textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Gusty northwest winds are expected this afternoon across western and north central Nebraska

- Several chances for light precipitation through next week

- Potential for critical fire weather concerns on Wednesday with warm temperatures and windy conditions

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 238 AM CDT Sat Apr 4 2026

H5 low pressure, will track from eastern South Dakota into the arrowhead of Minnesota today. Behind the exiting system, decent subsidence will lead to a dry forecast across the area. Behind the exiting system, a warm front will push into western and southwestern Nebraska this afternoon. Gusty northwesterly winds will develop this afternoon behind the exiting system. Even with a weakening surface pressure gradient this afternoon, steep lapse rates and good mixing in areas of sun, will lead to windy conditions this afternoon. This will be most pronounced over western and southwestern Nebraska where gust potential of 25 to 35 MPH is possible late this afternoon. High temperatures later this afternoon will reach the upper 50s to around 60 in SW Nebraska. Forecast soundings indicate very steep lapse rates this afternoon over SW Nebraska, and with 25 to 35 KT winds in the H850 to H800 layer, wind gusts in the 25 to 35 MPH range seem probable. With afternoon highs in the upper 50s to around 60 and min RH ranging from 20 to 25 percent in SW Nebraska, near-critical fire weather conditions are possible. ATTM, not anticipating critical conditions as min RH is higher than yesterday afternoon's min RH. Elsewhere, highs will struggle to get out of the 40s in northeastern areas, as cloud cover is expected to be more prevalent. Surface high pressure will track across Nebraska overnight, ending up in Kansas by Sunday morning. With clear skies, light winds and dry air in place, overnight lows will fall off into the mid to upper 20s across the area. The warm front, will push east into central and northeastern Nebraska on Sunday. This will be followed by a cold front backing into the forecast area Sunday night. For Sunday highs will reach the 60s across the forecast area with some readings approaching 70 in the southwest. By afternoon, minimum RH will reach 15 to 20 percent in far SW Nebraska. Winds are expected to be light Sunday afternoon at under 15 MPH, so fire concerns will be limited.

LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 238 AM CDT Sat Apr 4 2026

An upper level ridge develops across the west Sunday and keeps the High Plains in northwest flow through early next week. A weak cold front will move through Sunday with cooler temperatures behind it for Monday. Highs will will be in the 40s to 50s, which will be around 5 to 10 degrees below normal with the coldest temperatures across north central Nebraska. There will be a low end chance for precipitation on Monday, generally across north central Nebraska, however models continue to shift low level moisture further north and east with each run, thus lower confidence in precipitation across the CWA. Another weak disturbance moves through the area late Monday night into Tuesday. Low level moisture return will be sufficient across southwest and western Nebraska and spread eastward into the Sandhills and north central Nebraska overnight and should see a better chance for some light precipitation, however at this time qpf values look to be only trace amounts.

Wednesday will be the warmest day of the week as temperatures will generally be widespread in the 70s. As a cold front approaches the area winds will increase ahead of the front around 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Fire weather concerns increase on Wednesday as the ridge breaks down. Min RH will be in the upper teens across portions of western and southwest Nebraska in combination with strong winds, including a wind shift with the frontal passage. Will have to continue to monitor the chance for critical fire weather concerns as timing of the system still remains uncertain and the period of overlapping winds and min RH may be brief as there will also be a chance for precipitation Wednesday afternoon, continuing into Thursday. After the cold front passage on Wednesday temperatures will remain cooler to end the week with highs in the 50s.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 1210 PM CDT Sat Apr 4 2026

Scattered to broken low cloudiness is expected to end by late this afternoon, with lingering MVFR ending as well. VFR conditions are then expected to prevail through tomorrow afternoon across western and north central Nebraska.

Winds remain gusty from the northwest into this evening, with gusts of 30 to 40kts persisting for all terminals. Winds then weaken tonight, becoming westerly at 5 to 10kts by tomorrow morning.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.