Lincoln and the rest of eastern Nebraska got slammed with the second snowstorm of the week on Friday, leading to impassable roads and shuttered schools, offices and businesses.
Lincoln officially got 8.7 inches of snow. Snowfall was higher north of Lincoln, with 11.5 inches reported in the Omaha area, and Shelby, which is south of Columbus, reporting 10 inches.
Dirk Petersen, a meteorologist with the weather service office in Valley, said the high winds accompanying the snow meant a lot of variation in snow totals being recorded.
The snow, combined with wind gusts more than 35 miles an hour, created miserable conditions in Lincoln, which saw a steady temperature in the single digits and wind chills around minus 15.
Largely because of the wind, the weather service extended a winter storm warning for Lancaster and several other counties — which had been set to expire at 9 p.m. Friday night — until 6 p.m. Saturday. Some areas of northeast and north-central Nebraska are in a blizzard warning until 6 p.m. Saturday.
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The city also is under a wind chill warning until Tuesday afternoon, with the National Weather Service predicting that wind chills in Lincoln could drop as low as 40 degrees below zero.
Actual temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are not forecast to get above zero, and lows could approach minus 20 Sunday morning, which would break the existing record of minus-18.
The last time Lincoln faced such an extended period of extreme cold, its residents were treated to rolling blackouts to conserve energy, but Lincoln Electric System said such drastic measures are unlikely this time around.
Sally Jarecke, an LES spokeswoman, said the utility has been "in regular contact" with the Southwest Power Pool, the organization that coordinates the regional transmission grid and power market for much of the Midwest.
Jarecke said the Southwest Power Pool has issued a series of advisories for its member utilities for parts of the weekend and next week based on their forecasts, but those do not mandate any conservation efforts, and the organization does not expect to mandate any.
"At this time, SPP has not forecast reaching an Energy Emergency Alert level 3, which is the level at which controlled, rotating outages may occur," she said in an email.
Lincoln Public Schools called off all athletic and other activities scheduled for Saturday because of the "extreme winter weather continuing in the area."
On Friday, a number of other organizations either closed completely or had shortened hours, including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Doane University, Concordia University and Southeast Community College, which all were closed for the day.
The city's Aging Partners Senior Centers and its Fitness Centers were closed, as were city recycling centers. All city libraries were closed, too, except for the Bennett Martin branch downtown, which operated on reduced hours. The Lancaster County Treasurer's Office didn't open until 10 a.m., two and a half hours later than normal.
The city also announced that city recreation centers and the Pioneers Park Nature Center will be closed Saturday and Sunday, as will city recycling centers.
With many fewer vehicles than normal on city streets Friday, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said the city had "deployed the largest possible response" of 165 trucks plowing the streets. She said plowing of both arterial and residential streets would continue throughout the night Friday into Saturday morning.
LTU Director Liz Elliott said city streets were snowpacked and many had slick spots. She implored those traveling to give themselves extra time to get to their destinations.
Health Director Pat Lopez also encouraged people to take precautions to avoid two common winter threats: falls and frostbite.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said Friday that there has been a "notable increase" this week in emergency room visits for frostbite and hypothermia. The department also said there have been more than 140 emergency room visits statewide over the past couple of weeks for outdoor falls caused by icy surfaces.
"Ice and snow increase the risk of falling," Lopez said, encouraging people to "walk like a penguin" when on icy surfaces.
Outside of Lincoln, the heavy snow and wind led to a number of road closures, including Interstate 80 in Omaha, which closed for a time Friday afternoon after a series of accidents near the 72nd Street exit.
Other highways that were closed at some point on Friday included, a stretch of U.S. 34 from 11 miles east of York to 3 miles east of Hampton and U.S. 77 near Wahoo. Other highway closures included Nebraska 4, 41, 74 and 92 and U.S. 136. There were reports that all roads in Jefferson County were shut down.
Petersen said the wind was causing heavy drifting of snow.
"We're seeing drifts in some places four feet tall," he said.
Despite the dangerous road conditions, the Nebraska State Patrol had dealt with only two accidents as of 6:30 p.m. on Friday, said spokesman Cody Thomas. However, troopers had already performed more than 208 motorist assists. Lincoln police had dealt with 15 accidents as of 5 p.m.
It wasn't just drivers being hampered by the weather. Several flights were either canceled or delayed at both the Lincoln and Omaha airports.