Heat wave incoming through the weekend

Turning up the heat, Lincoln is set to be very hot through the end of September. Highs will be in the upper 80s on Thursday, and then back to the 90s for Friday and Saturday.

Looking into the bigger picture, also known as the upper-air pattern in our book, we’ve got a large ridge in place. Much of the Lower 48 will be heating up as a result of this, with small shifts day by day into the weekend. But generally, expect this pattern to be where we’re at through the weekend.

A snapshot of what temperatures are expected to look like by Thursday afternoon as a result of that ridge shows the heat affecting the Midwest and the South. Looking at Oklahoma City, that’ll be the airmass that comes into play for us by Friday.

Winds out of the southeast will be breezy at times throughout Thursday, too. We’ll see gusts up to 20-25 mph through the afternoon. The wind will stay with us through Thursday night and into Friday/Saturday.

While winds are picking up ahead of a frontal boundary Thursday evening, that boundary could be enough for a spot rain chance here and there Friday morning. Not a great chance of anyone seeing anything, and Lincoln will likely be dry through this period.

Friday afternoon and evening, that boundary moves into northeast Nebraska, where an isolated storm could pose a wind and hail threat for a short while. Then, we could be looking at this spotty chance from Friday morning happening again by Saturday morning – the best chances for these “spot” storms being to our west and north.

Winds by Friday afternoon will be strong, gusting closer to 30-35 mph out of the south. 90s are in the forecast for the end of the week and this weekend – it’ll be a hot one!

The best news I have is that rain/storm chances return next week, and that weather pattern looks to support much cooler air by this time next week.

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
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