textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Fog is expected Thursday morning across portions of southwest Nebraska.

- Above normal temperatures continue through Friday, cooler temperatures expected for the weekend.

- Chance of showers and maybe isolated thunderstorms on Saturday, with rain shower chances continuing into Monday.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 318 PM CDT Wed Oct 21 2026

The main concern in the short term will be the fog potential Thursday morning. Will see abundant low level moisture in the morning hours again with sfc dewpoints in the low 50s. Overnight/morning lows will be near 50 degrees and light south to southeast winds will create favorable conditions for fog across southwest Nebraska, greatest concern across the southern Sandhills and southward. Confidence is increasing in the likelihood for dense fog, as probabilities of visibilities dropping to 1/4 a mile ranging from 40 percent to 60 percent with more widespread coverage than what was seen this morning, if continue to see trends remain or increase, may need to issue headlines for tomorrow morning.

Southerly winds will increase in the afternoon and 850 temps around 15 to 20 degrees celsius. Will have moderately deep mixing by the afternoon and will see winds increase out of the southwest around 15 to 20 mph with gust up to 30 mph. Sfc temperatures increase above normal with highs in the mid to upper 70s, with a few locations reaching 80 degrees across southwest Nebraska.

LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 318 PM CDT Wed Oct 21 2026

Upper level ridge begins to move eastward across the CONUS on Friday. Will see 850 temps nearing 20 degrees celsius and should see that mix to the sfc with all of western and north central Nebraska in the upper 70s to low 80s. Friday will be the last well above normal day, ending the week. Heading into the weekend will see a cold front move through on Saturday with temperatures in the mid 50s across the northwest Sandhills and for areas across southwest Nebraska where the front will take longer to pass through, temperatures will reach the upper 60s. As the cooler air mass infiltrates the area with the cold front passage on Sunday, much cooler widespread temperatures are expected for Sunday with highs ranging from the upper 40s to mid 50s. Also as the cold front advances through on Saturday and stalls across central Nebraska, then fully passing through on Sunday, there will be chance for precipitation both Saturday and Sunday. There will be some moderate instability on Saturday across southwest Nebraska and could see the potential for isolated thunderstorms, however at this time the severe threat will be low, but lightning will be a concern. Heading into Sunday will still see rain shower potential but thunderstorm potential is not expected. A few of the models have been showing qpf amounts around half an inch to an inch for total weekend rainfall, will have to continue to monitor as the we get closer to the weekend time period.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1239 PM CDT Wed Oct 21 2026

VFR conditions are expected through this evening. Fog is expected to develop across portions of the southern Sandhills into southwest Nebraska early Thursday morning through mid Thursday morning. Winds will be out of the southeast this afternoon/evening around 5 to 10 kts and become light overnight into tomorrow morning around 5 kts or less.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.