Higher rain chances to the west for another day

Eastern Nebraska is waking up to a mixture of sun and clouds on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, a mid-level area of low pressure known as an MCV (Mesoscale Convective Vortex) is spinning away in southwest Nebraska. This circulation is enough to generate a weak line of storms in southwest Nebraska and is clearly visible on radar as of 7 a.m. Thursday.

These storms will attempt to push into south-central Nebraska. However, I suspect they’ll have a difficult time making it east of the Tri-Cities. That is if they can even make it to the Tri-Cities. Nevertheless, more shower and storm development will be possible in central and western Nebraska into Thursday afternoon.

A spotty shower or two isn’t 100% out of the question closer to Lincoln, but the overall odds are very low. The higher chances will be to the west. In fact, even more storms will move into western Nebraska on Thursday evening. One or two of these cells may be strong, with gusty winds and large hail.

I believe we will see a little more sunshine on Thursday in Lincoln. High temperatures will be in the middle to upper-80s for most of the area. There’s a chance Lincoln doesn’t hit 90°, but it will be close.

We’re including a small chance for some showers and storms near Lincoln on Friday, but it by no means is a guarantee. To be frank, what we see on Friday depends on what happens Thursday night. This makes the exact details a bit fuzzy.

The latest data suggest that the best chance to see storms in Lincoln will be on Saturday morning, with skies clearing for the second half of the day. That will set us up for a mostly sunny Sunday.

Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

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