textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- Limited fire weather concerns will come with a warm up across western and southwest Nebraska Wednesday.

- A long duration light snow potential exists Thursday through Saturday. At this time accumulations look minimal.

- Cold wind chills are expected Friday night into Saturday morning.

- Still expecting a warm up Sunday into Monday, especially across western Nebraska.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 341 PM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

Stationary boundary is located across western Nebraska this afternoon. Temperatures to the east of the boundary are generally in the 20s. Meanwhile to the west of the boundary lower 40s are observed to the west of the boundary across the Panhandle. This boundary will push eastward tonight, and be located from central South Dakota to eastern Nebraska by Wednesday morning. Skies clear tonight, and with the light west winds and dry air, lows will fall into the upper single digits and teens.

A westerly push of downslope flow moves back eastward across the area Wednesday as the stationary front remains just off to our east. Some increase in high cloudiness is expected, but should have little impact on temperatures as warmer air aloft mixes to the surface. Areas along and south of I-80 will see the warmest temperatures, with highs likely reaching the lower 50s. As far as fire weather concerns, there will be some limited potential across portions of the Panhandle into southwest Nebraska. HREF probs. keep the higher winds mostly west of the area. Probabilities of gusts greater than 20 mph (are generally 50% or less) and confined to the far western Sandhills with the probability increasing farther to the west nearer the Wyoming border. Humidity is only marginally low as well...remaining mostly above 25%.

LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 341 PM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

Light snow chances will be the concern as we head into the Thursday through Saturday period. A stalled cold front will remain from northwest to southeast across the area. Overall forcing will remain weak, but a persistent area of mid-level FGEN will develop between the colder air to the east and warmer air to the west. Weak lift lift will develop at times as disturbances quickly move southeastward within fast northwest flow aloft. Snowfall accumulations continue to look to remain on the light side. ENS/GEFS probabilities remain below any advisory criteria. Even the 90th %tile of both sets is around 2" across northern Nebraska and around 1" across southwest parts of the state. The 50th %tile is around 1" across northern Nebraska and around 1/2" across southwest Nebraska.

The other concern will be cold wind chills Saturday morning. Arctic air will settle into the area Friday as the stationary front oscillates back to the west. As high pressure moves east of the area Friday night south winds will increase. With the cold air still in place, wind chill values of 5 to 15 below are expected. Coldest will be for areas east of Highway 183.

Ridging will amplify across the western CONUS Sunday into the first of next week. This will keep the area beneath northwest flow aloft downstream of the ridging. There continues to be some question on how far east the ridging will extend...and how much of a warm up will occur across our area. What is certain is that the warmer temperatures will remain across western Nebraska...with cooler readings to the east.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1142 AM CST Tue Jan 27 2026

An area of mid-level clouds will move across the area this afternoon. Clear skies are then expected tonight with some increase in high clouds Wednesday morning. VFR conditions will prevail all areas with winds light and variable through Wednesday morning.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.