Severe weather possible Friday night through Saturday morning

8:40PM WEATHER UPDATE:  Thunderstorms continue to develop in central Nebraska.  The primary threat will become damaging wind from thunderstorms over the next several hours.

The Storm Prediction Center says that they will likely issue an additional severe weather watch for eastern Nebraska by 9 p.m.

– Chief Meteorologist John Dissauer

7:50PM WEATHER UPDATE:  Thunderstorms have developed in western portions of Nebraska.  The storms are moving southeast towards south-central Nebraska.

I’m also watching a batch of thunderstorms in northeast Wyoming that are moving southeast.  If these can hold together, they have a better chance of impacting central Nebraska later tonight.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch continues for the western half of Nebraska.  The watch is in effect until 10 p.m. Friday.

The potential for storms to pass through southeast Nebraska late Friday night in to early Saturday morning still exists.  There remains questions as to how strong the storms will be.  I am under the opinion that the storms will be in their “decaying” stage as they reach southeast Nebraska.

– Chief Meteorologist John Dissauer

2PM WEATHER UPDATE:  Severe weather is possible across the state of Nebraska Friday evening. The Storm Prediction Center has placed almost the entire state under a Slight Risk for severe weather through 7AM Saturday.

At one point, computer model guidance suggested that some storms may fire in eastern Nebraska in the late afternoon and early evening between 4 and 8PM. Most guidance has since trended away from this solution. While it is possible that we may see some isolated showers and storms closer to Lincoln this afternoon, these won’t be widespread. If these storms develop, they may be strong to severe.

Severe weather chances are greater Friday evening and overnight. By the late afternoon, storms should develop off to the west. These storms will approach the southwestern corner of the state in the 6-9PM timeframe. I think that there is a greater chance to see large hail with the storms out west – closer to Grant, Imperial, and McCook. An isolated tornado also cannot be ruled out.

As the storm system pushes eastward, these storms may “congeal” into a larger storm complex. The main severe weather threat will then transition to more of a damaging wind concern. Computer model guidance is suggesting that these storms will approach the Tri-Cities closer to midnight and pass through Lincoln overnight.

These storms should be on an overall weakening trend past midnight, so the severe weather threat will start to fade as the storms approach Lincoln. Rain chances will stick around through Saturday morning and afternoon. The severe threat looks fairly limited on Saturday.

We’ll continue to provide updates throughout Friday evening on-air and online as needed!

Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

Facebook: /mbyronwx

Twitter: @mbyronwx