air temperature. Forecasters are now seeing chance of Christmas day snow increasing so travellers check conditions.

12/21/2017 6:PM update: 2.5" new snow today on west side Valentine. Currently this station 13.5F with windchill 8F, East valentine station 13.4F windchill 3F. Still light snow falling but radar is diminishing on returns. This is last update tonight. If temperatures stay cold Valentine has good chance of white Christmas, grounds frozen to at least 4" depth currently 31.4F.

12/21/2017 6AM light snow started falling around 5am and picking up as band of snow moves into area. Wind chill near zero with air temperatures 17-18F range Sparks, Merritt Mesonet both Valentine East, West stations while Airport reporting couple degrees warmer. Accumulation could be higher than what was forecast last night with few areas around 4" thus NWS issued winter weather advisory.

12/20/2017 Snow forecast for tomorrow NWS 1-2". One model is now 4" while another 1" and couple more at 2". Also of note in NWS special weather statement mentions slight chance of light freezing drizzle in front of snow.

12/14/2017 3:28pm Light snow showers today with temperature hovering 32-33F range. (33-35 airport) Currently snow flurry moderate rate. Big change on horizon with real winter cold returning just beyond 7 day forecast. Stay tuned!

12/13/2017 4:40AM: Very windy this morning with gust hitting 50mph east Valentine station, 46mph in town west side.

12/7/2017 First below zero day this station west Valentine. (-.5). Airport reported (0) which is unusual to have warmer lows vs in town except this year its been epidemic. East Valentine station also outside of town only reached 1.4F so maybe it was the kind of night where winds stayed up slightly over open areas, IE airport and east Valentine station while in town was sheltered.

12/6/2017 1/2" new snow today. Arctic air has moved in with 23F under sunny sky, 2:30 pm windchill around 8F.

12/4/2017 2:40pm update: 1.2" new snow. .06 moisture content 20:1 ratio so very dry. Currently blowing snow. East Valentine station HW12 recorded 63 mph wind gust. Just got back from visit east side Valentine station wind was really howling making standing walking difficult. Highway visibility very low use caution also roads icy in town.

12/3/2017 Winter Weather advisory has been issued as strong cold front approaches for mainly blowing snow, latest model run 5am has Valentine at 2.1". Heaviest area of accumulation (red dot on image) just north town 3.5". These runs can vary as storm approaches. Click for snow forecast image

12/1/2017 November summary this station. Temperature well above normal (+4.0F), mean temperature (38.4). Precipitation was normal at (.66) for month. Monthly high (82) Was also all time monthly high temperature record, low (15) with 25 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries East Valentine station summary below with monthly highlights.

12/1/2017 November highlights East Valentine station *Near new golf course, mean temperature (39.7). Precipitation (missing), Monthly high (81) low (14). Note aspiration motor failed sometime during month so daytime temperature could be warmer than actual. Mean temperature +1.3 above in town station, question is how much was caused by motor failure. The aspiration motor issue has been repaired.

11/30/2017 Update: 1pm...All Repairs made on East side weather station. Anemometer bearings were starting to fail along with solar powered aspirating fan. Here is image of weather station positioned in open area for optimum wind and temperature data retrieval. Click for weather station image

11/8/2017 Thedford Doppler radar looks back up early this morning, well ahead of schedule.

11/7/2017 Update 11AM watch the ICEY FOG in Valentine its getting bad outside. Just got back from town roads are slippery and walking treacherous.

11/7/2017 7AM update. Dusting of snow last night (.03) snow melt. Temperatures currently in area (22F) almost everywhere except airports ASOS at (25) while this station, East Valentine station, radio station, Sparks, Merritt all (22F) with north wind.

Some 4" depth soil temperatures (37F) here and Sparks, while Merritt is (43F).

11/6/2017 Radar will be down at Thedford for upgrade and maintenance through the 9th. Rapid City will replace as alternative. Valentine is on far edge of coverage so radar returns may fade this far out.

11/6/2017 Snowfall overnight Update: Snow stopped 1.3" measured on snowboard as of 4:00 AM with (.13) snow melt 10:1 ratio. Temperature at (28F), East Valentine station at (28F) with airport sensor reading 2 degrees higher at (30F). 4" depth soil temperature this morning is (37F) down from (43) yesterday so near surface could be froze today.

11/5/2017 Rain, sleet and little snow fell last night. Amounts (.12) this station (.12) Miller Field and (.08) East Valentine station. Only traces of snow on ground this morning with ground temperature still above freezing 4" depth (43F) this station, (43F) Sparks and (44F) Merritt. 50% chance of more snow tonight with less than 1" expected for Valentine.

11/4/2017 Updated website to provide easy access to snow forecast. Also updated About tab for easier reading and included more information about the weather station.

11/2/2017 7:50 AM: 5 hour Internet outage over. Rain last night (.29) west Valentine, (.28) East Valentine station, (.26) Miller Field, (.31) reported from local radio station

11/1/2017 October summary this station. Temperature slightly below normal and 1st October not above normal in last 4 years (-.5F), mean temperature (48.0). Precipitation above normal (+.27) with (1.52") for month. Monthly high (84.7) low (10) with 11 days freezing or below. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries East Valentine station summary below with monthly highlights.

11/1/2017 October highlights East Valentine station *Near new golf course, mean temperature (48.4). Precipitation (1.35"), Monthly high (85.7) low (7) with (12) days freezing or below, peak wind gust (56 mph)

10/31/2017 Coldest temperatures so far this season as of 8:00am lows around area (10F) this station, East Valentine station (7F), Miller field (9F). Warming into low-mid 40's today. Update unexpected snow flurries, High temperature was 36F.

10/30/2017 Another blustery day with wind speeds forecast to gust 40mph with mid 30's for high temperature. Received 10 minute snow shower between 7:15-7:25 this morning. 2pm update: light snow flurries occasionally going into mid afternoon. Temperature has stayed in low 30's with gusty winds and heavy cloud cover. High for today occurred at midnight 42F.

10/30/2017 Added website visitor stats for anyone interested under tab Visitor Stats. This is 1 week snapshot I'll update on occasion. Shows unique, first time and returning visitors.

