Dorchester Times: REVISED: 8-9" Of Snow Predicted For Dorchester Area

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

REVISED: 8-9" Of Snow Predicted For Dorchester Area

UPDATE: Dorchester is in the heart of the predicted path of the season's first major snowstorm -- and the Times is predicting a whopper.

Our staff has looked at more than half a dozen models and we predict at least 8-9" of blowing snow by late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Strong winds and heavy snowfall may cause significant travel problems by late this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

A mix of rain and snow may signal the start of the storm, but it's expected to quickly transition to snow by late afternoon, around 3 or 4 p.m.

Strong 40-mph wind gusts will create near white-out conditions, according to the weather service.

Motorists are advised to stay off the roads starting around 4 p.m. to allow the county and state road crews time to do their jobs. The photo here was taken around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday near Grand Island by a Dorchester area resident.

Tomorrow morning is forecast to be cold and windy, and snow is expected to continue blowing about.

See our link to the Dorchester area's live radar by clicking here.

7 comments:

cynical richardDecember 18, 2012 at 3:15 PM
right ......................... you guys still using dogs and cats to call the weather ......................................................... in the words of george washington, “the weather today is calm and sunny, but the air is full of bulls--t” ....................
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DavidDecember 19, 2012 at 7:10 AM
Cats and dogs went to Florida. Big storm coming.
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AnonymousDecember 19, 2012 at 7:52 AM
Enjoy the blizzard in your little shack in the cowpasture, cynical Richard. As REM Once said, it's the end of the world as we know it.
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AnonymousDecember 19, 2012 at 10:41 PM
FYI, cats can predict the weather better than any scientific forecast.
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DavidDecember 20, 2012 at 6:57 AM
My 2 cats manage my stock portfolio and do quite well.

(Except for that Facebook thing. But they were high on catnip.)
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cynical richardDecember 20, 2012 at 5:12 PM
read your dang news ................................... cats cause insanity and suicidal tendancies ................................. they do make excellent moving targets ............................ inexpensive ones too ..........................
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DavidDecember 20, 2012 at 10:33 PM
My cats don't put much stock in Richard's comments....
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."