More sun returns to end March; severe threat Tuesday night

Through the weekend, areas under severe to extreme drought (northwest Nebraska) did receive some needed moisture – even snow amounting to over half a foot in western Cherry County.

The mist and drizzle (even some snowflakes on Sunday) from the weekend didn’t amount to all that much for southeast Nebraska. We’re talking total amounts around a few hundredths to maybe a tenth if you were lucky.

The final day of March is this Monday, and we will see more sun today than what we had over the grey weekend. Still seasonably cool for the day as well.

April starts Tuesday – and there are many chances for April showers as we begin the new month.

What isn’t a joke about April Fool’s Day – there is a risk for severe weather Tuesday night for central and eastern Nebraska. A Slight (Level 2 of 5) risk from the Storm Prediction Center (yellow) means that scattered severe storms will be possible.

Breaking down each severe threat, the risk for tornadoes is overall pretty low other than a small risk for maybe a spin-up toward Falls City and extreme southeast Nebraska.

The better ingredients for tornado potential during this event look to be to our south, into Kansas.

The main hazard with these storms is the possibility of some large hail. Hail could be around ping-pong ball size (or even up to 2″) across southeast Nebraska, specifically where the black hash marks are below:

Damaging wind gusts are also possible up to around 60 mph.

The timing of these storms Tuesday night beyond about sunset may play out something like this:

Besides the severe threat Tuesday into early Wednesday, there will be gusty winds throughout the day Tuesday and Wednesday as well – frequent gusts up around 45 mph Tuesday afternoon out of the southeast and then again around 35-40 mph Wednesday afternoon out of the west.

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
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