10/28/2017 Cold morning with East Valentine station dropping to single digit (9F) where wind completely stopped for couple hours. This station west Valentine wind stayed up slightly 3-5 mph and got down to (12F). Miller field reported low of (11F).

10/27/2017 Very chilly morning with temperature of 20F and wind-chill around 7F at sunrise.

10/26/2017 Arctic cold front arrived today some wind gust as of 11AM today (49)mph this station, East Valentine station (56) airport (55)mph.

10/24/2017 Arctic cold front due Wednesday night bringing blustery NW winds. Temperatures could dip into teens by late Friday or early Saturday morning. Beyond 7 day some snow chances increase early November.

10/14/2017 Blustery day with temperatures in 40's and light morning rain. This station west Valentine experienced 47 MPH gust @1:41pm, Airport 40 MPH and East Valentine station 38 MPH.

10/10/2017 2pm updated airport: Hard freeze overnight with temperatures dipping below freezing yesterday evening around 9:30pm and has continued with extended time well below freezing. This station (21.9F), East Valentine station (21.1F) and airport (21.9F) also.

10/1/2017 Noisy and active thunderstorm tracked south to north, main impact just west of Valentine with heaviest rainfall reported on west side of Valentine last night. This station picked up (.33), airport (.19), East Valentine station (.17). Doppler radar shows track of storm and rainfall estimates Click for image Monthly summaries for this station and East Valentine station below.

9/24/2017 Update 5pm: Storm totals (2 day ) Airport (1.65"), East Valentine station (1.71"), this station (1.59")

9/23/2017 Updated:4:40pm Preliminary totals from rain event so far today and last night, Airport (.92), East Valentine station (.86) this station (.80).

9/22/2017 Rather unusual soaking event possible with near record PWAT (Precipitable Water ) 99%. Valentine area could pick up 2"+ through Monday. Look for first chance of rain and possible thunderstorm 40% chance to start late Friday evening with increasing rain by Saturday afternoon continuing into Monday.

9/16/2017 Another good rain with a few embedded thunderstorms overnight, continuing into this morning with (.38) west Valentine at 8am. More rain possible with south to north movement favourable for Valentine receiving moisture. Temperatures on the cool side currently 46F with high today upper 50's dropping into 30's tomorrow morning.

9/15/2017 Update final 8am: Finally something to blog about in September. Picked up (.36") rain this station west Valentine. Fast moving line of thunderstorms moved south to north through area. Other amounts reported airport 1.3 miles SW (.33), East Valentine station1.9 miles NE (.22), radio station 6/10 mile E (.40").

9/01/2017 August summary this station. Temperature below normal (-4.1F), mean temperature (68.7). Precipitation above normal (+.90) with (3.08") for month. Monthly high (95.1) low (42). Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries East Valentine station summary below with monthly highlights.

9/01/2017 August highlights East Valentine station *Near new golf course, mean temperature (69.3). Precipitation (3.27"), Monthly high (95.7) low (40.4), peak wind gust (46mph)

8/25/2017 Updated 9:45pm: Thunderstorm developed rapidly and hit about 6:20pm with hail. (.26) this station west side. East Valentine station (.38) far east, Airport (.08) south. Was in parking lot at high school football field when storm hit, lots of hail with heavy rain on east side of town.

8/21/2017 Eclipse partial (97.57%), Times CDT for Valentine Start 11:31:01, Max 12:54:33 End 14:20:07. Latest forecast is 72% cloud cover for Valentine.

8/18/2017 Another round of thunderstorms last evening. (.22) this station west side, (.22) East Valentine stationCocorahs east side, (.24) 130 yds. west automatic gauge, (.20) south at Miller Field ASOS. This T/S line lacking in moisture had wind with 46mph at East Valentine station, 53mph at airport. Monthly rainfall now stands at (2.65") this station with next best chance Sunday and Monday evening. Click for Doppler rainfall est. 2 images

8/16/2017 Great light show last night but nothing close to severe level in Valentine just steady rain. One big storm near Mission SD had 2" hail potential, bulk of storm passed just south of Mission. As of 5am light rain was still falling west side Valentine with (.84) since 7am yesterday morning, 2 day total (1.04). East Valentine station (.82) since 7am yesterday, 2 day total (1.06). Monthly rainfall this station stands at (2.33") which is +.12 above full (31 day) monthly average, occurred on the 16th so everything else this month is bonus rainfall and minimizing drought. Temperatures this month also running well below normal helping drought at -6F this station in town.

8/15/2017 Storms last night did their best to work around Valentine. Thunderstorm cells actually stopped the 2.5 hour eastward track and started moving north as they approached working around Valentine area. We did pick up some residual moisture as storms dissipated and skirted around (.20) this station (.17) airport and (.24) East Valentine station. Storm total estimates around area Click for 2 images Another chance of development in forecast tonight.

8/13/2017 Big storms developed primarly east of HW83 yesterday with some impressive amounts. Around Valentine not much with airport receiving a few hundredths, East Valentine station .09. Click for 2 images

8/08/2017 Update Final: Thunderstorm rain total this station (.82")... East Valentine station automatic east side of town (1.01"), East Valentine station Cocorahs (1.05), Airport (.55). Image from East Valentine station Cocorahs gauge overflowing the 1" mark. Click for image ...Some storm estimates impressive with storm almost stationary at times, exceeding 4". Click for estimates, 2 images

8/06/2017 Updated 5:50pm: Another thunderstorm with bulk of storm missing Valentine to west and south. (.12) this station on west side of town. Preliminary Airport (.22), East Valentine station reporting nothing.

8/05/2017 Update: 2 pm T/storm heavy rain mixed with pea size hail dropping (.34") in 13 minutes on west side Valentine. Rain rate reached 5.4" per/hr over short period. Other preliminary amounts East Valentine station automatic station east side town (.21), airport (.12). A look at thunderstorm and pink hail ball on radar as it exited east. Click for image

8/04/2017 Update:9am Very cool morning for early August. East Valentine station dropped to 40, in town this station 42, Airport 42F.

8/01/2017 July summary this station. Temperature above normal +4.8F, mean temperature (79.3). Precipitation well below normal (-2.43) with only (.78") for month. Monthly high (108) low (46). Some highlights include 25 days above 90F, 9 days above 100. Complete opposite of first 3 years station history where it struggled to reach above 100F. Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries East Valentine station summary below with monthly highlights.

