textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- A strong cold front pushes through the area tonight, bringing a threat for high winds for all of western and north central Nebraska. Widespread northwest wind gusts of 60 to 65 miles per hour are expected through the day tomorrow.

- The strong northwest winds will combine with dry air across southwest Nebraska and lead to critical fire weather concerns for areas south of Interstate 80 tomorrow.

- Snow showers could lead to rapid and significant visibility reductions both late this evening (with the cold front) and tomorrow afternoon across portions of western and north central Nebraska.

- A return to dry conditions and much colder temperatures begins Saturday, where early morning winds chills will dip to the negative teens. A warming trend will return the middle of next week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 330 PM CST Thu Jan 15 2026

Currently, gusty northwest winds prevail across the area behind the first of two cold fronts expected to impact the area today and tomorrow. Gusts as high as 40 to 45 miles per hour have been observed. This is combining with low relative humidity values, and near critical fire concerns are expected to persist into this evening.

By this evening, a second cold front will quickly push across the area from north to south. Strengthening cold advection and robust surface pressure rises in its wake suggest a period of strong northwest wind gusts with its passage. Strong winds aloft will likely be mechanically mixed downwards and lead to gusts as high as 50 to 60 miles per hour within an hour or so of frontal passage. With this in mind, have opted to start the High Wind Warning earlier, 6 PM CST, to address this threat. A brief lull in gusts is possible through the overnight hours, before winds quickly strengthen again by Friday morning.

Persistently strong cold advection should allow for ample mechanical mixing of the higher momentum flow aloft, aided further by a PV anomaly passing overhead through the afternoon. This all points to a period of very strong winds, especially considering H7-H85 flow approaching and exceeding the 99th percentile climo. Northwest wind gusts should rapidly exceed 60 miles per hour by late morning across the entire area, and will approach 65 miles per hour at times. This will lead to difficult travel for high profile and lightweight vehicles, especially on east to west routes. This will also lead to a very brisk day, with wind chill values remaining in the single digits to teens through the afternoon hours.

As the upper low quickly progresses off to the east Friday morning, very cold air aloft will be in place in its wake. This will lead to steepening low and mid-level lapse rates, and this looks to be adequate to generate snow showers across portions of the Sandhills and north central Nebraska. Any snow showers will lead to rapid and significant reductions in visibility when combined with the strong northwest winds. Though any accumulations look to remain light (less than 1") hazardous travel is possible for portions of north central Nebraska tomorrow. These snow showers persist into the evening, before beginning to wane overnight.

Winds begin to weaken by tomorrow evening, as strong surface high pressure approaches the area and the surface pressure gradient relaxes by Saturday morning. Still, gusts of 30 to 40 miles per hour look to persist through the overnight hours.

LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 330 PM CST Thu Jan 15 2026

Heading into Saturday, colder temps will stay in the region bringing below normal temperatures. Overnight lows Saturday and Sunday night will be especially chilly, being in the low teens (western NE) to single digits (north central NE). As such, combined with lingering strong winds from the system could bring wind chill values into the negative teens over north central NE, while also being on the cusp of meeting cold weather advisory criteria.

An upper-level ridge will start to move in bringing a return of dry conditions, starting over the weekend. Although Sat highs will be in the low to upper 20s for west southwest NE, min RH in the low 20s combined with persisting northwest winds 20 mph gusting 30 mph could bring elevated fire concerns. On Sunday, height rises from the ridge will bring above normal temps. Elevated fire risk, primarily far southwest NE where min RH values in the upper 20s to low 30s, breezy northwest winds and max temps nearing 50F make for elevated concerns.

Monday will start off quite chilly as another reinforcing shot of colder air will move through the area. Wind chill values in the morning hours will drop near or below zero, especially across portions of north central Nebraska. No precipitation is expected with this system.

Upper level ridging will build behind this departing trough, which will bring a return to dry conditions through the middle of next week. Tuesday will be warmer as highs will reach the upper 40s to low 50s in southwest Nebraska, with cooler temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s across the north central part of the state. Given the lack of recent precipitation and the potential for low relative humidity and gusty winds, there could be some fire weather concerns, particularly across southwest Nebraska. Beyond this, above normal high temperatures are expected Wednesday with another cold front approaching the region on Thursday.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 544 PM CST Thu Jan 15 2026

A strong frontal boundary will bring strong to significant winds, both at the surface and in the form of LLWS, to area terminals. Arrival of this front and the strong winds will be early in the period with strong to significant gusts persisting the remainder of the forecast period. Peak gusts of 50 knots appears likely for both LBF and VTN with medium and high confidence respectively.

Lagging the arrival of the front by a few hours will be the potential for snow showers. Southward extent of this activity is in doubt, but will add a brief mention to VTN in the late morning hours Friday. Heavier bursts could introduce brief IFR visibilities within the strong winds but confidence in this is low so will limit forecast impacts for now.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 330 PM CST Thu Jan 15 2026

Critical fire weather conditions are expected for areas south of Interstate 80 Friday afternoon. Though temperatures only climb into the middle 30s, very dry air will lead to humidity values falling into the low 20s. This will combine with strong northwest winds gusting as high as 60 to 65 miles per hour. The combination of dry conditions and strong winds could lead to rapid spread of any fire starts.

Though even colder on Saturday, very dry air will push humidity values into the teens across much of western Nebraska. The greatest uncertainty revolves around winds, however, with respect to any critical fire concerns. The strongest winds are expected through late morning, quickly weakening in the late afternoon as humidity falls. This will limit the overlap of the strongest winds and lowest humidity, though this will need to be monitored closely.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

High Wind Warning until 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ Friday for NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094. Red Flag Warning from noon CST /11 AM MST/ to 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ Friday for NEZ210-219.