textproduct: Omaha/Valley

KEY MESSAGES

- Dangerous cold Thursday night through Monday morning, with wind chills ranging from the teens to as low as 35 below zero. The coldest period is expected Thursday night into Friday morning.

- Snow chances (50-70%) move into the area late Friday through Saturday, potentially bringing an inch or two of snow to areas, mainly Omaha southward.

- Temperatures trend back upward going into next week, but remain below normal.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 324 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

Strong winds have moved into the area with wind gusts as high as 70 mph (KTQE)! In addition to the wind we do have a few scattered showers in northeast Nebraska associated with a weak vort max moving into central Iowa this afternoon. This will help lead the showers off to our east over the next couple of hours.

The Arctic High starts to slide down the east side of the Rockies on Thursday bringing in colder air. The frigid air doesn't arrive until Thursday night into Friday morning with temperatures dropping to -15 to 0 across our area and wind chill falling to -20 to -35. Left the Extreme Cold Watch in place for our northern counties, and will likely need a Cold Weather Advisory for much of the rest of our area Friday morning.

Friday night into Saturday we're closely monitoring the big winter system that will move across the South. Model trends in the ECMWF and Canadian have trended farther north with the snow, bringing snow to our area mainly Omaha southward. The GEFS holds strong with a more southerly track keeping our area clear apart for areas along the Kansas state line. Went with the National Blend of Models, keeping it at about a coin-flip whether we see snow or not. Due to significant dry air that will need to be overcome, we're not thinking at this time we'll see much more than about an inch up to two toward the Kansas state line, if we see anything at all.

Cloud cover as well as a wind reversal to light out of the south on Saturday will help to kick off the gradual "warming" trend expected over the weekend, but we'll still see highs on Saturday only get into the 0 to 5 degree range with wind chill keeping it feeling like below zero. Sunday morning will be slightly less frigid, with wind chill only dropping to -20 to -10. Sunday afternoon we continue to see temperatures rise into the low teens. Another shortwave will bring one last shot of frigid air for Monday morning with potential for gusty northwest winds helping to bring wind chill back down to -15 to -25 across our area before temperatures warm up Monday and Tuesday.

Ensembles show a jump in temperatures Monday and Tuesday with another Clipper system helping to push the frigid air off to the east. This will bring afternoon highs back up into the upper teens to mid 20s Monday afternoon and upper 20s to mid 30s Tuesday afternoon. Return flow on the back side of this system brings temperatures back down again on Wednesday with highs back down in the 20s. Cooler than normal temperatures stay in place through later next week, though not the frigid temperatures we'll see this weekend.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 515 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

VFR conditions are observed at all three terminals this evening and will prevail for the remainder of the TAF cycle. Northwest winds remain gusty at 25 to 35 kts, but these should begin subsiding around 02z to 03z. Winds then become west southwest overnight under 12 kts, then switch to north northwest by the late morning/afternoon. Winds become breezy at 18 to 25 kts at KOFK and KOMA in the afternoon.

OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

NE...High Wind Warning until 6 PM CST this evening for NEZ011-012- 015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068. Extreme Cold Watch from late Thursday night through Friday morning for NEZ011-012-015>018-031>034. Wind Advisory until 6 PM CST this evening for NEZ078-088>093. IA...High Wind Warning until 6 PM CST this evening for IAZ043-055- 056-069-079-080-090-091. Extreme Cold Watch from late Thursday night through Friday morning for IAZ043.