textproduct: Hastings

KEY MESSAGES

- Flurries and light snow today. Northern areas are most favored to see a light dusting.

- Breezy today. Northwest winds gust 30-40 MPH (strongest west).

- Relatively warm through most of next week, with only low chances (10-15%) for rain/snow Tuesday night into Wednesday and again on Friday. - Gusts over 50 MPH are possible on Friday (30-50% chance).

UPDATE

Issued at 239 AM CST Sat Jan 10 2026

The threat for snow today remains pretty minor. Flurries are possible as far south as I-80, but little to no snow accumulation is expected. Far northern portions of the area (Valley/Greeley) counties would be most favored to see a dusting. Many near-term models are completely dry for our area.

Winds today trended up slightly, especially in the west. Gusts to the 30-40 MPH range will be common this afternoon.

The NBM remains mostly dry through next week, although there will be a couple periods to watch for light rain/snow. The first is Tuesday night into Wednesday, and the other would be on Friday.

Mild temperatures continue, and we could break record warm minimum temperatures on Tuesday. The record at both GRI and HSI is 35 degrees and the current forecast low is 39 degrees.

The latter half of next week will trend windier. Friday is expected to feature the strongest winds. The EPS ensemble mean has gusts over 50 MPH, with about 25% of the members showing gusts over 60 MPH.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 359 PM CST Fri Jan 9 2026

Currently on into tonight...

Light precipitation has continued to inch northward into our north central KS counties today...a trend that will continue on into the evening hours. The driver of this precipitation is a compact area of mid-upper level low pressure...shown by upper air and satellite data to be gradually working its way through the western KS/OK border area. This system is embedded in larger upper level troughing extending through the central CONUS into central Canada...between sharper ridging along the West Coast and broader ridging along the East Coast. If anything, this precipitation ended up creeping a bit further north than several models showed...but the brunt of snow accumulation will be closer to and south of I-70 in KS, but some light amounts are not out of the question for our north central KS counties (especially the bottom row of Rooks, Osborne, Mitchell). Thankfully the overall surface pattern is on the weaker side, so while winds will remain generally northwesterly through this event, speeds are mainly topping out around 10-15 MPH. High temps today for some of the area look to end up a few degrees short...the plentiful cloud cover and precip being further north not helping things...3PM obs are right at freezing in the far south, to right around 40 in the far NNW.

For this evening and tonight...models are in good agreement showing this upper level low filling/weakening as it continues working it way ENE across KS..with precipitation coming to an end mid-late evening. The rest of the overnight hours remain dry.

This weekend...

For most of the forecast area, the upcoming weekend is expected to be dry. If precipitation does occur, it'd be across NNE portions of the area, during the daytime hours on Saturday. While we have today's upper level low crossing to our south, another disturbance is working its way SSE through central Canada, eventually looking to end up over northern MN by sunrise Saturday. Models are in good agreement showing that while the upper low itself well NE of the forecast area during the day Saturday, sliding toward the Great Lakes/Midwest...there will also be the potential for a narrow corridor of light precipitation nosing in from the NNW along the exit region of a strong upper level jet streak. Occurring on the backside of the main upper low, there's not a ton of moisture to work with, thus not expecting notable amounts (snow would be primary precip type)...and there are some differences between models with whether this forcing even makes if far enough south to impact the forecast area, so chances remain low at 20-30 percent. The area with those chances is mainly along/north of a line from Loup City to York.

Though not expecting notable amounts...any snow that does fall will be accompanied by gusty winds, especially during the midday-afternoon hours. As the upper level pushes east, it will drive a surface cold front south through the forecast area...and while not bringing a notable change as far as temperatures go, it will bring a reinforcing shot of NWrly winds, which may be gusting 25-30 MPH. As far as high temps go, didn't make big changes, if anything ended up with more of a gradient from SW (maybe near 50 degrees) to NE (mid 30s). There's some lingering uncertainty with those highs.

Dry conditions are forecast area-wide for Sunday, with models showing more lower-amplitude NWrly flow in the upper levels as that main low pushes further away from the region. Expecting more sun...and lighter winds (closer to 10-15 MPH) which turn more westerly as high pressure settles into the Srn Plains. With the airmass in the region warming, along with the sun/westerly winds, expecting a bump up in highs...with mid 40s east to mid 50s west currently forecast.

New work week...

As we get into the new work week...the forecast is currently an overall dry one, but there are spots where some precipitation chances may end up being needed. Currently not looking at any significant winter systems...models are in pretty good agreement showing varying degrees of northwesterly flow in the upper levels across the region. The week starts out with lower amplitude flow...but with high pressure remaining fairly well anchored over the West Coast, disturbances digging south out of Canada and into the central/eastern portions of the CONUS will bring the potential for a more amplified pattern mid-late week. Not out of the question that a couple of these disturbances could result in precipitation at least clipping portions of the forecast area...enough differences remain that forecast didn't stray from the NBM. At this point, any disturbances look like they'd be on the quick-hitting, lighter side of things. We'll see how models trend in the coming days.

As far as temperatures go, expecting above normal highs to return to star the week, with both Monday and Tuesday forecast to reach the mid 50s-near 60 (normal for this time of year is mid 30s to right around 40). With the potential for upper level disturbances and accompanying sfc cold fronts mid-late week, forecast highs drop back more into the 40s...but like precipitation chances, confidence in highs that far out is not overly high at this point.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 1126 AM CST Sat Jan 10 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

VFR conditions are forecast for this TAF period...model time heights/guidance show increasing cloud cover this afternoon and lower ceilings, but are expected to remain VFR. Still looking at the potential for a swath of flurries/light snow to sink south out of northern NE through the afternoon, but confidence in any impact at the terminals is low enough at this point that any mention was kept out of the TAF...will be watching radar/ob trends upstream closely. Otherwise the TAF is dry. Expecting gusty NW through the afternoon, gusts near 30 MPH will be possible. Winds diminish this evening, with a period of light/variable after midnight...before turning more southwesterly during the first half of the day on Sunday.

GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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