textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Cooler temperatures for Tuesday and Wednesday

- A scattered to widespread chance of showers and thunderstorms late Tuesday and Wednesday

- Moderate to heavy rainfall possible Wednesday

- Shower and thunderstorm chances continue Thursday into Thursday night

- Heat returns Friday through Monday with mainly dry conditions

SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 111 AM CDT Tue Jul 21 2026

Short Term (Today through Wednesday night): The main concern in the short term will be shower and thunderstorm chances late Tuesday and Wednesday and cooler temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday.

The cold front continues to advance southward tonight into early Tuesday morning, finally giving a brief reprieve to the 100 degree temperatures of the past several days. Highs on Tuesday will be in the upper 80s to low 90s. Wednesday will be even cooler with highs mostly in the 70s across north central Nebraska into the Sandhills, with 80s across western and southwest Nebraska, extreme southwest Nebraska will be nearing 90 degrees.

As for shower and thunderstorm chances on Tuesday and Wednesday. A weak sw trof will translate eastward into western Nebraska late Tuesday night. Storm development should hold off until after midnight, thus do expect most of Tuesday daytime into the evening should remain dry. As the trof moves east it should provide weak lift that will provide enough lift for storm development. As the trof moves eastward across the Sandhills additional storm development will increase and move eastward. The greatest potential for storm development will generally be across the northern Sandhills into north central Nebraska, with more widely scattered development across southwest Nebraska. Showers and thunderstorms will continue through Wednesday overnight, especially across the Sandhills into central Nebraska.

The greatest QPF values will be northeast of a line from Merriman to Brady where a half inch to an inch of rainfall will be possible Tuesday night through early Thursday morning. PWAT values will be greatest Wednesday morning when values will be greater than 1.80 and nearing 2.0 inches. PWATs will still remain above 1.50 Wednesday overnight into early Thursday. All of western and north central Nebraska is under a marginal risk of excessive rainfall Wednesday through Thursday. However, forecast confidence is high that widespread flooding will not be expected, given recent high temperatures, no recent rainfall and the area where the heaviest rainfall is expected is across the Sandhills into central and north central Nebraska where mostly sandy soil keeps flooding concerns low.

LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/

Issued at 111 AM CDT Tue Jul 21 2026

Thursday into Thursday night...the upper ridge will remain centered over the Four Corners Region into the Southern Plains. This will bring a continued northwest flow aloft across the Northern and Central Plains. An H7 trough axis will move eastward across north central and central NE Thursday morning. This will aid in bringing chance to likely POPs to these areas, with likely POPs east of Broken Bow through Bassett. Meanwhile, an H7 closed low over southwest SD will drop southeast across north central NE into eastern NE during the afternoon and evening. This will bring chance POPs across the area, especially during the evening. NBM 24hr hour probabilities for greater than 0.10 inch is from 40 to 75 percent east of Highway 83.

The upper ridge is forecast to build northward into the region Friday through Sunday. Mainly dry conditions, although isolated thunderstorms are possible. H7 temperatures around 15C Friday warm to 17 to around 20C Saturday through Monday. Mainly dry conditions, although isolated storms appear possible during the late afternoon hours Saturday and Sunday, despite the warm temperatures aloft.

Highs Thursday from the upper 70s east, where clouds and precipitation are expected, to the upper 80s far southwest.

Friday should see highs slightly above normal in the west to slightly below normal east (low to mid 90s west, and mid 80s east). Hot temperatures are likely to return Saturday through Monday. Upper 90s to around 100 Saturday and Sunday and mid to upper 90s Monday.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1226 AM CDT Tue Jul 21 2026

VFR conditions the next 24 hours at the KLBF and KVTN terminals. Winds behind the cold front will remain light northeast below 10KT overnight. Gusts to 15KT at KLBF 15Z-20Z. Otherwise light north to northeast winds into the afternoon. At KLBF, scattered to broken high clouds overnight through Tuesday morning, otherwise few to scattered high clouds Tuesday afternoon and evening.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.