8/01/2017 East Valentine station summary July:Max recorded 110F, Minimum 45F, Mean 79.6F, Precip. .89", Max wind gust 44mph, Avg speed 6.7mph,

7/30/2017 July 25th Valentine area was officially in severe drought according to drought monitor. This doesn't include rain since the 25th. Click here for link

7/28/2017 TS developed in SD moving south through area some rain amounts locally (.35) this station, (.39) Airport, (.50) East Valentine station Cocorahs official, (.50) also at East Valentine station automatic gauge located 120 yards west. Local radio station amounts reported by callers included some much higher numbers outside Valentine.

7/26/2017 Very hot yesterday with heat index reaching 105F this station. Airport temp reached 107F for high yesterday, this station 103.5, East Valentine station 104F. Some may have noticed airport temperatures occasionally running substantially above other stations this summer, also mentioned on local radio station. I researched using a site called Gladstone which tracks Madis data. Over last 28 days Madis does show mean temps +1.4 degrees at airport ASOS station. I'll include last 28 days and last 52 weeks for comparison. Click for link to data

7/25/2017 Update: 10pm light rain over last hour/half with some thunder and lightning still around area. (.31) recorded at 10pm this station west side of Valentine.

7/19/2017 Update: Thunderstorms missed Valentine again but several areas received rain. Final high temps today (111.9)F airport (New daily record) and national high temperature for populated city, (108.3)F this station all-time record, (110.2)F East Valentine station all-time record. Felt like a blast furnace outside today but temperatures have plummeted from highs, -25 degrees already.

7/16/2017 Added Nebraska Mesonet weather stations link below external link tab. Sparks station is located 19.3 miles ENE of Valentine and AKA Merritt 7.7 miles south of reservoir with hourly/daily conditions. Some high temperature examples recorded yesterday were 99F Sparks, 97F Merritt & 96F at Ainsworth Mesonet stations. These stations are high quality stations with separate network from MesoWest 'Area Observations' also located on external links.

7/01/2017 June summary this station. Temperature above normal +2.2F, mean temperature (69.7). Precipitation well below normal (-2.99) with only (.57") for month. Monthly high (98.9) low (37.8). Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries East Valentine station summary below with monthly highlights. This east side wx station won't have precipitation reported when frozen.

7/01/2017 East Valentine station June summary: High (99.4), Low (36.4), Mean (69.4), (.54) precipitation. Peak wind gust 46 mph... Live conditions this station: Click for link

6/30/2017 First decent rain of month coming on last day of June.(.30") fell on west side of Valentine. Other amounts reported (.19) East Valentine automatic weather station, (.24) south side Airport.

6/09/2017 First hot day with airport reporting (102F). (99F) this station, East Valentine station also (99.4F). Peak wind gust observed 39mph this station, 44mph both East Valentine station and Airport.

6/01/2017 May summary this station. Temperatures below normal -1.1, mean temperature (56.5). Precipitation above normal (+3.13") with (6.23") for month. Monthly high (89), low (30). Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries

5/24/2017 This morning dipped below freezing again for 1 hour 45 minutes. Looking at next 7 day forecast this probably was last freeze of season. (146) freeze days this season is 2 less than 2015-2016 and 13 less than 2014-2015 with (159). Click for more freeze data

5/21/2017 Update 6AM: Frost Advisory, temperature hovering just below freezing this morning at (30.6)F at 6:00. Remember ground level will be colder several degrees and could drop more before sunrise. East Valentine station (33)F so not everywhere is freezing. Airport also has dropped to (30)F at 6am.

5/20/2017 Update:6pm Cold rain started just after midnight. At 6pm sprinkles, this station recorded (1.17") so far today. Snow is being reported south of town with heaviest amounts around Thedford where several inches have accumulated. Road cams also confirm snowfall. Click for snow HW cam image near Brownlee

5/18/2017 Here are radar storm total estimates over Valentine and larger area for those that live out of town. Pink and red over Valentine, with this station in the higher pink zone as indicated from rainfall amounts reported. Click for link

5/17/2017 Rain stopped around 5:30pm with totals since midnight (2.34") this station. East Valentine station automatic gauge recorded (2.18"). Looking ahead NWS puts good chances in 60-70% range Thursday night through Friday with another 1-2" possible. We may get a weekend break with Saturday morning still 40% however.

5/17/2017 Overnight rain continues this morning with additional (.84) last 24 hours as of 7AM. (1.27) 2-day total this morning.

5/16/2017 Another round of thunderstorms last night. (.43) recorded in 8" SRG. Looking at forecast going ahead we can expect rain & TS activity to continue with good chances through Friday. This weekend may bring a break in activity with another chance on Monday.

5/15/2017 Valentine was hit by thunderstorm about 1:45-2am dropping dime size hail. Recorded (.34)" rain in this short period. Second storm came through later with rain total overnight .68. Open gauge collected (.68) was .02 additional hail catch over 8" standard rain gauge. Click for Image of hail pink reflection off radar last night

5/09/2017 Time-lapse videos back in service. Needed light rain today, potential for 1.3"+ over next 7 days. We are heading into most active time of year for rain and thunderstorms. Last 2 weeks of May through first 3 weeks of June are normally very active for Valentine area.

5/01/2017 April summary this station. Temperatures above normal +1.8, mean temperature (48.5). Precipitation below normal (-.85") with (1") total snowfall. Monthly high (80), low (14). Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries

4/26/2017 Light snow yesterday afternoon and overnight with only trace amount. Light rain fell (.09) prior to snow. Bulk of precipitation fell south of Valentine area.

4/13/2017 Dense fog this morning with dangerous highway travel conditions. Visibility tenth of mile or less.

4/10/2017 New snow (1") at 9:10am.

4/10/2017 .40 rainfall with a few embedded thunderstorms yesterday. Light snow at 5:30am this morning, temperature 31F and dropping.

4/02/2017 Snow gauge cam converted to west looking cam through October when it goes back on snow gauge.

