textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Fog is expected to persist through late morning across the western Sandhills and portions of north central and northwestern Nebraska.

- Expect chilly temperatures for today and Saturday with readings in the 40s to middle 50s Friday and 40s for Saturday.

- After some limited clearing this afternoon, skies will cloud up tonight with mostly cloudy skies expected for most areas on Saturday.

- Chance of scattered to widespread precipitation chances Wednesday into Wednesday night

- Mild temperatures through the week across all of western and north central Nebraska

SYNOPSIS

Issued at 212 AM CST Fri Nov 13 2026

A highly amplified H5 pattern was noted tonight across the CONUS and southern Canada. A high amplitude ridge extended from southwestern Wyoming, north then northeast into eastern portions of Nunavut Canada. East of the ridge, a broad area of low pressure was noted over eastern Quebec into Newfoundland. A trough extended to the southwest of the Quebec low, all the way southwest to southern portions of Alabama and Mississippi. West of the high amplitude ridge, closed low pressure was located in southern portions of the Gulf of Alaska. A secondary low was located approximately 300 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara California. At the surface, high pressure was located over northwestern portions of Ontario Canada. This surface high extended south into the eastern Dakotas and western Minnesota.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/

Issued at 212 AM CST Fri Nov 13 2026

Today through Saturday...Fog potential and timing of fog dissipation later this morning is the primary forecast challenge with high temperatures this afternoon being a secondary forecast issue. Looking at the 00z HRRR visibility product tonight, fog should develop over the central Sandhills or along the highway 97 corridor from northwest of North Platte to south central Cherry County around 10 to 11 PM CT. So far, based on current 11.2-3.9 micron satellite imagery as of 11 PM CT, the 00z HRRR product seems to be doing a good job of handling reality. A slight eastward bias in the model is noted as fog seems to be developing slightly west of what the model is indicating. Earlier this evening, a dense fog advisory was issued for locations generally west of highway 83 from North Platte to Valentine and north of Interstate 80 from North Platte to Chappell. Was initially on the fence with including the eastern panhandle counties. Based on satellite trends this evening, feel this was a good choice to put Sheridan, Garden and Deuel Counties in the dense fog advisory. Based on the 00Z HRRR which is supported by the 03z HRRR, fog should begin to lift above a half a mile between 10 and 11 AM CT this morning. Southerly winds will increase this afternoon across the area as high pressure remains entrenched from the eastern Dakotas into western Missouri. Ridging will transition east today with its axis extending from western Kansas into the western Dakotas by 00z Saturday. With troughing beginning to approach the SW CONUS this afternoon, a surface trough will develop from eastern Wyoming into eastern Colorado. This will also enhance southerly winds this afternoon.

Even with the southerly winds, recycled cold air will keep most of the forecast area cool today with highs generally in the 40s east of highway 83. Some middle 50s are possible in the far west and will be dependent on whether or not cloud development is delayed until after peak heating. Later tonight, southerly winds and southwesterly flow aloft will lead to increasing cloudiness, especially in the west, as a decent shortwave trough tracks from Arizona into the Texas Panhandle. Lows tonight will be chilly in the eastern forecast area where readings will reach the lower to middle 20s. Further west where cloud cover will be more prevalent, lows will approach the freezing mark. On Saturday, a secondary shortwave, will track from the Four Corners into northeastern New Mexico. Downstream of this feature, cloudiness will increase from western into central Nebraska during the day on Saturday. With expected cloud cover, highs will struggle to get out of the 40s. Late in the day, there are indications of possible precipitation across southwestern Nebraska. The latest GFS tonight and RRFS develop some light precipitation late Saturday afternoon which extends up to around Ogallala Saturday evening. However, the NBM tonight delays the onset of precipitation till Saturday evening and keeps it confined to extreme southwestern portions of the forecast area.. So utilizing the NBM forecast, we should remain dry through Saturday afternoon, but will need to monitor the latest model trends if the NBM timing trends toward the faster deterministic solutions.

LONG TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 212 AM CST Fri Nov 13 2026

A weak disturbance will move through Saturday night into Sunday. The sfc low will track south into the Southern Plains and keep the bulk of the precipitation south of the forecast area. There is a low end chance that light precipitation could skirt the very southern portion of the forecast area, far southwest Nebraska, however even if light rain does occur, qpf values are expected to remain below a hundredth. The upper level ridge will continue to progress eastward into early next week with an upper level trof moving in Wednesday. Southerly flow will bring adequate moisture to the area ahead of the trof, will see a chance for scattered to widespread precipitation chances on Wednesday into Wednesday evening. Temperatures will be mostly in the 50s during the day and expect the precipitation to fall as rain, however, should precipitation linger into the overnight, there could be a potential for a brief period of rain/snow mix across western Nebraska, as overnight lows dip near 30 degrees. As for temperatures through the rest of the week, high pressure should continue to keep temperatures warm through mid- week with highs in the 50s across all of western and north central Nebraska.

Attention then turns to another disturbance moving in from the Pacific NW, towards the end of the forecast period. At this time confidence is low in the exact track, but is expected to move into the High Plains/Central Plains region, bringing the next chance for precipitation. At this time high temperatures will remain mild in the 50s so expected precipitation to be in the form of rain for any daytime precipitation, but should precip linger into the overnight, there will be the potential for rain/snow mix.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1135 AM CST Fri Nov 13 2026

Low stratus persists into early afternoon, with IFR/MVFR CIGs continuing. This stratus is expected to erode by late afternoon, with VFR conditions briefly returning into this evening. Additional low stratus development is then expected overnight, primarily for terminals west of Highway 83.

Winds remain gusty from the southeast today and tonight, with gusts of 25 to 35kts expected for all terminals.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.