textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- Fog is possible overnight tonight through the morning hours Thursday. Patchy dense fog is not out of the question, especially across low lying areas and river valleys mainly west of Highway 281.

- Well above normal temperatures continue through Friday, with highs in the 70s to near 80 each afternoon, followed by a cooling trend down to near or slightly below climatology by early next week.

- Winds will be on the increase the next couple of days, with modest southerly breezes of 10 to 20 MPH Thursday afternoon followed by strong southerly winds gusting over 40 to near 50 MPH Friday.

- Widespread precipitation chances (40-65%) arrive mainly late in the upcoming weekend (as early as Saturday PM) and will continue off and on through Monday evening. A few thunderstorms will be possible at times, but severe weather is not anticipated.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 200 PM CDT Wed Oct 21 2026

After a bit of morning fog, clear skies returned to most of the local area this afternoon with a few high clouds filtering in from the west. With a very weak surface pressure gradient in place, light winds have prevailed, with most automated stations indicating winds around 5 MPH or less for most of the day. These light winds, combined with well above normal temperatures, have made for a spectacular Fall day.

For tonight, expect the continuation of light winds and elevated dewpoints to allow for the development of some fog during the overnight hours, although with increasing high clouds, confidence in widespread and dense fog is lowered. That said, both the 12Z and 18Z HRRR hinted at the potential for some dense fog across mainly our western areas towards daybreak Thursday, not unlike what we saw this morning. Given the conflicting signals, settled on just introducing the wording of fog into the forecast package for Thursday morning along with some patchy dense fog wording to the HWO.

Overall, Thursday is expected to be another nice day across the local area despite increasing southerly winds of 10 to 20 MPH by afternoon. These increasing southerly winds will be in response to an increasing pressure gradient as the upper level low off the west coast moves into the Great Basin, and surface low pressure starts deepening on the lee side of the Rockies. This surface pressure gradient will increase further on Friday, making for windy day across the local area. While temperatures will continue on the very warm side for late October, winds will likely be unpleasant by midday Friday, with gusts of 40 to 50 MPH possible across the entire area.

As the west coast trough then lifts out of the southwest late in the weekend, precipitation chances should begin to increase, with rainfall becoming likely across much of the area Sunday/Monday. Give the very minimal instability, cannot rule out a thunderstorm over this time period, but a strong or severe thunderstorm appears unlikely. As this system pushes east early next week, cooler air will filter in from the north, dropping temperatures back down closer to climatology (upper 50s to near 60). These cooler temps, along with much more limited (if any) chances for precip will then linger through at least the end of next week as a progressive and generally zonal upper level flow pattern is realized.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 640 PM CDT Wed Oct 21 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

Mostly clear and light winds through this evening. Shallow ground fog make develop once again around dawn, so have some MVFR VSBYs in the 10-14Z time frame. Otherwise, the main story will be increasing Srly winds on Thursday, particularly during the afternoon, when gusts around 20-25kt will be possible. Confidence: High.

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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