4/01/2017 March summary this station. Temperatures above normal +2.8, mean temperature (39). Precipitation below normal (-.23") with (2.4") total snowfall. Monthly high (81.9), low (8.9). Monthly climate report summaries here: 2017 click for summaries

3/26/2017 Sensirion came out with new updated specs on Temp/humidity sensor. The (Sensirion SHT31) temperature accuracy plus/minus (.2C) or (0.36 F), humidity accuracy ( 2% humidity) between 0-100%. This station has the new sensor installed.

3/21/2017 6:20 am Heavy wet snow this morning, Measured 1.4" (.27) moisture.

3/15/2017 Freezing rain overnight, be careful this morning.

3/14/2017 .8" of snow this morning. Speaking of snow added link to time-lapse on big snow in February Click

3/01/2017 February summary this station. Temperatures started below normal with (1) day below zero but warmed 15-35 degrees above normal middle of month leaving monthly mean (+4). Precipitation was almost double normal (1.15") with 20" total snowfall, most occurring during 14" snowfall. Monthly high (75.5), low(-5.3). Mean (31.3)

2/28/2017 Patchy fog this morning on cameras. Strong snow eater south wind yesterday, lost another 2-3" with 2-3" left around area. Big warm-up this weekend. This is the last day of meteorological winter.

2/27/2017 Temperatures still cold this morning with snowpack 4-6" in and around Valentine. East Valentine station 2F this morning. In town west side 9.5F, airport south side 5F. Ground has frozen to 3" (31F) depth again slowing snow melt but sun angle will assure continued 1-2" loss per day. Once snow has diminished to less than inch temperatures expected to rise dramatically over weekend.

2/24/2017 Update 6:00am: Storm total 14" snow, Rain gauge SWE .62. 22:1 ratio. Snow has stopped. Current ground depth 13". Adjusted yearly & monthly totals to match (SRG) Standard rain gauge total. Peak observed snow rate during storm 2.8" in 1 hour. High wind gust 33 mph. Some 27" drifts measured, should be fun digging out today. Added link to time-lapse Click

2/23/2017 Major winter storm forecast for Valentine area. Using the snowfall forecast link on 7 day forecast tab. Most Likely Snowfall for Valentine 15", Least 7" and potential 18". Snowfall amounts for Valentine have backed off slightly overnight from likely 17 to 15 inches. Another thing ground is no longer frozen 34F at 3" depth so snowfall may have tendency to settle more as it falls.

2/3/2017 (1.1") new snow last night. (.08) (SRG). Temperature below zero this morning with fresh snow and clear sky. Airport -6, East Valentine station -6.5, this station -5.3. Update: Patchy fog developed around area toward sunrise warming temperatures +5, road cams all directions showing fog 7:30am.

2/1/2017 (1/2") new snow (.04) SWE from 8" SRG

1/31/2017 As of 9:30pm (1/2") new snow..... Summary for January this station temperatures below normal (-1.7F) mean (21.9) with average high (34), Low (11). Precipitation (.87) +.61 above normal, 11.0" snow including large snow of 9". (5) days below zero with monthly high temperature of (59F), low (-11F). Peak wind gust this station (42 mph).

1/25/2017 Snowfall update 6 am 9.0" total new snow. Still light snow falling, winds gusted to near 40 mph overnight causing drifting. All area road cams showing snow packed roads with areas of drift.

1/23/2017 Potential major winter snowstorm for area 5-8" forecast Tuesday-Wednesday but models still waffling on exact path. Added script thanks to Jerry Wilkins, http://www.gwwilkins.org/ from Lincoln for snowfall likelihood under 7 Day Forecast tab. Its a fun script in experimental stage currently.

1/01/2017 December this station temperatures below normal (-5) mean with average high (32), low (6). December snowfall west side Valentine (7"). December brought extreme cold with 10 subzero lows and 1 subzero high temperature, (11 total) with lowest temperature since 1994 of (-31)F along with extreme low windchill at airport (-51). Precipitation this station was (.99) or (.62) above normal. Most coming from unusual rain event Christmas day. Dec. maximum wind gust recorded this station was (55) mph, (66) mph at airport..... Full Summary 2016 look Below, +2.2 degrees above normal with +9.24" above normal precipitation. This was the 3rd consecutive year with well above normal precipitation.

Summary 2016: Mean temp- (50.2) +2.2 above normal, High Temp- (100.2) Low Temp- (-31.2) Heat Index- (113.7) High DP- (79) Lowest DP- (-36.9) Lowest humidity- (6) Highest Rain Total One Day- (4.32) inches, Yearly rainfall total-(29.28) inches, Snow-(30.5) inches, Highest Wind Gust- (66) mph, Highest Pressure- (30.94) inches, Lowest Pressure- (29.04) Airport mean (50.3) +2.3 above normal

12/28/2016 Website changes, Removed "Flash" pages no longer supported by all browsers.

12/25/2016 Christmas day storm rather wild. Starting with nearly an inch of sleet with thunderstorm turning to rain followed by cold air and light snow with 66 mph wind gust recorded at both airport and East Valentine station. As of 9pm precipitation this station (.54) mostly rain and sleet. Update 10:20pm Peak wind gust in town west side has been 55 mph.

12/18/2016 Link to NWS chat talking about the cold outbreak last night. Click for CHAT

12/18/2016 Update:5am This station has been down to -31 with wind non existent so far. Airport -31 also but more wind with windchill temperature down to -52 at times. East Valentine station air temperature crazy -37 with -40's wind chill. Temperatures forecast to start rising soon.

12/18/2016 Update:12am airport has been down to -27, this station -26, East Valentine station -30 burr..Wind chill airport -46 East Valentine station -47. Temperatures forecast to rise to around -18 toward sunrise so question is how low before they rise.

12/17/2016 Cocorahs snowboard measurement at 5:30am 3.5" new snow, water content (.24") 14:1 ratio. 4.5" total ground depth. -6 this morning at observation, windchill -27. Winter fun...

12/14/2016 Last night was again below zero temperatures occurring around 8:30am. Airport (-6), this station (-5), East Valentine station only (-1), where wind stayed up.

12/13/2016 Potential for dangerous winter storm starting Friday with sub zero daytime temperatures Saturday. High temperature Saturday will occur near midnight with temperatures dropping dangerously low with wind chill and snow.

