Omaha Pavement and Climate Data

Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Journalists, researchers, and community groups are welcome to cite any figure on this page with attribution and a link.

Every figure on this site traces to a published source, and this page collects the main ones in one place. Climate numbers are NOAA's 1991-2020 normals for station USW00014942, which the NCEI data service names OMAHA EPPLEY AIRFIELD, NE US, at 299.3 meters of elevation. NOAA publishes day counts in tenths of a day; the tables below convert them.

Soil, design-storm and runoff figures come from the Omaha Regional Stormwater Design Manual and the USDA's official soil series descriptions. Housing age comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25034 and B25035. Street and rule figures come from each city's own public works, permit and stormwater pages, and from state statutes.

Freeze-thaw arithmetic at Eppley Airfield

Count a day as freeze-thaw when the overnight low drops to 32 degrees or below and the afternoon high gets back above freezing. NOAA counts days with a low at or below 32 and, separately, days when the high stays at or below 32; subtracting the second from the first leaves the crossings. The seasonal rows use the same subtraction on NOAA's December-February and September-November fields. NOAA's spring file gives freezing nights but not a spring count of all-day freezes, so that row reports nights only.

Source: NCEI normals-annualseasonal data service, fields ANN-TMIN-AVGNDS-LSTH032, ANN-TMAX-AVGNDS-LSTH032, DJF and SON equivalents, and the PRBLST, PRBFST and PRBGSL fields at the 50 percent level.

The sealing calendar, month by month

Sealer makers set the limits: SealMaster rules out sealing when rain is forecast within 24 hours or temperatures will fall below 50 degrees within 24 hours, and prefers 60 degrees and rising. Hot rubberized crack filler ideally goes down when air temperatures are between 45 and 65 degrees in cold-winter regions. Set against Eppley's monthly normals, those limits leave late May through September for sealing, and April and October, whose average temperatures fall inside the 45-to-65 band, for crack filling.

Source: NCEI normals-monthly data service for USW00014942. Temperatures are published in tenths of a degree, precipitation in hundredths of an inch and day counts in tenths of a day.

Storms, rain and runoff

The stormwater manual's design storms come from the National Weather Service's Technical Paper 40 rainfall atlas of 1961. A curve number of 98, the value for driveways and paved lots in every soil group, means nearly all rain runs off. Hail figures are statewide, since the Insurance Information Institute reports major hail events by state.

Housing age across the metro

Median year built comes from table B25035 and the shares from the year-built counts in table B25034, divided by each city's total housing units. The Omaha row covers 213,023 units, of which 37,912 were built in 1939 or earlier and 35,272 in 2000 or later. Older housing means driveways that have been through more winters, and the gap between Council Bluffs and La Vista is nearly three decades.

Source: data.census.gov, ACS 5-year estimates 2020-2024, tables B25035 and B25034, place-level geographies.

Streets, salt and rules by city

• Omaha: projects disturbing more than 250 square feet of street right-of-way must notify Public Works 48 hours ahead and protect storm inlets (Omaha Stormwater Program)
• Omaha: an erosion control permit is required above one acre of ground disturbance under Chapter 32, Section 32-101, of the municipal code
• Papillion: about 340 lane miles, a 10-year maintenance plan from a 2018 condition assessment, and all streets cleared within eight hours of a snowfall's end
• Bellevue: almost 600 lane miles and 29 street employees; replacing a driveway no larger than before is exempt from a permit
• La Vista: two inches of snow, ice or sleet bans street parking for 24 hours or until plowed; approach replacement needs a permit
• Council Bluffs: 675 lane miles, 36 street employees, and 4,000 to 7,000 tons of salt plus 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of liquid deicer a season
• Nebraska: one-call notice at least two full and no more than ten business days before excavating (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-2321); Iowa: 48 hours (Iowa Code 480.4)

Sources & Methodology

Every figure above was taken from the primary sources below (accessed 2026-07-25). Where a number is derived (arithmetic on published figures) or covers a broader period or area, the text says so.

1. NOAA NCEI, 1991-2020 Climate Normals, annual and seasonal, Omaha Eppley Airfield (USW00014942) — Station name and elevation; ANN-TMIN-AVGNDS-LSTH032 of 1361 is 136.1 days and ANN-TMAX-AVGNDS-LSTH032 of 394 is 39.4 days; ANN-SNOW-NORMAL of 264 is 26.4 inches; median freeze dates 04/21 and 10/11; growing season 172 days.
2. NOAA NCEI, 1991-2020 Climate Normals, monthly temperature and precipitation, Eppley Airfield — Monthly normal highs, lows, averages, precipitation and snowfall used in the sealing calendar.
3. NOAA NCEI, 1991-2020 Climate Normals, monthly rain-day counts, Eppley Airfield — Days with 0.10 inch and 1.00 inch or more of precipitation by month.
4. NOAA NCEI, 1991-2020 Climate Normals, monthly hot days and freezing nights, Eppley Airfield — Days at 90F or above and nights at or below 32F by month.
5. Omaha Regional Stormwater Design Manual, Chapter 2: Hydrology — Soils within the city predominantly Monona-Ida Association, hydrologic group B; Table 2-7 design rainfall; Table 2-8 curve number 98 for paved surfaces.
6. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, B25035 Median Year Structure Built, Omaha city — Median year built 1973; the same table for Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista and Council Bluffs gives 1982, 1991, 1993 and 1965.
7. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, B25034 Year Structure Built, Omaha city — 213,023 units; 37,912 built 1939 or earlier; 35,272 built 2000 or later.
8. Omaha Stormwater Program, Linear Underground Projects — Projects disturbing more than 250 square feet of street right-of-way; 48-hour notice to Public Works; inlet protection.
9. City of Council Bluffs, Street Maintenance — 36 employees, 675 lane miles, 4,000 to 7,000 tons of salt and 40,000 to 50,000 gallons of liquid deicer per season.