The Superior Express -

January's taste of winter weather is making area residents more appreciative of the recent string of mild winters.

Since the arrival of 2024 this area has experienced several days of subzero temperatures, high winds and snow.

The weather has caused he cancellation of many activities, extended the Christmas vacation for our schools and made travel difficult. The weather problems haven't been limited to one area. Within the week there was at least one day where Arizona was the only one of the 48 states not to have some type of weather warning.

Our newspapers were printed on schedule last week and delivered to the local post offices on a relatively mild Wednesday but the papers mailed in Nuckolls County did not leave Nuckolls County until Thursday as the truck which is supposed to carry them into Grand Island did not run.

As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, the entire area served by the National Weather Service office at Hastings was reporting temperatures above zero since early Friday morning. As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, Grand Island had been at or below 0 since 6 p.m. Friday which was the longest stretch of temperatures at 0 or lower since 1983. That streak ended about noon but it wasn't anywhere near the 202 hour stretch experienced in 1983.

Frigid temps fail to impede the tranquil view from the bridge over Lost Creek in Superior.

The brief warm up was expected to continue through Wednesday before the area plunged back into the deep freeze on Thursday. However, there is hope of better days to come. Starting Monday there is a 40 to 60 percent chance January will concluded with above normal temperatures. Another round of snow is possible for today (Thursday).

We didn't get so much snow this week but unlike last week's snow that was wet heavy, this week's was light and fluffy. Both weeks the snow came with high winds that caused substantial drifting which caused the closure of many roads.

Both Grand Island and Hastings set a new record for the cold high maximum temperature of Jan. 14. In the first 15 days of 2024, six new records for cold temperatures were set in the area served by the Hastings weather bureau. That is already more than was set in all of 2023.

An observer 3 miles east of Guide Rock recorded a low of -34 degrees at 4:50 a.m. Sunday. Most area churches were closed on Sunday. Many Superior stores have either had shortened hours this week or entirely closed because of the cold and snow.