12/13/2016 Once again temperatures plummeted into negatives around midnight before clouding up. Lowest temps reported airport being prior to midnight - airport (-8), This station (-7). Forecast temperatures Saturday high (-1) low (-17). NWS graphical model similar temperature wise but more cautious with snow forecast amounts until more certainty. Afternoon model run NWS will most likely have snow amount forecast.

12/12/2016 Temperatures around Valentine went below zero last night before coming back into single digits before sunrise. This station (-5), airport (-6) and East Valentine station (-9). Update: 11:20am Arctic cold front just arrived with reinforcing shot of cold air. Next even colder air is due this weekend with good chance of snow Friday night.

12/10/2016 Official Cocorahs 2.5" new snow at 6am. (.18) moisture content in gauge. Still snowing lightly. Updated ground temperatures freeze line has reached 16".

12/09/2016 half inch (.5") of light fluffy snow with 11 degree temperature at 10:40 am. Updated: 1PM Moisture content of snowfall (.01) under sunny skies.

12/09/2016 Temperatures bottomed -5 this station. -8 airport and East Valentine station. Models hinting of bitter cold possible next week could have single digit highs.

12/07/2016 Frigid temperatures this week. Possible below zero -0 by morning. Lack of snow cover will help prevent temperatures from tanking under strong Arctic high.

12/04/2016 Added soil temperature page ranging from 3" to 36" under Climate/Daily history tab. Will update weekly or more going into winter and later on for growing season.

12/01/2016 NWS Statement: November 2016 will go down as the fourth warmest November on record, tied with the year 1913: Airport was 7.7F above normal and this station 7.2 above normal. Toward end of month going into December temperatures have normalized. Airport recorded low temperature of 3F degrees and 4.5 this station. 4.5" snow was recorded this station.

11/27/2016 Added easy access page of some surrounding road cameras, Nebraska Dept.of Roads. Work in progress.

11/19/2016 Temperatures bottomed out at 3F airport also east side of town at East Valentine station . 4.5F on west side this station. image

11/18/2016 Cold overnight forecast (10)F so bundle up. Wouldn't be surprised if lower single digits occurred with fresh snow cover should wind stop. Not whole lot of cooling needed with highs today near 29F.

11/18/2016 Cocorahs official snowfall 4", moisture content .31" at 6:20am. 3.5" after settling. Snow stick is visual aid not official.

11/1/2016 October ended well above normal in temperature category (+5.7) above mean and also plus side (+.73 ) rainfall. Monthly weather highlights include 2" snow early in the month, 4 days at or below freezing and wind gust 54 mph on the 3rd.

10/31/2016 Added snow gauge cam. New gauge design hopefully reducing drift. Visual aid only actual snow depth is taken in several different locations and averaged.

10/20/2016 West side of Valentine received (.58") rain last 24 hours pushing yearly total (27.94") making +9" above airport historical normal. Miller Field reported (.53").

10/06/2016 Updated at 9pm..First snowfall of season measured Oct 6th with approximate 2" depth measured at 4:20pm. Much of the wet snow was settling as it fell preventing higher accumulation. Roads around Valentine got slushy for a period today. Temperature hovering just above 32 degrees so likely to see some ice by morning if clouds clear out. Cocorahs official rainfall amount (.90), 2" new snow. Adjusted tipping bucket total to reflect accurate manual gauge snowfall catch. Soil temperature sensor currently 39.8F at 2" depth.

10/04/2016 Thunderstorm line moved through area last night dropping (.46) west side valentine, airport on south side reported (.50), Cocorahs report just east of town (.51). High winds were reported yesterday afternoon. Some observed gust, west side Valentine (54mph), Airport (55mph), just east of Valentine (58mph).

10/01/2016 September 2016 ended with near normal temperatures and precipitation. Very uneventful month for weather. Monthly data is available 'climate/daily history' tab under NOAA reports or summary where yearly comparisons are available.

9/06/2016 Updated 7am : Cold front brought cluster of thunderstorms through Valentine area around 1am dropping heavy rain at times. Reports 7am (.82) west side, (.88) ASOS Miller Field, (1.23) official Cocorahs 3/4 mile east side.

9/05/2016 Thunderstorm line developed western Nebraska and moved into Valentine area around 8:40pm yesterday. Rain total (.45) west side with airport reporting (.34) on south side. East Valentine station officially (.41). Patchy fog around area can be seen in cameras this morning.

9/01/2016 August 2016 was below normal in precipitation coming up (-1.64") short and below normal temperature (-1.2) this station.

8/31/2016 Turned on night time IR on one of the cameras east of Valentine making precipitation and fog visible at night. Patchy areas of fog around Valentine this morning.

8/30/2016 Isolated thunderstorm developed just east of Valentine and skirted south side of town dropping (.51") at airport and only (.02") west side. Mother nature playing catchup for areas left behind earlier in year.

8/21/2016 Chilly morning for August with East Valentine station getting down to (42), Miller Field (45) and this station (46) as of 7am.

8/20/2016 (.07 ) additional rain after 6:35am yesterday making 2 day total (.59) Valentine west side.

8/19/2016 Active pattern with passing of cold front. Precipitation around area (.52 ) on west side Valentine @6:35am. Miller Field reporting (.49 )

8/10/2016 Thunderstorm skirted just north and west of Valentine dropping (.23) on west side of town and (.26) ENE side. Lesser amounts going south of HW 20 with Miller Field (.07). Doppler Radar rainfall estimate show path of storms. Click on LINK

8/1/2016 July summary near typical. Mean temperature was near normal 73.8 (-.7) with (10) 90+ degree days and (1) 100+ degree day this station. Precipitation 3.75" was above (+.54) leaving yearly 23.22" and well above calendar year normal (+9.29). Station record observed with highest wind gust (66) mph since station installation June 2014.

7/31/2016 Several thunderstorm lines developed near the Black Hills and moved into NC Nebraska last night. One of the storms made it into Valentine area around 1:30 AM leaving (.24") this station west side, (.32") Miller Field (.26") 1.3 ENE Cocorahs Valentine. Peak wind gust in town this station 37 mph, Miller Field 47 mph, East Valentine station 46 mph.

