Warmest in two weeks; Storms possible by Friday evening

Temperatures are on their way up and it started today.  Highs were in the middle to upper 80°s for much of southeast Nebraska.  That is about 10° warmer than Wednesday.  That trend will continue as Friday will likely be the warmest day in nearly two weeks.

Mostly sunny skies will greet us Friday morning.  This will allow temperatures to quickly rise. Temperatures should be in the lower/middle 90°s by late afternoon.  I’m forecasting a high of 94° in Lincoln, but some areas could be as warm as 98° (near the Nebraska/Kansas state line).

Factor in the humidity – dew point temperatures should be around 70° – and the heat index will be around 100° by late afternoon.

We’re also watch for the potential of thunderstorms to develop.  There looks to be two windows for storms.  The first will be late afternoon through evening, mainly over extreme southeast Nebraska. Storms have the potential of developing overhead, then quickly move to the east in to northwest Missouri and western Iowa.  These thunderstorms have the potential of producing large hail, damaging wind, and an isolated tornado.

The second window will be late Friday night through early Saturday morning.  Computer models suggest a cluster of thunderstorms developing over western Nebraska Friday evening.  The cluster will move east, then southeast.  The thunderstorms will have the potential for producing large hail in central Nebraska.  By the time they reach southeast Nebraska, the main threat should transition to damaging wind.

– Chief Meteorologist John Dissauer