textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Below normal temperatures will continue through Friday with multiple shots of increased precipitation chances Wednesday and Thursday afternoons/evenings.

- Patchy fog possible tonight through tomorrow morning across north central Nebraska, potentially stretching as far as southwest Nebraska.

- Temperatures will return to near normal along with drier conditions heading into the weekend.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 311 PM CDT Mon Sep 21 2026

An upper level low will gradually move across the northern Plains through the day today. With patchy fog largely dissipated, the low stratus cloud deck should continue to settle across portions of north central Nebraska. As the low moves off to our east, mid level moisture has wrapped around it and brought isolated to scattered coverage of showers across north central to central Nebraska. This coverage should decrease by the mid to late evening to give way to dry conditions. With high dewpoints and weak surface winds, patchy fog should blanket the Niobrara river valley and spread out southward, potentially as far to I-80. Confidence in coverage beyond patchy conditions remains too low to introduce the prospect of a Dense Fog Advisory at this time.

Tuesday morning, the patchy fog should remains until mid morning. Mid-level WAA should provide enough weak lift to support low end shower and thunderstorm chances from the mid morning to afternoon across western and north central Nebraska. Daytime highs will continue to be 5 to 10 degrees below normal at the mid 60s across the region. Breezy southeast winds will increase through the afternoon into the evening with gusts climbing up to a range of 30 - 35 mph across western Nebraska.

LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY/

Issued at 311 PM CDT Mon Sep 21 2026

Upper ridging will move eastward into the Plains Wednesday into Thursday, while an upper trough migrates into the desert Southwest behind it. This flow regime will help bring sub- tropical moisture northeastward into our area. PWATs are expected to climb above 1.4" east of highway 83. This would put us above the 95th to 99th percentile and potentially break a daily high record. A 500mb jet maximum will be set up along the NE/KS border Wednesday afternoon into evening while at the same time a cold front is expected to move southeastward. Depending on where the jet max and frontal boundary lines up with greatly influence what locations see the highest likelihood of precipitation potential. As it stands now, that precipitation corridor stretches on a line southeast from Big Springs to Butte Wednesday afternoon through potentially Thursday morning. With such high moisture coming in, locally heavy rainfall will be possible. To go along with this sentiment, WPC has a marginal day 3 ERO (Excessive Rain Outlook) over southwest Nebraska. While heavy rainfall and localized flooding will be the primary concern, did want to highlight that some thunderstorms could be strong to possibly severe with a corridor of 500 to 1000 j/kg MUCAPE along southwest Nebraska. This will continue to be monitored closely for any potential changes to trends. A second shot of precipitation chances will spread across most of north central in southwestern Nebraska Thursday evening into Friday where a subtle shortwave approaches into the region, providing better lift.

Heading into the weekend, upper ridging tries to build back into the region which will bring daytime highs back near normal in the mid to upper 70s as well as drier conditions overall.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 640 PM CDT Mon Sep 21 2026

MVFR and local IFR conditions are expected tonight across all of western and north central Nebraska. Some patchy fog is also possible. Scattered showers are expected to develop across western Nebraska Tuesday morning and then move eastward across the area. MVFR ceilings are likely to linger across much of the area through Tuesday. Winds will become southeast at 10-15 kts by Tuesday afternoon.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.