Nothing “winter” about this solstice; rain chances later

Fog is again an issue early Thursday morning. Low clouds and light winds will allow fog to linger long through the morning commute. A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect for most of the morning for south-central and eastern Nebraska, west of Lincoln. Visibilities in these areas could drop below 1/4-mile during this timeframe.

Meanwhile, today is the winter solstice! As our shortest day of the year (we see more night than day today), we will only be adding more and more daylight from here on out. In less than two months, we will get sunsets after 6:00 p.m. again.

There also isn’t anything “winter” about this winter solstice. We’ll be quite warm, with highs headed for the lower 50s in Lincoln. Those that see the fog will have temperatures end up in the middle and upper 40s.

Cloud cover today will bring the possibility of rain. Light rain is possible south of I-80 by Thursday evening, lingering into early Friday. After this, fog will likely form in far eastern Nebraska affecting the morning commute again to finish out the work week.

And look at how mild we say into Christmas Eve! High temperatures in Lincoln will remain in the 50s all the way through the beginning of the holiday! As green as those bars are, that’s how green the weekend is going to be leading into Christmas. Better chances for a white Christmas in the Panhandle.

But Saturday evening into Sunday, we’ll be warm enough that our next disturbance may produce a couple isolated, weak thunderstorms as scattered showers spread across the state. We’ll likely see rain on Christmas Eve, with a bit of a break the second half of the day before the backside brings more rain to start Christmas Day.

There are still questions on the track of this disturbance and how soon some of the cold air will move in. But by the second half of Christmas, we could see rain mixing to snow into Tuesday and Wednesday. So travel plans after the holiday look a bit more interesting.

With this still being several days out, details will change in the coming days. Be sure to stay tuned for the latest from the Storm Alert Team.

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
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