textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- High confidence in light snow impacting most of north central Nebraska through Friday.

- Moderate to high confidence in wind chills dropping to near 20 below on Friday night/Saturday morning.

- Low to moderate confidence in minimal accumulating snow on Saturday.

- A return to dry conditions begins on Sunday lasting through mid- week with temperatures warming back up through the middle of next week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 330 PM CST Thu Jan 29 2026

An active weather pattern continues tonight as a series of systems move across Nebraska. Light snow will be possible through Friday leading to accumulating snow across much of the region.

After a brief respite from the snow this afternoon, a redevelopment is expected by the evening. Snow will move into northern Nebraska and impact locations mainly north of Highway 2 tonight. While this last night and this morning's snow was focused mainly across north central Nebraska, the main focus of snow will shift slightly to the west with the heaviest snow (around 1 inch) falling across central Cherry county.

The next round of snow will fall on Friday as a stronger shortwave pushes precipitation further to the south. Widespread light snow will fall across much of the region as the main trough pushes the main forcing to the south. Precipitation will start in the north and push south throughout the day, dropping another half inch to 1 inch across areas southwest of a Springview to Burwell line. Snow will taper throughout the afternoon ending by the evening as surface high pressure builds into the region.

By Friday night, an additional 1 to 2 inches (locally higher) of snow is expected across the northern Nebraska, with lesser amounts down to less than a half inch in southwest Nebraska. While wind gusts remain under 20 mph throughout the majority of this light snow event, snow ratios in the 15:1 to 20:1 range will create snow on the fluffier side leading to some minor blowing snow across the region. This will result in some minor visibility restrictions especially at night, but overall impacts are expected to remain minimal. Regardless, if traveling tonight through Friday be sure to allow for extra travel time and be prepared for rapidly changing conditions.

LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 330 PM CST Thu Jan 29 2026

Strong upper level ridging and associated high pressure will build back into the region on Saturday. Despite this high pressure, a ribbon of moisture behind the high will produce some additional light snow on Saturday. Confidence is increasing in this event, but snow development will still highly depend of the placement of the high pressure on Saturday and whether the moisture will be over north central Nebraska. With this increasing confidence, have bumped up PoPs into the likely category (~60 percent) and have included about five hundredths of QPF for locations generally east of US-83. Lower snow ratios near 10:1 will limit snow to under a half inch. West of US-83, warmer temperatures rising into the upper 30s to low 40s could transition precipitation over to a rain/snow mix or all rain. Precipitation will track steadily to the east throughout the afternoon which may proceed the warmer air and any transition of snow to rain. All precipitation exits the region to the east early evening bringing an end to the precipitation potential for a few days. Will continue to monitor this system over the next couple of days as there is still fairly high uncertainty in the place of precipitation as well as precipitation amounts.

In addition, colder air will accompany the high pressure resulting in a return to below zero lows for portions of north central Nebraska on Friday night and into Saturday morning. Current model guidance suggests 850 mb temperatures -14 to -18 C range pushing into the area with the high pressure on Friday night. This will result in overnight lows dropping into the single digits for locations generally east of US-83. With some modest winds on Friday night, wind chill values will easily drop into the negative teens, potentially approaching 20 below in portions of north central Nebraska. While the latest probabilities show there is only a 10 to 15 percent chance of reaching apparent temperatures below negative 15 degrees and a virtually zero percent chance of getting colder than 20 below, confidence continues to increase in these colder apparent temperatures as model trends remain consistent on being colder than guidance. Therefore, cold headlines are not in effect at this time, it will need to be considered over the next few forecast runs. Temperatures begin to moderate by Saturday night with lows remaining above 10 degrees bringing the threat for very cold wind chills to an end by Sunday morning.

Upper level ridging builds back into the region on Sunday bringing a return to dry conditions from Sunday through the middle of next week. There is just a slight chance of some light snow across northern Nebraska on Tuesday, but confidence remains very low in development and warrants not much more than a brief mention here. After temperatures remain chilly on Saturday, they begin a gradual warming trend through next week. Highs will generally warm back into the upper 40s to low 50s through Wednesday.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 548 PM CST Thu Jan 29 2026

The main aviation concern will be MVFR to IFR ceilings across western and north central Nebraska the next 24 hours. MVFR ceilings near OVC015 will overspread north central Nebraska this evening and southwest Nebraska late tonight into Friday morning. IFR ceilings are expected across the northwest Sandhills tonight into Friday morning. Ceilings will improve to VFR Friday afternoon. Periodic light snow will also occur tonight into Friday morning, across western Nebraska, including the KVTN terminal.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.