textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Dry conditions and mild temperatures continue into Friday, with highs in the low to middle 40s.

- A system crosses the area Saturday, and could lead to light snow accumulations across portions of north central Nebraska. - After a cold day Sunday (highs in the 20s to 30s), above average temperatures return early next week (highs in upper 40s to 50s).

SHORT TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 300 PM CST Thu Dec 4 2025

Currently, low stratus continues to clear across portions of central and north central Nebraska, with mostly sunny skies across much of western Nebraska. Temperatures range from the low 30s in north central Nebraska to the middle 40s in southwest Nebraska.

For tonight, surface high pressure continues to exit off to the east, migrating into the Ohio Valley by tomorrow morning. A surface low, currently located across Manitoba, will continue to push east towards the upper Great Lakes. A trailing surface trough currently positioned across the Panhandle, will continue to move east tonight. Westerly downslope flow in its wake should eliminate a threat for fog tomorrow morning, and also keeps lows in the 20s overnight.

By early tomorrow afternoon, a second surface low will move across the Dakotas, dragging a cold front through the area from northwest to southeast. This leads to increasing northwest winds tomorrow afternoon, with gusts approaching 25 to 30 miles per hour across the area. The passage of this front will also have limited impact on temperatures, with highs again in the upper 30s to low 40s. An upper shortwave will then begin to cross the Rockies tomorrow night, leading to increasing surface cyclogenesis across eastern Wyoming early Saturday morning. In response, south winds strengthen across much of the area near and after sunrise Saturday.

LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 300 PM CST Thu Dec 4 2025

The aforementioned upper shortwave will eject across the area Saturday afternoon, with the associated surface low pushing across western Nebraska. As this occurs a warm front will lift into north central Nebraska. This leads to increasing low-level isentropic ascent, and should promote increasing snow across far north central Nebraska by late Saturday afternoon. Guidance continues to come into better agreement with the bulk of precipitation occurring across eastern South Dakota into Iowa, though portions of the area east of HWY 183 and north of HWY 91 may see a "glancing blow", with light snow accumulation (0.5-1.0") possible. Regardless of exact amounts, any snow looks to fall in a very tight window, with precipitation exiting off to the east by Saturday night. Light snow is also possible again Sunday, as a weak shortwave ejects across the area quickly in the wake of Saturday's system. That said, guidance is in poor consensus with respect to this, and confidence remains low for now.

Northwest flow establishes aloft as we head into next week, along with persistent westerly low-level flow. This downslope flow will bring increasing warm advection, and boost highs back well above average as we head into next week. The warmest day looks to be Tuesday, with widespread highs in the 50s. This would be around 10 to 15 degrees above average, and a welcomed reprieve from recent cold temperatures. The mild temperatures look to be short lived however, as guidance continues to suggests cold frontal passage on Wednesday.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 539 PM CST Thu Dec 4 2025

VFR conditions are expected over the next 24 hours for western and north central Nebraska. Winds will switch from the west to the northwest late morning to early afternoon with wind speeds around 10 to 15 kts and gust up to 25 kts.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.