Still cooler than normal, but less humid

Aside from some patchy fog in select areas, most dealt with sunny skies early Thursday. That sunshine sticks around for all of the morning and much of the afternoon in Lincoln. High temperatures will also remain below average, in the low to mid-80s across the area.

A north wind will be reinforced on Thursday, and you may notice a breeze at times. Afternoon wind speeds should be anywhere from 10-15 mph, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few reports pushing 20 mph. The northerly flow will transport drier air into the region, producing a noticeable drop in humidity compared to Wednesday.

We’ll see some cloud cover rolling back into the area by late afternoon and especially the evening. This will be associated with a disturbance passing to our west. The system could bring some showers to western Nebraska on Thursday as well.

While I can’t rule out a stray shower or two closer to the Tri-Cities area, rain chances are very low in eastern Nebraska. Most of it remains west on Thursday.

The rainfall potential highlights this expectation very well. Low accumulations will occur for areas closer to central Nebraska – at the eastern extent of the shower activity. The highest rain totals would come from thunderstorms in the Panhandle and perhaps southwest Nebraska.

For now, we’re keeping the forecast dry on Friday in Lincoln with highs in the middle-80s. There is one version of Stormcast that suggests we’ll see isolated storms on Friday evening. It is an outlier solution as of this writing. So while I’m not buying that potential just yet, it will be something we need to watch.

Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

Facebook: /mbyronwx

Twitter: @mbyronwx