textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Record breaking high temperatures continue on Friday with warm conditions lasting through Saturday.

- A pattern change on Saturday night will bring cooler, below normal temperatures on Sunday before a gradual increase through the middle of next week.

- Some light snow or rain/snow mix will return Saturday night, but otherwise dry conditions will prevail through next Thursday.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/

Issued at 311 PM CST Thu Dec 25 2025

Upper level ridging will persist across the central US through Saturday keeping conditions dry and warm throughout the region. Warm air advection will continue to push warmer 850 mb temperatures in the 10 to 16 degree range into the central Plains. This will keep surface highs in the mid to upper 60s through Friday. The potential to break some more high temperature records returns on Friday especially at Valentine and Broken Bow where records currently stand at 60 and 64 respectively and forecasted highs are in the mid to upper 60s. North Platte and Imperial could also see new records or at least tie the records as the current record is 66 for both sites. Confidence remains high in most if not all sites reaching at least the old record as the current trend has been warmer than what guidance suggests. Looking at the latest EFI and SoT graphics show a high likelihood of record breaking temperatures occurring on Friday leading to a higher confidence that these above normal warm temperatures are going to occur. In addition, the latest probabilities even hint at the probability of seeing over 70 degrees is near 50 percent across portions of the Sandhills. While this isn't an extremely high probability, this in combination with the SoT/EFI forecast, confidence remains high that the current forecasted highs may increase a few more degrees before tomorrow.

For Saturday, dry conditions continue throughout the day as the ridge slowly slides off to the east. Slightly cooler air associated with the next upper level trough will begin to enter portions of northern Nebraska by Saturday. This cooler air combined with some increasing clouds by Saturday afternoon will result in highs ranging from the mid 50s west of a line from Ogallala to Butte to the low 60s east of this line.

LONG TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 311 PM CST Thu Dec 25 2025

A pattern change returns on Saturday night as a trough digs southward across the Great Plains. Confidence is slowly increasing that this system will bring some light precipitation to portions of the region. Models continue to trend towards dropping at least some light precipitation across much of north central and western Nebraska on Saturday night. Precipitation type is a little uncertain but at this time, it is expected start off as rain across the Panhandle around 6pm CT /5pm MT/. As precipitation moves eastward through the evening and temperatures drop below freezing, precip type will switch over to a rain/snow mix before changing completely to snow. Precipitation comes to an end Sunday morning as high pressure builds in behind the departing trough. At this time, the highest snowfall accumulations will be around 1 inch across the Panhandle and Pine Ridge region where cold air will have the longest affect on precip type. This trough will also bring a return to much colder temperatures as 850 mb temperatures plummet into the -8 to - 16 C range. This will result in surface temperatures to drop back below normal (low 40s) on Sunday. Expect highs to range from the low 20s across northern Nebraska to the upper 20s south of I-80.

Otherwise, a dry forecast returns for next week as ridging quickly builds back across the western US keeping dry conditions across Nebraska through the extended period. Temperatures will also steadily increase through the middle of next week with highs returning to the upper 40s and low 50s by mid-week.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1130 PM CST Thu Dec 25 2025

VFR conditions are expected to prevail through Friday night across western and north central Nebraska. Northwesterly LLWS persists for all terminals through Thursday night, ending around sunrise Friday.

Winds remain west-northwesterly through Friday morning, at 10kts or less. Winds then become west-southweseterly Friday afternoon, at 10 to 15kts.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.