textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- A couple rounds of beneficial showers and non-severe thunderstorms tonight through Friday morning.

- Heat returns this weekend into early next week.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 139 PM CDT Wed Jul 22 2026

Showers and a few weak t-storms persist near and north of I-80 as of early afternoon. This will gradually clear through the afternoon, but lingering cloud cover will keep our northern/eastern zones significantly cooler than further southwest that have seen mostly sunny skies nearly all day.

After a dry evening, scattered showers and a few t-storms redevelop early Thursday morning, aided by convergence in the 850-700mb layer. Instability is limited, so severe weather is not expected, but this does have the potential to be produce heavier rain than Wednesday morning. Based on the 12Z HREF, localized rain totals of 1.00-2.50" are possible (10% chance), with more widespread totals in the 0.15-0.75" range.

Much like Wednesday, rain will clear out in the afternoon, allowing temperatures to rebound to the mid 70s to near 90 degrees (warmest in the southwest). One more round of showers and thunderstorms is expected to develop Thursday evening. Given the relative warmth in portions of KS, a few strong storms cannot be ruled out in these areas, but widespread strong to severe storms are not expected.

Friday will dry out and trend warmer, and this trend will continue into the weekend. Widespread highs in the 90s are expected to return for Saturday, and many areas will approach 100 degrees Sunday and Monday. Relatively high surface moisture will result in quite high heat index values. At this point, it appears likely (70%) that we will exceed 105 degree heat indices, and 110 degree heat indices are very possible (30%).

This wave of extreme heat looks to be relatively short-lived, though. Global ensembles favor a return to more seasonable warmth for the middle to end of next week. This will also be accompanied by additional chances for rain/t-storms, although there is some uncertainty on how widespread/beneficial these will be.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 624 PM CDT Wed Jul 22 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

Low MVFR to potentially IFR conditions possible Thursday morning. Otherwise predominantly VFR conditions favored during TAF period. A band of rain showers with embedded thunderstorms is expected to develop over KEAR/KGRI after midnight. In stronger showers, visibility and ceilings could fall below VFR. After sunrise on Thursday, low stratus develops over the area with prevailing MVFR to potentially IFR CIGS during the late morning-early afternoon hours. Confidence in the location or occurrence of IFR conditions is too low to include in the TAF at this time, for now have indicated the potential with a SCT009 group. Showers/storms come to an end during the early afternoon, first at KEAR then KGRI, with ceilings improving to VFR. Used Prob30 groups to indicate the broad time when embedded thunderstorms are possible in a broader rain shield. Easterly winds shift to the southeast overnight, increasing during the afternoon hours on Thursday with gusts around 20kts possible.

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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