Robb Cemetery in northern Gosper County, (Brian Neben, Courtesy)
HASTINGS — Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day, has been observed on the last Monday in May since 1971, and thus ranges in date from May 25-3, prior to 1971, Memorial Day was always observed May 30.
In South Central Nebraska, late-May weather conditions vary from spring-like to summer-like, and thunderstorms, sometimes severe, pay a semi-regular visit. The majority of Memorial Days across the local area feature high temperatures somewhere between the upper-60s and upper-80s, while morning lows usually dip between the mid-40s and low-60s.
However, in just the past 30 years, Memorial Day high temps in Grand Island have ranged all the way from 56-99 degrees. This story features a wealth of Memorial Day weather and climate information focused specifically on Grand Island, where weather records date back 128 years to 1896.
Temperatures: According to the entire period of record, the hottest Memorial Day in Grand Island was 103 degrees in 1934, and the coolest daytime high was 54 degrees in 1915. As for low temperatures, the chilliest on record was 36° in 1947, and the mildest was 72 degrees in 1934. Only 12-of-128 Memorial Days on record nine percent have featured high temperatures of 90 degrees or warmer, most recently just last year. The most recent 100 degrees plus Memorial Day was in 1989, and the most recent Memorial Day that failed to reach 60 degrees was in 1997.
Rainfall: The wettest Memorial Day on record was 1935 with 2.97 inches. Measurable rain (0.01 inches or more) has been recorded in 52 of the 128 years, or 41 percent of the time. However, in recent years a somewhat-rainier trend has transpired, as nine of the last 13 holidays have featured measurable rain at some point during the calendar day. The 1.60 inches that fell four years ago in 2020 was the first 1 inch-or-more rain on Memorial Day in 43 years (since 1977).
Severe Thunderstorms (recent past): The last time severe thunderstorms directly impacted the Grand Island area on Memorial Day was 13 years ago on May 30, 2011, when an evening squall line produced a peak gust of 74 mph at the airport, resulting in several reports of tree and structural damage across town. Five years ago (May 27, 2019) featured a somewhat “close call” for Grand Island, as an evening severe storm dropped hail up to ping pong ball size in Kearney, but this storm remained “safely” west of Grand Island.
Non-Thunderstorm High Winds (recent past): Although breezy to moderately-windy conditions are not that unusual on Memorial Day, two years ago (May 30, 2022) was likely the overall-windiest holiday in quite some time as a strong low pressure system tracked through Nebraska. The morning started off with southerly winds gusting 30-40 mph ahead of an approaching cold front/dryline. However, winds cranked up even more behind this dryline during the afternoon, with several hours of west-southwest sustained speeds 30-35 plus mph/frequent gusts 40-50 plus mph. At Central Nebraska Regional Airport, the daily peak gust of 58 mph occurred at 2:17 p.m.
2023 Memorial Day Recap: Memorial Day 2023, May 29, was certainly on the warmer side of things, but was an overall-decent weather day, featuring plenty of sunshine and only modestly-breezy south-southwest winds generally sustained 10-15 mph and gusting 20-25 mph (not nearly as windy as Memorial Day 2022 one year prior). Following a very “normal” morning low temperature of 56 degrees, things heated up quickly through the day…already reaching the low-80s by noon…on the way to an afternoon high of 90 degrees. Although this reading didn’t even crack the Top-10 list for the warmest Memorial Day on record, it was nonetheless the warmest Memorial Day in Grand Island in 23 years, since 97 degrees in 2000.
