textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- High plains convection will likely clip western portions of the local area this evening. A slight risk for a severe storm or two remains, mainly for areas along and west of a line extending from Lexington, Nebraska to Osborne, Kansas.

- Spotty thunderstorm chances continue through the upcoming weekend (although many areas will likely remain dry), with increasing storm chances as early as Sunday night and continuing off and on at times next week.

- Widespread above normal temperatures return for the end of the week and through the upcoming weekend with noticably more breezy conditions both Friday and Saturday afternoons.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 308 PM CDT Tue Aug 25 2026

Scattered showers and thunderstorms impacted mainly western portions of the area this morning, with partly to mostly sunny skies returning to much of the local area this afternoon. As skies cleared, temperatures climbed, and most areas have reached the mid to upper 80s over the past hour. For tonight, expect another round of high plains convection to impact parts of the local area, focused mainly west of Highway 183. With each hourly model run of the CAMS pulling back the best chances for convection to our west, confidence in storms is not particularly high, and trimmed back pops significantly for this evening. That said, the ingredients remain in place for a few severe storms tonight, although if realized, they will likely be limited to our westernmost areas (where the slight risk for severe weather remains from the SPC).

Behind tonights potential convection, the upper level ridge to our west begins to become positively tilted as it expands across the local area through the end of the week. This will result in more spotty thunderstorm chances each day, mainly focused across western and potentially northern portions of the area during the evening and overnight hours each day. At the same time, temperatures will be on the increase, peaking across the local area over the upcoming weekend. This could result in heat index values once again climbing above 100 degrees in spots, especially across portions of north central Kansas. At the same time winds will be on the increase, and expect a breezy end to the week and start to the weekend as the surface pressure gradient increases between low pressure on the lee side of the Rockies and high pressure to our east.

Eventually the upper level ridge is expected to weaken and shift east late in the weekend or early next week, ushering in slightly more seasonable temperatures along with increasing chances for showers and thunderstorms as early as Sunday night, and then continuing off and on through much of next week. This will be in response to a more progressive west to southwesterly flow pattern being realized across the Central Plains.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1209 AM CDT Wed Aug 26 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

No notable changes made for this TAF period, with the forecast remaining dry with VFR conditions expected. Hi-res models have kept with the trend of any precipitation chances remaining focused to the west of the terminal areas. Any cloud cover passing through is expected to remain in the mid-upper levels. Late tonight-early Wed AM, there are some models that suggest some light fog could develop...but mainly keep it focused east of the terminals, so kept that mention out of the forecast. As far as winds go, outside of the daytime hours Wed, light/variable winds are expected. During the day, winds look to be NNErly, still on the lighter side of things, generally around 10-15 MPH.

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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