Early morning wake-up call for some Tuesday morning

12:02 A.M. UPDATE:  The Severe Thunderstorm Watch for northern/northeastern Nebraska has been extended further south. Now includes Butler and Saunders counties.

The watch is in effect until 5am Tuesday.

10:45 P.M. UPDATE:  The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of northern and northeastern Nebraska.  The watch is in effect until 5 a.m. Tuesday morning.

A line of thunderstorms has developed from near Pender, Nebraska to near Wagner, South Dakota.  These thunderstorms have the potential of producing heavy rain.  This line is slowly moving eastward.

Further west, more thunderstorms are expected to develop along the Nebraska/South Dakota state line.  As mentioned in the earlier update (see below), thunderstorms are expected to become develop in to a complex of storms.  They will start to move southeast as we move past midnight.

Some of our inhouse high-resolution computer models hint at a few of the lines turning in to bowing line segments.  This would suggest a threat for strong, damaging winds.  If this happens, then the potential for isolated to scattered power outages comes in to play.  Stay tuned…  – Chief Meteorologist John Dissauer

8:45 P.M. UPDATE:

It is a fairly quiet evening around Nebraska Monday evening as far as the weather is concerned.  That may change as we get past midnight and in to Tuesday morning.

High-resolution computer models suggest a complex of thunderstorms could develop along the South Dakota/Nebraska state line between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday night.  Models project the thunderstorms will dive south through the eastern 1/5th of Nebraska.

There remains some question whether or not storms will fire up.  If they do, many in eastern Nebraska will get an early morning wake-up call.

As you can see from the image above, this specific computer model projection suggests storms will be moving through O’Neill and heading towards Norfolk between midnight and 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Storms will reach further south, specifically the I-80 corridor between Seward, Lincoln, and Omaha between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.

While I think the main threat from thunderstorms will be heavy downpours, a strong wind gust, and small hail will be possible.

If the line does get going, it isn’t out of the question a severe weather watch could be issued, or a couple severe thunderstorm warnings.

Meteorologist Malcolm Byron and myself will be keeping an eye on any storms that do flare up late tonight through Tuesday morning.  Be sure to get updates via our social media channels.

Malcolm on Twitter: @mbyronwx

– Chief Meteorologist John Dissauer