7/26/2016 Severe thunderstorm hit Valentine around 9pm. Very heavy rain mixed with hail up to 1" size. Very high wind gust recorded 66 mph in town, 69 mph at airport. 1.73" rain officially this station west side Valentine. Miller Field had lighter rainfall south of HW 20 with 1.18", 1.3 miles ENE Cocorahs recorded 1.10". Some broken tree limbs and street flooding reported around town. Doppler Radar shows areas with heaviest rainfall link rainfall estimates

7/15/2016 Active morning weather with thunderstorms developing across South Dakota and moving into Valentine area. (.38) moisture received west side Valentine as of 7am. Airport is reporting (.50), east side Valentine (.57) Cocorahs.

7/10/2016 Another hot day with heat index reaching 105 this station. Link for today's graph

7/8/2016 Added webcam links east side of Valentine looking WNW-WSW back toward Valentine. Also added timelapse with weather conditions overlay for camera site. (Link in Cams/Stream tab) Much thanks Merle for the hard work installing and hosting cameras & weather station. CWOP ID:EW7498 and Weather Underground ID:KNEVALEN3. Merle is also an official COCORAHS observer.

7/6/2016 Thunderstorm line with severe potential moved through Valentine area around 6:40 pm. SW Cherry county reported tornado but didn't see any severe weather or much wind on west side of town with peak gust 36mph as of 7:10 pm. Airport reported 58mph gust East Valentine station 45mph gust along with (.32) in Cocorahs gauge. Rainfall (.25)" this station on west side with rainfall rate peaking at 3.62" per hour for 3 full minutes. Much less than some of our big rains with extended 7-8" hr/rate gully washers this year.

7/2/2016 Nice prolonged soaking of unexpected rain yesterday lasting several hours going into the early morning hours. This station on July 1st has exceeded 20" on the year.

7/1/2016 Month of June this station was above normal on both temperatures and precipitation. +5.3 degrees mean temperature and +1.32 precipitation. With only 4 days of significant rain >(.10) it had abnormally long dry periods for historically wettest time of year. Highlights included wind event with thunderstorm uprooting trees & breaking large limbs along with almost 4" rain over 24 hour period. This station saw 1-100 degree day and 9-90+ days total. Lowest temperature was 42 degrees.

6/30/2016 Added time-lapse of storm rolling in yesterday from NW anemometer mast cam, shaking was unavoidable. Click here

6/29/2016 Severe thunderstorm packing high winds moved in from north. This station is protected from north during summer with large tree foliage recorded 50 mph wind. Airport saw much higher gust reaching 64mph. East Valentine station recorded 57mph wind. East weather camera caught large 12" diameter tree branch breaking off next door. Link to short video. Tree branch link .... Rainfall amount at 10:20 pm (.19), tipping bucket (.20)

6/28/2016 Update 9:25pm..Line of thunderstorms approached Valentine from west, experienced some hail with a few reaching 3/4" size but most in pea size to 1/4" range. All gauges (.74) with exception of Cocorahs with funnel top bounced hail out and only recorded .71. The open Cocorahs recorded same as NWS 8" (.74). Doppler Radar rainfall estimates usually on high side but shows where heaviest occurred. Area storm estimate and around Valentine

6/24/2016 Another hot day with temperature this station peaking at 98, DewPoint 69 with heat index 104 degrees.

6/23/2016 Just an update on weather station I've been asked about the new instruments. The station has a backup temp/hum sensor should one fail. Having redundancy also allows sensor confirmation with both tracking closely .00-.03 of one another. Another addition is 4-ground soil temperature sensors measuring temperatures 3"-36" for tracking freeze data. Soil sensors live are not online for viewing but may upload weekly graphs to Flickr and link here on news event page. Soil temperatures 5-29 through 6-23 I've linked here.. Soil temperature

6/20/2016 Set station record heat index yesterday of 108 degrees. East Valentine station heat index also reached 105. DewPoint reached 76 in town 73 and East Valentine station just before cold front moved through area dropping temperature and DewPoints back down. DewPoint is down in the upper 40's early today.

6/14/2016 Very heavy rain with line of thunderstorms last night before midnight and into early morning, on west side of Valentine 3.78" this station. 1.9 miles on east side of Valentine different Cocorahs station 3.82". Airport is reporting 3.47" on southern end Valentine. Many unofficial reports in 4"+ being reported on radio air waves. 3.85" at radio station itself. The unofficial tipping bucket this station recorded 3.81". Updated: 4:30pm rain totals .06 additional afternoon shower.

5/31/2016 Month of May similar to last year, very wet with 7.87" rain this station (+4.74"). Temperatures were near normal. Details can be seen on Climate/Daily History tab under NOAA reports, clicking on the year 2016 will show departures from normal.

5/30/2016 Thunderstorm line moved through on Memorial Day with west side this station recording .37, Airport Miller Field .62 @10pm. Rain currently stopped around Valentine. The Arabia area 11 miles SE reported 1" hail.

5/29/2016 Evening showers with main TS line 30 miles south of Valentine moving east last night. At 7am (.17) manual rain gauges, .16 tipping bucket

5/27/2016 Afternoon update .21 additional rain mid morning showers.

5/27/2016 Updated:7:40am..Trough line appeared to stall over Valentine area last evening some TS showed little movement and kept redeveloping over same areas, these areas received excess of an inch I'm certain. This station west side of town received (.54) @ 7am. East Valentine station TS hit area much harder (.80) Cocorahs at 7AM. Miller Field looks to have received less only (.42"). Key word LOOKS. 7am several ranches in area reporting 1-2" rainfall.

5/25/2016 Afternoon update: picked up dime size hail and .12" of precipitation with TS that skirted north of town.

5/25/2016 Line of thunderstorms came through last night around 11:15pm, nothing reached severe level in Valentine area. This station west side 8" dia. standard gauge recorded (.56"). Cocorahs east side town reported (.54") .

5/23/2016 Lightning cloud to ground strike from yesterdays storm caught by east webcam. Pic link Strike

5/22/2016 Intense tornadic thunderstorm hit Valentine, putting a tornado emergency alarm to seek shelter immediately. No tornado damage reports yet. 1" hail has been observed with street flooding and very heavy rain mixed with hail at times. As of 9:10 the tipping bucket is over 4.10" of rain. Still too much lightning and heavy rain to check the official 8" dia. manual gauge. Update:11 pm 4.32" in standard rain gauge.

