Nebraska Average

Introduction

Freezing weather during the winter or sweltering weather during the summer can increase your utility bills. You can find out how much of the rise in cost is a result of the weather by using a unit of measure called the "degree day".

Degree days are used to estimate fuel consumption and to pinpoint the nominal annual heating and cooling loads of a building. A degree day is a 1 degree Fahrenheit difference between 65 degrees Fahrenheit and the average outdoor air temperature on a given day. The more extreme the temperature, the higher the number of degree days. Degree day measurements can be used to describe the effect of outdoor temperature on the amount of energy needed for space heating or cooling. Hot days, which could require the use of energy for cooling, are measured in cooling degree days. On a day with an average temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, 25 cooling degree days would be recorded. Cold days are measured in heating degree days. For a day with an average temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit, 20 heating degree days would be recorded. Two such cold days would result in a total of 40 heating degree days for the two–day period.

By studying degree day patterns in an area, the increases or decreases in heating or air conditioning bills can be evaluated from year to year. The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy maintains degree days and degree day normals for twelve cities around the state in addition to the state's degree days. By studying the locator map, find the city to which you are closest and use that city's degree days. Degree day information may also be published in a local newspaper, usually in the weather section. Information could be available from a local utility. Its public relations department may be able to provide the number of degree days in the last billing period and how it compares to the number of degree days in previous billing periods. Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center has built a webpage where you can find degree days for any state/station for no fee. The data is available for January 1895 to last month: All Nebraska Stations. The normals are found here: All Nebraska Stations' 1981-2010 Normals.

In the tables below, Nebraska's heating and cooling degree days are listed as well as degree day normals. Figures 1 and 3 compare over fifty years of degree days to the degree day normals, and Figures 2 and 4 compare the last two years of monthly degree days to monthly degree day normals for the state.

Degree Day Normals

Degree day normals are thirty–year averages over a baseline comparison period. The current thirty–year period used for degree–day normals is 1981–2010. The average number of heating and cooling degree days, or the degree day normals, for each month and a total for the year is listed in the first row of each table below.

Nebraska's heating degree day normal for a year is 6322 and cooling degree day normal for a year is 1027. In a year with normal weather, Nebraskans will heat their homes and businesses 6322 degree days and cool their homes and businesses 1027 degree days. In comparison, Hawaii's (a hot weather state) heating degree day normal is 1 and Hawaii's cooling degree day normal is 3954, and Colorado's (a cold weather state) heating degree day normal is 8304 and Colorado's cooling degree day normal is 366.

In the 2021/2022 season, Nebraska's heating degree days totaled 5813 or 509 degree days less than the degree day normal. This indicates Nebraska's winter was 8.1 percent warmer than normal. In 2022, Nebraska's cooling degree days totaled 1181 or 154 degree days more than the degree day normal. This indicates Nebraska's summer was 15.0 percent warmer than normal. Comparison can also be made between degree day normals and degree days using individual months.

Heating Degree Days

Heating degree days measure how cold Nebraska is over a period of time relative to a base temperature (most commonly 65 degrees Fahrenheit). Heating degree days are used as an indicator of space heating energy requirements.

According to Figure 1 and the data table below, in over fifty years, 2011/2012 was the warmest year with 5286 heating degree days, and 1978/1979 was the coldest year with 7440 heating degree days. Figure 1 compares Nebraska's heating degree days each year (the red line) to what is considered normal (the orange line).

Figure 2 compares heating degree days with the degree day normals for each month during the most recent year that data is available and the prior year. Heating degree days are usually found during the heating season, or winter, but there can be heating degree days during the fall and spring, too. Zero (0) heating degree days for any month indicate that temperatures reached levels that homes and businesses required minimal or no heating.

In 2021/2022, the heating degree days reported for January through September were close to the heating degree day normals for each month with the exception of October through December. The total heating degree days for 2021/2022 indicated 8.1 percent warmer–than–normal winter weather.

In 2021/2022, October was 21 percent warmer than normal (requiring less heating) with 322 heating degree days versus 406 degree day normals. November was 19 percent warmer than normal, and December was 22 percent warmer than normal.

December and January are normally the peak of winter in Nebraska. In other words, December and January usually have the most heating degree days. In the winter of 2021/2022, the peak of winter was in January and February. In 2020/2021, Nebraska also had the most heating degree days in January and February, as observed in Figure 2.

Data in the table below shows that the number of heating degree days in February 2021 (1391) was 367 degree days above normal (1024). In other words, the weather was colder than usual, and Nebraska consumers heated their homes and businesses 36 percent more than they would in a February with normal winter weather.