Mostly sunny to start, storms arrive by evening

Skies will be mostly sunny to kick off the Fourth of July. For that matter, the sun will stick around for much of the day. While we cannot rule out a spotty shower or two north of I-80, we’re looking at mostly dry conditions at least through mid-afternoon.

The sunshine will help temperatures warm up very quickly. We’re forecasting high temperatures in the middle-90s across the area. We expect a southerly wind sustained anywhere from 10-20 mph during the afternoon.

Once you factor in the humidity, it will feel several degrees warmer. It will already feel like 90°+ by lunchtime, and we could have heat indices in the ballpark of 100° by peak heating.

EVENING STORM CHANCES

A cold front will be passing through the state on Tuesday. Storms will develop along that front anywhere from 4-7 p.m. in central Nebraska. These will push into southeast Nebraska as the evening progresses, increasing both cloud cover and rain chances.

Southeast Nebraska has the best storm chance statewide on Tuesday night. Any time between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. is fair game for storms to arrive in the Lincoln area. Once the initial line of heavy rain passes, we expect light to moderate rain to continue into the overnight hours.

There is a severe weather risk with all of this as well, and that will especially be the case with the first wave of storms. Damaging straight-line winds are the primary concern, with large hail over 1″ in diameter and localized flooding being secondary concerns. Tornadoes don’t look like much of an issue.

Scattered areas of light rain may linger into Wednesday. These showers probably won’t be big rainmakers, especially since they’ll be battling a dry air influence.

One thing you will notice on Wednesday is the cooler air and low humidity. High temperatures sit in the 70s for the rest of the week, and the humidity be at comfortable levels.

Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

Facebook: /mbyronwx

Twitter: @mbyronwx