textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Another round of isolated to scattered thunderstorms are possible late tonight

- Moderate to heavy rainfall may be possible with storms tonight, with the potential for flooding

- Daily chances for showers and thunderstorms into early next week

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/

Issued at 341 PM CDT Fri Aug 21 2026

The main concern for the remainder of this afternoon into tonight will generally be the chance for scattered thunderstorm development through the afternoon hours. Expect there to be a lull in thunderstorms early to mid evening, then as a disturbance moves into the area could see thunderstorms redevelop this evening. Convection that develops tonight is generally expected after 9pm CT. Storms that develop tonight will likely be elevated in nature so the main threats would be large hail and damaging wind gusts. There will be a secondary threat of moderate to heavy rainfall as well with the potential for storms to train over the same area. Confidence in overnight convection is medium, as there still remains some uncertainty on how much the environment is able to destabilize tonight and if there will be enough forcing. If storms form however, generally expect most of the storm development to move out of the area before sunrise. The greatest area of concern will generally be along and east of HWY 83 and north of interstate 80.

Heavy rain potential overnight, although storm movement will be moderate, some of the CAMs have been hinting at the possibility of storms training over the same location, near the boundary. PWAT values overnight will be around 1.25 to 1.75 inches. Depending where storms set up there may be the potential for flooding issues. Although the Sandhills can usually intake a lot of rainfall, rainfall over the same area the last couple days has been near 3 inches in some locations and have seen soil moisture saturation around 50 to 70 percent, so will need to monitor locations across north central into central Nebraska closely.

As for Saturday morning, there may be the potential for some patchy fog in the area with light winds and low level moisture from morning convection, but confidence is low at this time.

Saturday precipitation potential after early morning convection will remain low and expect Saturday to be mostly dry. There will be some potential for an isolated thunderstorms to develop off the high terrain and move eastward into western/southwest Nebraska Saturday evening, however coverage will remain limited. There will be a greater chance for precipitation late Saturday night into Sunday morning with isolated to scattered convection across western and north central Nebraska.

LONG TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 341 PM CDT Fri Aug 21 2026

Upper level level ridge to the west will keep northwest flow over the High Plains into early next week. There will continue to be an increase of low level moisture advecting into the High Plains through early next week. This combined with disturbances that move over the ridge into the area and will see daily chances for storms into early next week. At this time the threat for organized storms still remains uncertain, with greater confidence in isolated to scattered storm development than widespread storm chances.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1245 PM CDT Fri Aug 21 2026

Scattered showers and thunderstorms continue to move across portions of the Sandhills this afternoon with additional development possible through the afternoon hours. This could briefly cause MVFR conditions with lower visibilities and gusty winds. A lull in thunderstorm activity is expected for the evening hours with the potential for additional isolated to scattered thunderstorms late evening. Outside of the thunderstorms VFR conditions should prevail this afternoon and tonight. Winds will generally be light and variable to around 10 kts out of the southeast.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.