5/16/2016 Light steady rain between 6am and 11am, recorded .34 in standard rain gauge, .33 tipping bucket gauge

5/9/2016 3 separate rain events, thunderstorm activity 8th & 9th with some pea size hail on 8th. Recalibration on tipping bucket matched 8" standard gauge both .42 on last storm.

5/5/2016 April summary: This station ended with 2.72" above normal with 1.5" of snow which included several substantial rains. Temperature ended 1.8 degrees above seasonal average. Season snow total this station, stands at 42.3".

4/01/2016 March was the 2nd month in a row with well above normal temperatures +6 above mean average. Precipitation was near normal. 5.5 inches snow was record daily event for the 23rd.

3/26/2016 New upgraded temp/hum sensor installed here and East Valentine station. (Sensirion SHT31) plus/minus( 0.5 F) ( 2% humidity) across entire range.

3/24/2016 Snow melt overnight 1.5" from warm ground even with low temperature 14F. Don't expect snow to stay around for long.

3/23/2016 Powerful Spring snowstorm full blown near blizzard conditions with 5.5" new snow at 1:00 pm. Snow depth 5.0" at 4PM.

3/11/2016 WNW and WSW cams mounted near top anemometer mask at 30'. Hills Ponderosa pine covered, NW of Valentine now visible. Cams will move with wind so still images only. Added nationwide storm report map.

3/1/2016 February summary, very dry and warm. Mean temperature 34.5F +7F above normal or March like temperatures. Precip. .18 or .30 below normal. Snowfall only 1.2".

2/29/2016 Update: Migration to new host server process near complete, if you see this message this is the new hosting site.

2/17/2016 Added north and south camera streams under camera section,

2/16/2016 Valentines Day ended the 64th day in a row with 1"+ snow on the ground at this station.

2/15/2016 Everything covered in layer of thin ice early morning .04 precipitation fell prior to midnight. Walking treacherous, rain gauges frozen, cameras were unclear type of precipitation but dusting of snow present.

2/2/2016 Light snow most of day, wind gust to 30 mph at times.

2/1/2016 January summary: This station ended with mean temperature 23F (-.4F) slightly below average and precipitation twice normal (.59) (8.5") snow. 5 days below (0F) were observed along with 31 days of (3") ground snow cover or more helping keep temperatures several degrees cooler than areas without snow pack.

1/25/2016 Snow event with accumulation (3.7") making snow pack 6-9 inches around area. This station west side Valentine has conservative 7" average ground depth. Temperatures forecast to warm well above average, nearing 49F later this week.

1/21/2016 (1.2") of snow overnight and this morning, .09 water equivalent as of 2pm. 13:1 water ratio. With new snow, this station located Valentine west side has reached 30" for season.

1/18/2016 Coldest morning of year (-13F), Miller Field observed (-16F). East Valentine station (-14F). Current snowpack between 2-5" around area. Officially 4" this station on west side Valentine, 2" Miller Field where snowpack decreases going south out of Valentine.

1/16/2016 1.3 inches of new snow with Arctic air mass. (.04) 4" diameter Cocorahs, (.05) 8" diameter NWS SRG, 26:1 water ratio snow fell between 3-9F.

1/12/2016 1.3 inches of new snow. Cocorahs snow melt .06 total, very dry snow. 21:1 water ratio

1/1/2016 Valentine Miller Field highlight for 2015 ended as 8th wettest on record. As of Jan. 1 this WX station measured 30 days of ground snow cover of 1" or more this season. December ended with above normal precipitation & snowfall. +1.9F normal temperature because of the very warm week +20F experienced early in the month.

12/18/2015 Valentine area first negative temperatures with existing snow pack 6" and clear conditions, Arctic air still in area with Wind Chill temperatures very low this morning (-20F) with ambient temperatures (-4F) this station. (-8F) Miller Field tied nationally with 4 other stations as 4th coldest. .

12/16/2015 Storm totals .01 additional overnight, (4.7) new total . (6.5) average depth, lots of drifting. Miller Field observer also reported 5" new, 7 total. (.37 moisture) Measuring powered windblown snowfall is tricky. Some reports have as much as 8" new snow reported.

12/13/2015 Storm total 3.8" ended around midnight. Official Cocorahs snow melt total was .40, SRG the same. Airport reports 4" new snow (.38) which is also a record for date.

12/12/2015 Current snow in progress, will update snow measurement amount on Snow Report page under Climate/Daily History tab. Currently at 11pm 3.2 inches. Snow moisture content looks 10:1 ratio. Storm final numbers tomorrow after doing rain gauge snow melt. Tipping bucket numbers generally come in low because of evaporation.

12/3/2015 Cold morning temperature dropped to 7F this station, 5F at East Valentine station 3/4 mile east. Airport was missing data today. Snowpack west side at 6.5" this morning.

12/2/2015 Snowpack has settled to 7.8" at 5am with temperatures staying elevated 30-31F most of night, but may drop into teens by sunrise. November ended with above normal temperature +1.9F and above normal precipitation +1.29 inches. Snowfall 11.4 inches was also above normal.

12/1/2015 Update: 4:00pm, 2.9" new snow since morning measurement putting west side Valentine at 9.4" on ground. New snow melt from 6am, .18 adjusted tipping bucket to match, evaporation took its toll today as snow melted with added wind. Today's snow, moisture content was 15:1 ration vs yesterdays 14:1.

11/30/2015 Update: 10:00pm, 6.7" new snow accumulation. (.45) snow melt 8" standard gauge. Snow moisture content was 14:1 ratio.

11/30/2015 Here is image of snow gauge as you can see its drifting around so this is ballpark visual aid only. Official measurements are off snowboards. , Snow Gauge link

11/29/2015 Repaired radar script. Thanks to Jerry pointing it out and sending corrected code.

11/22/2015 Another cold morning before warmer west winds mixed in early around 6am preventing further dropping. Temperatures bottomed Miller Field 4F, 6F this station and 7F East Valentine station .

11/21/2015 Very cold morning with fresh snowpack 3-4" in immediate area, temperatures dropped into single digits. 2F Miller field, Just East of town East Valentine station 3F and this station 5F. East Valentine station doesn't have rain gauge heater so no accurate winter precipitation reports but located in the open for great wind data. Linked on flash page here and on links tab.

