Frigid forecast; barely above zero by this afternoon

It’s not often that Nebraska gets hit with two winter storms in one week, but the recent moisture has helped improve drought. There is currently no area of Nebraska under “exceptional” drought for the first time in 17 months.

We know this is by far more snow than we saw through this time last year. At this time last year, we only had a whopping 1-3″ across southeast Nebraska. We’ve got about 6 times that this winter season through January 15th.

Another cold day ahead of us, but temperatures are expected to warm through the rest of the morning. Still count on wind chills about 15 to 25 degrees below zero for the day, too.

There’s been some light snow ongoing in southwest Nebraska that will expand across the Kansas border the rest of the morning Monday. Areas south of Grand Island and south of I-80 will see some light snow showers, whereas Lincoln could see a few stray flurries from this into the early afternoon.

Temperatures are forecast to be above zero by this afternoon, for the first time in over 48 hours. Finally! But it is short-lived as temperatures drop below zero past sunset.

Overnight, with clearing skies and winds out of the west at about 10-20 mph, temperatures will drop off again. We’ll be waking up Tuesday about 10-15 degrees below zero again with wind chills still 25-30 degrees below zero.

So Wind Chill Warnings for the state continue until noon Tuesday. Across Nebraska, wind chills as low as -25° to -40° are possible during this period.

We will finally warm to the double digits by Tuesday with more sunshine. But with a lot of snow on the ground, temperatures will continue to be far below average for this time of the year (normally in the mid-30s).

We do have another chance for some light snow by Thursday, too. That comes before colder temperatures arrive again by the weekend.

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
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