textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- It'll be a dry end to the weekend, with noticably warmer temperatures. After a few days in the teens-20s, highs today are expected to climb into the 40s-50s.

- Forecast for the upcoming work week is largely dry. Currently, the only precipitation chances in the forecast are Tuesday night into Wednesday...but confidence in any details is pretty low at this point.

- Highs Mon-Wed remain in the 40s-low 50s, with more 50s and even some 60s to end the week.

UPDATE

Issued at 256 AM CST Sun Feb 1 2026

Current conditions on through tonight...

Been another night with quiet conditions across the region, with most spots sitting under clear skies. Upper level flow remains north-northwesterly early this morning...set up between a potent low pressure system/troughing along the East Coast and ridging extending northward from the Desert SW into western Canada. Satellite imagery shows an embedded shortwave disturbance making its way through the eastern Dakotas. At the surface, high pressure is centered roughly over the OK/TX/AR/LA border area, with low pressure set up just north of the ND/MN border. A southward extending warm frontal boundary lies across western portions of the forecast area...keeping winds SWrly to the east of this front, more westerly to the west. There's been an occasional gust around 20 MPH early this AM ahead of this front, winds further west are lighter, closer to 10 MPH.

Dry conditions continue on through today/tonight, with the main story being with the notable warm up compared to the past few days. This warm front keeps sliding east through the day, with west-northwest winds spreading across the area with time. Speeds through the afternoon looking to mainly top out around 15 MPH, but a few gusts closer to 20 MPH are not out of the question. Following the past few days with highs in the teens and 20s, the warming airmass and westerly downsloping component to the winds is expected to bring highs in the 40s and 50s. There is some uncertainty with highs today, due to there being some snow still on the ground. Though not a deep snowpack, it'll at least have some impact on highs. Tonight..expecting lighter, at times variable, winds as a sfc ridge axis passes through, eventually bringing SSErly winds back to the area. Not out of the question that with this lighter winds and any melting of snow today could result in some patchy fog across the area.

New Work Week...

Overall, no significant changes were made to the forecast from Monday on through the end of the week...which is mostly a dry forecast. Models remain in generally good agreement, showing varying amplitudes of northwesterly flow in the upper levels...with the potential for a couple of overall weaker shortwave disturbances moving through in the Tue-Wed timeframe. Confidence at this point in the details of these waves is not high...but some low end precipitation chances (20 percent) remain in the forecast Tue night- Wed. Temp forecast for Mon-Wed continues to have mainly 40s for highs, some 50s possible in WSW areas...with potential for more 50s (some 60s?) Thu-Fri.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 252 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026

A band of snow is slowly moving across central Nebraska/Kansas, and is associated with an upper shortwave moving through the northern/central Plains. Area cameras and surface observations indicate that, as expected, heaviest snowfall has been generally near and north of Highway 92. This band will continue eastward through this afternoon and evening, eventually moving east of the Highway 81 corridor by 9-10pm. In addition to this main band of snow, some convectively-driven snow/sleet showers are moving into northern Nebraska, and could creep into northern portions of the area in the 5-8pm timeframe. All said and done, most of the area will only see a dusting of snow, but some locations could see 1" or slightly more (northern areas are most favored).

Despite today's snow, a very noticeable warmup is expected on Sunday as the eastern trough nudges eastward and ridging builds over the Rockies. Expected high temperatures range from the low 40s in the northeast to near 60 in southwestern zones. Monday will trend slightly cooler with more cloud cover as a shortwave moves in from the northwest.

Chances for snow return to the area on Tuesday into Tuesday night as a secondary shortwave moves into the area. As has been the case many times this season, only minor snow accumulations are expected. The probability for even 0.5" of snowfall is less than 10 percent for most of the area.

Near-normal temperatures continue in the wake of this system on Wednesday, but another significant warmup is expected for the end of the workweek.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z MONDAY/

Issued at 1125 PM CST Sat Jan 31 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

Dry weather with VFR conditions are forecast for this TAF period. Can't rule out at least a few lower end VFR clouds (5-6k ft) passing through the first half of the day, but not expecting a lower ceiling. Models continue to show the potential for LLWS through the first 6-9hrs of this period to be low enough/focused to the east to keep the mention out. Current SSW winds will turn more westerly by around sunrise, then northwesterly by midday and NNWrly by late afternoon. Speeds looking to top out around 10-15 MPH, with a few gusts near 20 MPH not out of the question during the afternoon hours, mainly at GRI.

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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