Storms tonight lead to a comfortable holiday weekend
Lincoln is running almost two inches below normal for rainfall for the month of August. Many other cities are about the same. Thankfully, many of us are in for a good chance at rain from thunderstorms developing along a cold front this afternoon and evening.
Specifically here at home, those rain chances get a lot better after about 5-6 p.m. Thursday evening.
That cold front will cut through the state over the course of the day, sparking better storm coverage after about 3-4 p.m. before moving in later in the evening.
Once storms start, we’ll see storms linger across southeast Nebraska into the early morning hours of Friday. One of the latest versions of Stormcast can be played out below for tonight.
The Marginal (Level 1 of 5) risk remains in place for eastern Nebraska with storms expected tonight. Just a few storms may produce gusty winds up to 60 mph and some hail. It’s more likely that we’ll see some frequent lightning than many severe warnings.
The risk for large hail is minimal tonight, but a couple locations could see up to quarter-sized hail.
The damaging wind risk is also on the lower end, with some gusts up to 60 mph possible for a select few.
Widespread rainfall totals of 0.25-1″ are possible over much of eastern Nebraska from this round through early Friday.
Friday will end up a lot cooler as a drier, more comfortable air mass moves in and temperatures fall to the 80s. Winds will be out of the north throughout the day by then as well.
Morning tailgating early looks very nice as temperatures in the morning bottom out in the mid to upper 50s. Then, Husker hopefuls will fill Memorial Stadium under very sunny skies. Less humidity throughout the weekend will be a great thing!
The extended forecast does continue to look dry after storm chances Thursday night. Yet cooler temperatures will last into Labor Day on Monday, too, nearing 80 degrees.
Meteorologist Jessica Blum
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