textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- Light snow will be possible each day through the end of the week with mainly minor snow impacts. Only between a few tents of an inch up to just over 1" of snow may fall across this period. The greatest amounts and higher probabilities will be concentrated towards the north.

- The time periods most likely to support snow will be during the daytime today, Friday morning to afternoon and Saturday evening to night.

- The coldest days of the weekend will come Friday and Saturday (teens and 20s) with the coldest night occurring Friday night into Saturday morning (negative single digit lows). Windchill values overnight will drop to as low as -5 to -20 degrees.

UPDATE

Issued at 327 AM CST Thu Jan 29 2026

A cluster of light snow showers as of early this morning, scour across western and northern Nebraska. These showers are expected to continue to drop southward into a few portions of south central Nebraska throughout the day and tonight. Mid-level vorticity advection from the passing upper-level trough paired with a weak stationary front draped across southern Nebraska, will help support the continuation of these showers today and through the end of the week.

Only minor impacts are to be expected from the showers as accumulations will rarely exceed a few tenths of an inch up to 1". The best potential for accumulating snow today (up to 40-50% chances) will generally lay across far northern locations (mainly places north of the Tri-Cities). There is however some uncertainty regarding how expansive these snow showers will become and how widespread the coverage of accumulating snow will be. The latest high-res model guidance shows two possible solutions: a less expansive coverage area from the HRRR model (1/3rd of the area) with a more expansive coverage area from the NAMNEST Model (2/3rds of the area). This disagreement in solutions has limited our confidence to raising PoPs much higher than before.

A secondary push of scattered light snow showers looks a little more probable Friday (25-60% chances). This wave looks to occur mainly across the morning to early afternoon hours, bringing more widespread coverage of accumulating snow (primarily <1" of new snow). Beyond the light snow today and tomorrow, a third wave with similar characteristics may pass Saturday evening/night (30-60% chance for locations along and northeast of the Tri-Cities)

Besides the snow, overcast skies will continue to stick around today with highs (mid 20s to upper 30s) falling around 10-15 degrees shy of Wednesday's highs. Temperatures for the weekend will bottom out Friday and Saturday with temperatures not exceeding the teens and 20s. Lows overnight Friday will more than likely fall bellow zero degrees (to as low as -3 to -8 degrees) with wind chill values approaching Cold Weather Advisory Criteria (values as low as -5 to - 20 degrees). Winds today will remain fairly light and variable at times with direction eventually settling out of the north by Friday afternoon.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 221 PM CST Wed Jan 28 2026

This Afternoon/Tonight...

Temperatures this afternoon have a large spread from west to east and where heavier snowpack still lingers, ranging from the low 30s (east/snowpack) to the mid 50s (west). Cloud coverage will increase overnight ahead of an approaching shortwave trough. Lows in the teens are expected tonight. Patchy fog is possible across portions of north central Kansas overnight, though dense fog appears unlikely at this time.

Thursday Through Saturday...

As the shortwave trough moves into the Plains early Thursday morning, it will bring a chance for light snow to the area. Snow is likely to start during the early morning hours for areas north- northeast of the Tri-Cities (Loup City-York). The most widespread snow during the daytime hours on Thursday will be the mid-late morning hours, with snow possible (15-50%) for areas roughly along and northeast of the Tri-Cities. The afternoon-early evening looks to have a relative lull in snow outside of far northern portions of the area. Snow accumulations on Thursday remain light, with most areas seeing less than an inch of snow, though far northeastern portions of the area could see a little over an inch. Highs on Thursday will range from the mid 20s (east) to the low 40s (west).

As troughing over the central/eastern deepens, it will bring another round of snow to the area Thursday night-Friday along with a shot of arctic air. A band of snow (20-60% PoPs) will shift from the northeast to the southwest late Thursday night-Friday afternoon, as an arctic high moves into the area. Similar to Thursday, snow accumulations will be light, with most areas seeing less than an inch of snow. Highs on Friday will be in the teens to 20s, warmest across southwestern portions of the area.

Skies clear and winds become light Friday night-Saturday morning under the influence of the arctic airmass/high. This will allow temperatures to drop below zero (forecast lows -4 to -8), resulting in a frigid start to the day on Saturday. Wind chill values will sink into the negative teens, though light winds should limit how low wind chills are able to get. After sunrise, southerly flow strengthens over the area on Saturday ahead of the next shortwave trough, with highs in the 20s. The next chance (15-45%) for light snow arrives Saturday evening/night as a clipper system moves into the plains. Similar to Thursday/Friday any snow accumulations will be under an inch.

Sunday Onwards...

Temperatures climb near to above normal Sunday onwards as upper level ridging builds over the Rockies/Plains. Highs will be in the upper 30s to low 50s with lows in the 10s/20s. A passing disturbance within the broader ridging pattern looks to bring another chance for light precipitation around the end of the forecast period, though there remains a fair amount of model spread on the finer details. Looking past the forecast period, the CPC 6-10 and 8-14 day forecasts favor above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 517 AM CST Thu Jan 29 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

Clouds quickly moving in from the north today will threaten MVFR conditions for KEAR (30% chance) and KGRI (50% chance) between 15z-23z. These MVFR ceilings may lift just out of MVFR conditions between 23-4z (60-70% chance) with lower ceiling dropping across the night (MVFR to IFR starting between 3-9z). In addition to the low clouds, some light snow will be possible mainly for KGRI between 15-20z with slightly better potential for both terminals after 6z. Snow accumulations will not be expected to exceed 1". Winds will generally remain on the lighter side of things, becoming variable for much of the period.

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

NE...None. KS...None.