STORM ALERT! Severe Weather is Incoming for Central and Southern Nebraska

HASTINGS, Neb. – A line of showers and thunderstorms is moving into the western contours of the area. Rain and thunderstorms will move east across the area this evening and into the next morning. Severe weather is possible, mostly in central and southern Nebraska and northern Kansas. There will be heavy rain in some places. The worst weather is most likely to happen south and west of the Tri-Cities.

Hail up to the size of a half-dollar and wind gusts of 60 miles per hour are likely. Even though there is a chance of a storm, it is not very likely. These will be gone from the area by the time the sun rises tomorrow. The lows tonight in the west will be in the 30s, which is pretty cold. In the Panhandle, there will be 20s. Lows will be in the 40s in the southeast part of the area.

It will be mostly quiet and a little cooler over the weekend. It will be a little windy on both days. Saturday is going to be sunny, and the highs will be in the low to mid-60s. It will be cool Saturday night, in the upper 30s and lower 40s. Sunday will be a little warmer because of windy southeast winds. The highs will be in the middle to upper 60s. It might rain a little on Sunday night.

If things go as planned in the morning, Monday could be a worse day for bad weather in our area. On Sunday night and Monday morning, warm, moist air will rush north, making the weather very uncertain by Monday afternoon. There could be a few showers and thunderstorms in the morning. The weather might be more stable in the afternoon if there are more of those around. For now, though, my estimate assumes that this won’t change the risk of a storm in the afternoon.

The highs will reach the mid-60s to mid-70s. Storms should start up again in Central Nebraska by late morning or early afternoon as a cold front moves east. These will move east through the afternoon and evening, and then they will clear out. At this point, it looks like severe weather is likely to happen all over Central and Eastern Nebraska as well as North Central Kansas. The risk is slightly higher near the Tri-Cities and to the south and east from there. All kinds of bad weather will be possible, and I’m worried about how things are set up for storms. Keep an eye on this situation over the weekend as well.

Most of our area will have dry weather in the afternoons of the next two days. Even after this storm moves through on Tuesday, temperatures should still be pretty nice. However, they may start to drop as the week goes on. Wednesday and Thursday, some cooler air will move south. It might get a little warmer by the next weekend.