“Right now, all the towing companies are flat full of tows,” Pughes said. “They’re working as fast as they can to get people towed out and removed, too. It’s going to be a good, all-day effort today.”

Pughes said the storm on Jan. 18 was at least a once-in-a-decade storm.

“Maybe more than that just because of the volume,” he said. “We knew the storm was coming. It came a little later than we thought and then dumped as much, if not more, in that same timeframe.”

A total of 10.8 inches of snowfall was recorded at the National Weather Service office north of Hastings, shattering the daily snowfall record for Jan. 18, 2.5 inches, set in 1960.

The daily snow total also was the largest ever for a single day in January, breaking the previous record of 9.8 inches from Jan. 31, 2002.

The combination of snow, sleet and other moisture received Jan. 18 was good for .93 of one inch of precipitation — also a record-breaking amount by far. The previous record, one-half inch, was set in 1912, according to NWS records.

Even though Wednesday’s snowfall came later than expected, Jordan Thies, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Hastings, said the totals were toward the higher end of the forecast estimates of 6-11 inches in Hastings.

“I’m sure a lot of people around noon (Jan. 18) were wondering where the snow was,” he said. “We got off to a bit of a slow start, but it came down hard and heavy.”

A total of 13.4 inches of snowfall was measured in Blue Hill. Thirteen inches of snow also fell in Juniata and at a reporting site three miles southeast of Prosser. A total of 11.2 inches fell one mile northwest of Hastings.

The area’s biggest snow totals also included 10 inches in Red Cloud; 9 inches two miles south of Holstein and one mile north of Minden; 8.5 inches southeast of Lawrence; 8 inches six miles south of Wilcox; 7.5 inches one mile southeast of Doniphan; 7 inches five miles east of Red Cloud; and 6 inches four miles northeast of Doniphan and one mile east of Giltner.

The snow totals dropped considerably in the southeastern portion of Tribland. Measured amounts included 4.2 inches southeast of Clay Center, 4 inches south of Oak, 3.3 inches in Superior, and 1.8 inches in the Ohiowa and Hebron areas.

Blowing snow and slick roads created dangerous travel conditions for those who dared to venture outdoors Jan. 18.

“When we’re getting 2-3 inches an hour, it just piles up,” Pughes said. “It doesn’t matter what your efforts are, you can’t keep up with it and there was zero visibility just because of the heavy, thick snow.”

He said a semi was stuck at the roundabout at U.S. Highway 6 and Adams Central Avenue. Sometimes one vehicle would get stuck, ask for help and the responding party also would get stuck.

“There were a lot of people who got their vehicle stranded,” he said. “The sheriff’s office did a great job of helping round up those people and get them to a safe area; so did other citizens.”

Chief Deputy Kevin Mauck said the Adams County Sheriff’s Office responded to nearly 30 calls for motorist assistance or abandoned vehicles, though limited visibility made it difficult to respond.

Calls came from all areas of the county, though one problematic section was U.S. Highway 281 at the junction with Nebraska Highway 74 near Ayr. Mauck said several vehicles slid off the road and got stuck, essentially shutting off the highway.

He said deputies tried to get stranded motorists home, but out-of-towners were taken to motels to wait out the storm.

In the city limits, Sgt. Robert Brooks said the Hastings Police Department also responded to 15 calls for motorist assists Jan. 18. He said those calls take a lot of time to complete as officers divert traffic and wait for a wrecker to be able to get to the vehicle.

One major area of concern was at the Burlington Avenue underpass where slush stalled a couple semi-tractor trailers stopped for the traffic light. Without momentum, they were unable to climb the slope and needed assistance to get going.

Just before 3:30 p.m. Jan. 18, Adams County Emergency Management announced that due to the unsafe conditions and zero visibility, the county highway department was pulling its trucks off the roads.

Greg Anderson, co-superintendent of the Adams County Highway Department, said Jan. 19 that decision was made Jan. 18 after two county highway department trucks ended up in the ditch on opposite ends of the county — northwest of Kenesaw and north of the Webster County line on the recently renovated portion of Bladen Avenue.

“Those guys couldn’t see,” he said. “We’re human beings. We just had to do what’s right. I was upset with myself because I sent them back out there to make another pass, hoping it would do it for people to get home in the evening, and it just really came to bite me.”

Motor graders began working again around 4 a.m. Jan. 19.

“My goal by the end of the night is to at least have everybody to have one way in and out from their residence,” Anderson said in the morning on Jan. 19.

That effort would last “as long as it takes,” he said.

“I already told my wife and kids, ‘I’ll see you when I see you,’ ” he said.

Anderson sent several highway department drivers home Jan. 18 with their blades in case clearing efforts were needed for emergency responses.

He said no such effort was needed.

When it came to dealing with vehicles stuck in the road, Anderson said his crews worked to plow around the vehicles when possible and report the vehicle to the sheriff’s office.

The highway department has towed vehicles to the side of the road when the stuck vehicle makes the road impassable.

“We won’t do it unless we absolutely have to,” Anderson said.

In addition to treacherous travel conditions, the storm created complications of other sorts for area businesses and organizations.

KSNB-TV reported Jan. 18 that its staff had evacuated the television studios just north of Hastings because ice was accumulating on the telecommunications tower next to the building and on its support wires. Local4 news broadcasts later Jan. 18 and into Jan. 19 were originating from the station’s Grand Island studio and from staff members’ homes.

Many area schools were closed for the day again on Jan. 19 due to difficult road conditions. All Central Community College campuses and centers were closed for the day, and Hastings College provided classes remotely.

On Thursday morning, traffic on U.S. Highway 81 was backing up as law enforcement and roads department personnel worked to remove a semitrailer truck from U.S. Highway 81 between X and Y roads in southern Fillmore County, and other vehicles were slipping off the road in that area, the Sheriff’s Office reported via social media. The obstruction had been cleared by late morning.

After a vehicle got stuck on the railroad tracks, residents at Bristol Station helped push it across the rails at the 100 block of South Hastings Avenue.

In the day following the storm, Pughes said there are elements to be aware of during the cleanup effort.

“The problem now is making sure the people are safe and not getting heart attacks and going out there trying to shovel the snow off their vehicles,” he said. “It’s a heavy, wet snow.”

With below-freezing temperatures forecasted for the next five days, the snow won’t go away anytime soon. Air temperatures are expected to hover around freezing or stay just below.

“This is not going to be a rapid thaw by any means,” Thies said. “It will mostly will melt on paved surfaces, but in fields and open spaces, it’s going to be hanging around for several days at least.”

Thies said another storm is forecast for Friday that could drop an inch of snow in the Hastings area, with up to 6 inches in areas along the state line.

“The next system is not as severe,” he said. “Even south of here it looks like most amounts will be half a foot or less.”