textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Red Flag Warning Monday for all of western Nebraska and the Sandhills and portions of north central Nebraska.

- Very warm temperatures for Monday, with record breaking temperatures possible

- Low precipitation chances on Monday evening into the overnight

- High confidence in precipitation, mainly in the form of light snow Tuesday night through Wednesday night.

- Low confidence in precipitation, mainly in the form of light rain Thursday through Saturday.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 133 AM CDT Mon Mar 30 2026

The main concerns in the short term will be fire weather concerns, record warm temperatures and a chance of precipitation Monday evening into the overnight. Did bump temperatures a few degrees for Monday afternoon as 850 temps continue to show likelihood of 20 to 24 degree celsius and good mixing, have pushed temperatures well into the upper 80s across the southern Sandhills into southwest Nebraska, nearing 90 degrees in some locations. As for record temperatures, North Platte has a forecast high of 88 degrees and their record high temperature for Monday is 87 degrees. Valentine has a forecast high of 87 degrees and the record high for Monday is 85 degrees.

For fire weather concerns on Monday, a Red Flag Warning has been issued for Monday for all of the fire weather zones with the exception of fire wx zone 209. Min RH will be low, generally ranging from 10 to 15 percent, and winds of 10 to 20 mph with gusts potentially up to 30 mph or greater. Although the chance for thunderstorms will be low, there will be a chance for dry lightning, generally across western Nebraska and portions of the Sandhills.

As for precipitation chances, a cold front will move across the area Monday night. As the cold front advances there will be a chance for very light precipitation, with qpf values generally around trace amounts, thus leading to the potential for dry lightning as little to no qpf is expected. The main concern with the cold front passage will be the sharp turn in wind direction to the north. Behind the front winds should increase to 40 mph. Much cooler temperatures are expected behind the front with highs only in the upper 40s to mostly 50s for highs on Tuesday.

LONG TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY/

Issued at 133 AM CDT Mon Mar 30 2026

High confidence in precipitation, mainly in the form of light snow Tuesday night through Wednesday night. A large area of surface high pressure will reside across the Northern and Central Plains east across the Great Lakes. Surface low pressure will deepen across eastern Colorado on Wednesday and southern into southeast Kansas Wednesday night. This will draw colder air southward across western Nebraska, sufficient for light snow. A shortwave trough will move across Utah and Arizona Tuesday night and eastern Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico on Wednesday. By Wednesday night, the shortwave trough will move through Nebraska and most of Kansas. Model consensus is for the higher amounts of precipitation and snowfall accumulations (potentially up to a few inches north central) to reside across north central and central Nebraska, with the lowest amounts across the southwest. The NBM 48hr probability of receiving greater than 0.25" of liquid is about 85 percent across the eastern half of north central Nebraska and central Nebraska, to a 50 to 60 percent eastern panhandle and far southwest. This is an increase in probabilities and amounts from previous forecasts and is encouraging that some much needed wetting moisture is expected.

A longwave upper trough will move across the Pacific Northwest Wednesday night into Thursday. This upper trough will approach the region Thursday night, and move through Friday into Friday night. Chance POPS Thursday between the departing shortwave trough and approaching longwave upper trough, and not really expecting much in the way of precipitation. Chance to likely POPS Thursday night through Friday night as the upper longwave trough moves through the region. Model consensus is for a closed low associated with the upper trough to move from southeast Wyoming to near the NE/SD border Friday, then eastern SD into MN Friday night. This would suggest a dry slot could occur across southwest Nebraska, with the better chances for precipitation across north central into eastern NE. Light wraparound rain showers could linger across north central NE on Saturday. The track of timing of the upper low remains uncertain, so confidence resulting precipitation remain low.

Highs Wednesday are forecast to be quite cool in the upper 30s north central, to upper 40s to low 50s southwest. Thursday highs forecast to contrast from upper 30s far northeast to low to mid 60s far southwest. Friday and Saturday mid 40s to near 60, then 60s by Sunday as zonal flow becomes reestablished across the region.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 606 AM CDT Mon Mar 30 2026

VFR conditions will continue over the next 24 hours, with SCT to BKN high cloudiness. Winds will become westerly this morning around 5 to 15 kts, then increase to 10 to 25kts across the western Sandhills in the afternoon. A cold front will approach the northwest Sandhills late evening, with northwesterly winds after midnight becoming northerly 25-30kts, including the KVTN and KLBF terminals.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Red Flag Warning from noon CDT /11 AM MDT/ today to 1 AM CDT /midnight MDT/ Tuesday for NEZ204-206-208-210.