textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- A Dense Fog Advisory remains in effect for a few Nebraska locations (mainly counties east of HWY-281) this afternoon until 6PM as some lingering pockets of reduced visibilities down to as low as 1/4 mile continue.

- The warmest day of the week will likely come Tomorrow (mid 60s to low 70s) with a cold front tanking highs between Saturday and Sunday (from the upper 50s and 60s to the mid 20s to lower 40s).

- Temperatures FRI/SAT will near record territory. Please refer to the climate section for more.

- A 20-30% chance for flurries to light snow (accumulations up to a few tenths) resides Saturday night to Sunday morning for mainly northwestern lying locations.

- Temperatures Monday (upper 20s to mid 30s) will be followed by a subtle warmup TUE/WED (40s to low 50s).

UPDATE

Issued at 1150 PM CST Thu Dec 25 2025

- BRIEF LATE-EVENING FOG UPDATE: Our last "formal" Dense Fog Advisory in a handful of our eastern counties was allowed to expire back at 8 PM. Since then, we've been addressing some brief 1/4 to 1/2 mile visibility on the far back (west) side of the departing low stratus deck with Special Weather Statements (SPSGID), but even this lingering fog should finally clear the extreme east/southeast edges of our CWA by no later than 1-2 AM.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 244 PM CST Thu Dec 25 2025

The lingering fog has been slow to retreat this afternoon, especially for areas near and east of HWY-281. The continuation of some pockets of fog with visibilities down to as low as 1/4 mile has provoked the need for an additional Dense Fog Advisory this afternoon/evening. The Dense Fog advisory remain in effect until 6PM tonight for Nebraska counties along and east of HWY-281 and along and south of I-80 including Merrick and Polk counties. The low-level stratus continues to hang the surface, only gradually rising/mixing out. As result, highs today have not been able to punch up much further than the 40s to low 50s. Lows tonight will be expected to settle in the 30s.

A weak shortwave trough aloft grazing the Central/Northern Plains tonight will help clear out some of the clouds for tomorrow (at least for the first half of the day). At the surface, a weak low (~1004mb) is in the process of crossing through the region. This feature will help guide steady (5-15 MPH) westerly to northwesterly oriented winds tonight and for the first half of Friday as it departs over to the east. The gentle westerly downsloping flow Friday (adiabatic warming) paired with clearing skies will make for the perfect ingredients needed to warm temperatures near and potentially into record territory. Highs Friday are forecast to reach the 60s to potentially low 70s across a few KS locations. These are the warmest temperatures the area will likely see for a while.

Another maturing surface low coming down from the Rockies Friday night into Saturday will later be responsible for an end of the week cold front that will be ready to shake things up for the start of next week. Before then, the steady westerly winds on Friday will turn southerly as the low approaches. Highs for Saturday (upper 50s to upper 60s) will become the last of the consecutive days with anomalously warm temperatures. The strong and powering cold front, mention earlier, is now expected to barrel through during the afternoon/evening hours on Saturday, flipping winds to the north along behind it.

Conditions from Saturday to Sunday will change notably behind the front. Temperatures, influenced by the rush of cold air, will drop around 25-35 degrees. Highs for Sunday are forecast to range the mid 20s (far northern areas) to the low 40s (far southern areas). In addition to the cold, breezy winds out of the north will blow between 20-30MPH with gusts as high as 35-40+ MPH during the afternoon hours. Lows sunday night will move towards the the mid single digits to low teens (wind chills between -10 and 5 degrees).

Though not quite yet a complete guarantee (20-30% chance), flurries to a few tenths of an inch of light snow accumulations could fall Saturday night to Sunday morning in a couple of places behind the front (mainly across northwestern lying areas). Confidence remains more wishy-washy than definite at this point in time. Synoptically speaking, a compressed and negatively tilted trough aloft looks to have the potential to provide at least some synoptic-level assent (relatively strong vorticity advection near the base of a PV anomaly) to give enough support to churn out some flurries to light snow showers. These snow showers would likely originate across the Nebraska Panhandle and Northern Nebraska, tracking southeast through the night/morning. The main question still to be answered is if such showers will either maintain or miss the area altogether.

The forecast for next week beyond Sunday, continues to remain fairy dry as the area will likely sit underneath the eastern side (northwest flow region) of a slow moving longwave ridge. The "biggest" change overall in the long-range forecast has been the narrowing confidence for yet a colder day Monday (upper 20s to mid 30s). Temperatures also now appear to rebound a few degrees heading into the middle of next week (mainly the 40s TUE/WED) with winds oscillating from the west to north at times.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1150 PM CST Thu Dec 25 2025

For KGRI/KEAR Airports: - General overview: We are back to a very high-confidence VFR forecast now that the low clouds/fog that plagued much of the last 24 hours has vacated east. In fact, most of this period will feature clear skies except for increasing high clouds later Friday. Winds will not be a significant issue overall, but a formal low level wind shear (LLWS) group has been introduced to early Friday morning.

- Wind details: - Surface winds: Overall no major concerns. Sustained speeds through most of the period will only be 5-10KT, but particularly the mid-morning through early afternoon hours could see more consistent gusts to around 15KT. Direction through the majority of the period will be westerly, before turning southerly by Friday evening.

- Low level wind shear (LLWS): Have introduced LLWS for early in the period (07-12Z), as a transient "surge" of northwesterly winds rooted mainly between 1-2K ft. AGL will accelerate to around 45KT, resulting in moderately-strong shear magnitudes around 35KT between the surface and this level.

CLIMATE

Issued at 457 AM CST Thu Dec 25 2025

- REGARDING RECORD WARM TEMP POTENTIAL DEC 24-27: As our overall-very-mild stretch of late-December continues through Saturday, a few daily records for warmth (both daytime highs and overnight lows) will likely end up being broken, with Friday (Dec. 26) featuring the best potential for setting new record daytime highs.

Below is where our latest forecast (or already-observed values) stand versus existing records at Grand Island and Hastings airports, the two NWS-maintained sites for which we issue official Record Event Reports (RERGRI/RERHSI). Please note that * indicates that our latest forecast/observed value would tie or break an existing daily record:

- RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES | Latest Forecast or Observed Grand Island, NE (GRI)

December 25: 62 in 1999,1963,1922 | Observed: 45 December 26: 64 in 2005 | Forecast: 68* December 27: 64 in 1937 | Forecast: 61

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Hastings, NE (HSI)

December 25: 62 in 1999,1950 | Observed: 44 December 26: 65 in 2005 | Forecast: 68* December 27: 64 in 1937 | Forecast: 62

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- RECORD WARM LOW/MINIMUM TEMPERATURES | Latest Forecast or Observed Grand Island, NE (GRI)

December 25: 34 in 1959 | Observed: 29 December 26: 38 in 1931 | Forecast: 38* December 27: 34 in 1905 | Forecast: 38*

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Hastings, NE (HSI) December 25: 34 in 1922 | Observed: 26 December 26: 38 in 1959 | Forecast: 39* December 27: 37 in 1957 | Forecast: 38*

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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