11/20/2015 Started snowing last night as of 11am new snow depth peaked at 4.2" off snowboard. (.40) as of 12:45 pm snow currently stopped, snow has settled to 4.0" on snowboard after peak of 4.2"

11/18/2015 Very strong winds today and very low pressure bottomed at 29.22. Peak gust this station in town 45 mph, airport and east of town 60-59 mph.

11/17/2015 Rain changed to snow just after 5am. Received tenth of inch snow (.06 water equivalent). (.35 mix storm total 8" SRG at 12 noon) Area downgraded with little accumulation expected in updated forecast. This storm main impact is missing area to south. Looking at webcams looks like mainly rain event so far. Statewide webcams are available on the NE Roads external link and clicking on cameras.

11/5/2015 24 hour rain total @ 1320 pm, west side(.71), Miller field reporting (.64), Cocorahs East side (.74)

11/2/2015 Added full page USA color 12 hour satellite loop to Radar/Satellite tab. Very nice thanks to Jerry at Southeast Lincoln Weather...Large Satellite loop,

11/1/2015 October ended above normal in both temperature and precipitation. (+3.7) degrees mean temperature, (+.57) inch precipitation. 7 out of 10 months have experienced above normal precipitation this year, (+9.29 inches ) temperatures (+1.2F) this El Nino building year. It remains to be seen how El Nino affects Valentine this winter. Last two strong (97-98, 82-83) El Nino's brought below normal precip. & above normal temperatures. Prior two (72-73, 65-66) brought slightly above normal precip. but below normal temperatures. This years El Nino sea temperatures look similar to (72-73) at this stage, making it around 2nd or 3rd strongest in recorded history. More on El Nino, Historical sea temperature data,

10/29/2015 Valentine experienced lowest temperature this season. 21F at this station. Miller Field 20F.

10/18/2015 Snow depth gauge for visual aid added to Cameras menu. Actual snow depth measured off snowboard and various areas. <

10/16/2015 First hard freeze currently 26F at this station 6:50am, Miller Field 24. More temperatures,

10/4/2015 2 day storm total update 7am. West Valentine 1.23, East side 3/4 mile 1.02, Miller Field 1.09

10/1/2015 September was well above normal with mean temperature +4.8 above normal. Rainfall thanks to the almost 4" storm ended +3.74 above normal.

9/29/2015 Showery day yesterday, rain totals West Valentine .28, East side .28, airport (.19) continues to fall short of the other rain gauges in area.

9/24/2015 Moderate to heavy rain Yesterday, lasting almost 13 hours. Storm totals at 7:00 am (3.94)". Valentine Cocorahs East side reported (3.95"). Monthly and daily records for Miller field were also set. (3.58) was last report at Miller field. Some unofficial amounts around Valentine exceeded 9"

9/18/2015 Substantial rain after very warm start to September. At 13:20pm. 8" standard gauge (.87). Cocorahs west (.86), Miller Field (.82)

9/15/2015 Valentine Miller field was warmest in nation yesterday 101. Moved Forecast discussion from external links to menu bar with internal link.

9/4/2015 First rain with thunderstorm in 16 days. Amounts observed West side Valentine .20, East .21, Miller Field .13. First 100+ day of year of 101 at this station September 2nd.

9/1/2015 August this station had near normal temperatures and above normal precipitation +(.78) inch. 10 days >90, zero above 100.

8/27/2015 Added information about the Blizzard of 1949 under the Climate/Daily History tab.

8/18/2015 Heavy rain with embedded thunderstorms occurred with unusually cold trough.

8/16/2015 Multiple thunderstorms approached Valentine from west and turned back toward SW suddenly. .Saturday was warmest day of summer with ambient temperature of 99 and heat index of 105F.

8/15/2015 Added non flash version of NOAA Ridge Radar, special thanks to Jerry at Southeast Lincoln Weather for the script development and others for their contribution. Flash is being phased out by many browsers soon, so the necessity for development of non flash player scripts.

8/14/2015 Rain totals yesterday, Valentine West Cocorahs .03, East Cocorahs .12, Miller Field .01

8/08/2015 24 hour rain gauge totals. Cocorahs west .57, East .46, Airport .18. Doppler radar shows airport in (.30) range,(.60) range at this station, (1") just west and north of Valentine. Rain estimation link, Radio Station downtown Valentine reported (.84). Airport (Miller Field) south of town is currently lagging 3" behind west side of Valentine on yearly precipitation.

8/05/2015 Dense fog around area this morning, Time-Lapse South shows fog between 5:30-7am.

8/02/2015 July mean (73.3) was 1.2 degrees (F) below normal with 3.7" rainfall .49" above normal. Station observed 12 days above 90F, and 0 days above 100F.

8/02/2015 Rainfall totals on 1st Cocorahs East .75, West .99, Miller Field .56.

7/27/2015 Image of thunderstorm and approximate area tornado was sighted Thunderstorm, Location

7/26/2015 Tornado touched down 11 miles NE of Valentine according to NWS, the strong cell continued moving eastward. Law enforcement reported the sighting.

5/22/2015 *Anemometer now mounted at 10 meters. Pic link anemometer

4/9/2015 First substantial precipitation in 2 months.

4/1/2015 March was 2nd driest in Valentine history, and 7th warmest on record reported by NWS.

1/3/2015 Arctic storm 40 mph wind gust, blizzard conditions with 1" new snow.

12/29/2014 Arctic storm total 2.5" .18 snow melt. Average ground snow depth 4.7" 1PM temperature 6 degrees. Forecast low -14, Wind chills -30 range. 9.9" for month of Dec. so far 15.8" for season.

12/27/2014 Total storm snow 2.5". Arctic cold front moving into area Sunday night into Monday.

12/26/2014 1.5" 5AM .6" fell Christmas day. Started late afternoon.

11/17/2014 Several Arctic cold fronts moved through this last week, dumping 6" snow on 15-16th and low temperature of -12 below zero on 16th.

10/4/2014 First freeze 27 degrees, growing season officially ended most areas. Miller Field reported low of 24 degrees.

7/25/2014 Valentine Miller Field set a record rainfall total for June.

6/1/2014 station on-line afternoon of June 1, 2014, highs and lows are not complete for June 1, 2014.