textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- Frost Advisory tonight into Wednesday morning for areas near/north of Highway 92. - Light rain is expected in western areas during the day Wednesday. A few showers and thunderstorms (non-severe) move in from the west Wednesday night.

- Additional showers/t-storms Thursday evening through Friday. The threat for severe weather remains low.

- A drying and warming trend is expected this weekend into early next week.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1252 PM CDT Tue May 19 2026

Temperatures remain relatively cool today behind the system that resulted in multiple rounds of severe weather over the last 3-4 days. Tonight, temperatures are anticipated to drop into the 30s and 40s, aided by light winds and mostly clear skies under surface high pressure. Clouds are then anticipated to increase early Wednesday morning, which should keep temperatures from dropping much below 35 degrees. Nevertheless, this may result in some frost formation, potentially damaging sensitive plants in areas near/north of Highway 92. The Frost Advisory area is "generous," mainly because we are so far into the growing season already. Many areas, especially in southern parts of Howard, Sherman, and Nance counties, likely will not see any frost impact.

Wednesday will remain cool, and rain is expected to slide in from the west as an upper trough pushes into the central Plains. Many areas will remain dry, but western zones could pick up 0.05-0.15". Later Wednesday night into Thursday morning, isolated to scattered showers/t-storms become possible, but instability is very limited and no severe weather is expected.

Late Thursday night into Friday, another shortwave is expected to cross the northern Plains, bringing more widespread chances for rain and thunderstorms to the region. The severe threat remains minimal, but this COULD bring some relief to drought- stricken areas of western Nebraska.

Low rain chances linger on Saturday, but overall things will trend drier and warmer for the Memorial Day weekend as upper level ridging returns to the north/central Plains. After almost a week of near to below- normal temperatures, 80s are expected to return for Sunday-Tuesday.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1117 AM CDT Tue May 19 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

VFR conditions are favored through the period. FEW-SCT afternoon cumulus will clear this evening, and additional cloud cover arriving from the west early Wednesday morning. Cloud bases may dip to around 4kft by middy Wednesday, but should remain VFR. Some light rain could move in late in the TAF period, but this is more favored to the west of GRI/EAR.

North winds today become light/variable tonight before turning to the southeast and east on Wednesday.

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

NE...Frost Advisory from 1 AM to 8 AM CDT Wednesday for NEZ039>041- 046-047. KS...None.