Strong to severe storms possible in southeast Nebraska on Friday evening

UPDATE – 12:35 p.m. Friday:

The cold front has passed a bit sooner for areas to the west. This means that locations like Columbus and the Tri-Cities will end up a bit cooler than originally anticipated.

Areas along and east of the front (the warm side) have the best chance to see severe weather heading into late Friday afternoon and Friday evening.

In other words, if winds shift out of the north in your location, your severe weather potential will be limited.

Nevertheless, a Level 2/5 risk for severe weather remains for much of southeast Nebraska, where large hail and damaging winds could occur with these storms.

The main window for severe weather is between 5 p.m. and midnight.

After midnight, the severe potential will wane.

There could still be some scattered overnight thunderstorms, even in areas behind the front. But they shouldn’t be quite as strong.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The past few days have been characterized by warm temperatures, gusty winds and lots of sunshine. We’ll still see all of those on Friday, but changes are soon to arrive.

A cold front is positioned over central Nebraska as of Friday morning and will push east as the day progresses.

This will result in a spread of high temperatures across the area.

Lincoln will still likely reach the 80s. Areas to the west won’t get quite as warm since the front will pass sooner.

While a spotty shower isn’t impossible through the day in eastern Nebraska, most of the morning and afternoon will be dry with a mix of sun and clouds.

But by 5 p.m., we’ll likely see thunderstorm development along the cold front in south-central Nebraska.

These storms will continue to build as the evening progresses, perhaps forming a line of storms.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed southeast Nebraska under a Level 2/5 risk for severe weather.

Large hail may be an issue, especially with any initial storm development. But we should see the concern shift more to a damaging wind threat during the evening.

If you end up caught under one of these storms, you could see a healthy dose of rainfall. Some areas could receive over 1 inch.

Even if you don’t see a lot on Friday night, there will be another opportunity on Saturday to pick up precipitation.

Showers will persist into Saturday. While rain will likely dominate, there is also a chance for a few snowflakes to mix in at some point.

That is a testament to how much chillier it will be on Saturday, where temperatures will likely sit in the 40s during the day.

Things dry out by Sunday, and temperatures will steadily climb as we head into next week.

Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

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Twitter: @mbyronwx