textproduct: North Platte

KEY MESSAGES

- An arctic cold front arrives Thursday night, bringing bitterly cold temperatures in its wake. Wind chills of 15 to 30 below zero or colder are expected Friday morning. An Extreme Cold Watch remain in effect for the eastern half of north central Nebraska, where wind chills of 30 below are expected.

- Accumulating snowfall is likely across portions of western and north central Nebraska, mainly Friday into Friday night. Accumulations up to 2 inches are forecast, with higher amounts possible.

- Wind chills of 15 to 20 below zero are expected during the morning hours Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 243 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

A cold front has currently pushed through western and north central Nebraska with gusty winds. Winds will become light and variable to light westerly tonight with lows from 10 to 15 above.

Thursday, a backdoor cold front will move in with Cooler highs from the mid 20s far northern Nebraska to upper 30s southwest. Winds northerly at 5 to 15 mph with afternoon gusts to 20 mph in the north central.

A strong arctic cold front will drop south through the region Thursday night as strong surface high pressure near 1052MB moves into western North Dakota. This will bring bitterly cold temperatures, with lows from 10 to 15 below across the northeast to near zero far southwest. A northerly wind 10 to 15 mph will create dangerous wind chills from 15 to 30 below zero or colder late Thursday night into Friday morning. An Extreme Cold Watch remains in effect for much of the eastern half of north central Nebraska, where confidence in 30 below zero wind chills or colder is highest.

Meanwhile, light snow is expected to develop after 06Z Friday across the western and central Sandhills. This will occur along the western side of the strong surface high pressure ridge axis, aided by a coupled upper jet at H300. A Northern Stream jet max will extend from southeast MT across South Dakota while a Southern Stream jet max extends from AZ through southern CO.

LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 243 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

Accumulating snow is likely Friday into Friday night, especially west of Valentine through Burwell. Some of the latest models including the ECMWF, GEM, and GFS forecast a band of heavier snowfall from Chadron through Broken Bow. The current snowfall forecast is for 1 to around 2 inches south of a Valentine through Burwell line. Upcoming forecasts will better resolve location and amounts. Due to the arctic airmass, SLR ratios may range up to 30:1, and with light winds, a light and fluffy snow is expected.

An Extreme Cold Watch remain in effect for the eastern half of north central Nebraska Friday morning. Lowered high temperatures for Friday, Saturday and Sunday toward the NBM 50th percentile. Highs only from 5 below to 9 above Friday and mostly single digits Saturday. The ECMWF EFI shift of tails indicates the anomalously cold high temperatures. The strongest signal greater than 1 SOT is over the Northern Plains Friday and western KS and western OK Saturday. Wind chill values from 10 below to 20 below or colder are possible each morning Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

A return of warmer temperatures Monday into the upper 20s to upper 30s, and from 30 to 45 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 552 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

VFR conditions will prevail over the next 24 hours. Winds will diminish tonight, becoming light, generally around 5 kts or less. Winds will begin to increase in the afternoon across the northern Sandhills, including KVTN terminal with northwest winds around 10 to 15 kts and gust up to 25 kts.

LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Extreme Cold Watch from late Thursday night through Friday morning for NEZ005>010-027>029.