textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Windy on Wednesday, with gusts of 45 mph or greater along and north of Highway 2. Though minimum humidity values remain above critical thresholds, elevated fire weather concerns persist due to the strong wind gusts.

- An arctic front pushes through the area Thursday evening, bringing a return of very cold temperatures and snow chances. Dangerously cold wind chills Friday through Sunday morning may range from 15 to 25 below zero across the region.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 327 PM CST Tue Jan 20 2026

A deep closed upper low was centered over Hudson Bay Canada this afternoon, with an upper trough extending from the western Canadian Prairies into the Northern Plains and Great Lakes. A shortwave trough in the flow currently extended from eastern North Dakota back across northern Wyoming. This will drop southeast tonight and drop a cold front quickly south through the region. There will be a slight chance for light snow, sprinkles or flurries behind the front across the southeastern zones through 9pm CST. Clearing skies thereafter overnight. Northwest winds will become westerly overnight. Lows not as cold, mostly in the mid teens.

Wednesday, a second cold front will drop south through the area. This will bring strong northwest winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to around 45 mph, locally to 50 mph across north central Nebraska. The time of the strongest winds will be from 10am through 4pm CST. Increased NBM winds with a blend of the stronger HRRR. With colder air behind the front, daytime highs from the mid to upper 30s north, and low to mid 40s south will likely be near noon/early afternoon with falling afternoon temperatures. Although afternoon humidity will range from 25 to 40 percent, the strong gusty winds will create elevated fire weather conditions.

LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 327 PM CST Tue Jan 20 2026

Thursday evening, an arctic front is expected to move across the region, bringing very cold air with it. Low temperatures overnight Thursday into Friday morning will fall around zero to below zero for most of the area, with negative teens possible, particularly across north central Nebraska. Dangerously cold wind chills are likely Friday morning, with wind chill values of 15 to 25 below zero across most of the area. The coldest wind chills are expected in north central Nebraska, which shows the greatest potential for wind chills colder than 25 below zero. Very cold temperatures will remain throughout the day on Friday with highs in the low teens across southwest Nebraska and into the single digits across the north central part of the state.

This system also brings increased snow chances across the region early Friday morning through Saturday evening. Confidence is still low in terms of potential snow and snowfall amounts, as there are still disagreements between the model guidance. The ECMWF/Canadian solutions would suggest greater potential for accumulating snowfall with stronger synoptic scale forcing remaining over the area throughout the day Friday into Saturday. Meanwhile, the GFS/GEFS solutions does not depict this signal, which would limit the potential for accumulating snowfall. Trends will need to be monitored over the next few forecast cycles to determine if better agreement develops.

Long Term Saturday through Tuesday

Heading into the weekend, cold temps will continue to linger around. Although winds will be light, cold nightime lows being -5 to 0 degrees will bring wind chills approaching -15 to -25 below early Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday highs are trending to be in the upper teens across the region. There will be a slight warmup Sunday with highs in the upper 20s in southwest NE and upper teens to low 20s in north central NE. Warmer, drier conditions will return heading into early next week as a ridge starts to move in Monday afternoon.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 537 PM CST Tue Jan 20 2026

There could be brief visibility reductions this evening across portions of northern Nebraska where brief snow flurries and patchy fog may develop, along with lower cigs, this could impact KVTN terminal briefly. LLWS will also be possible early Wednesday morning out of the northwest around 40 to 55 kts, with the strongest LLWS across northern Nebraska. Sfc winds will also be breezy Wednesday afternoon out of the northwest around 15 to 25 kts sustained and gust up to 40 kts, with the strongest winds across northern Nebraska.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.