Typical, cooler December day then blustery Thursday
The rather quiet, dry weather pattern continues on.
The latest first measurable snowfall in Lincoln on record is December 31st. Back in 2006, 7.5″ of new snow fell on that day. Most of our top-5 latest snows amounted to around 3″ or so. 2024 will likely be one of the latest as well, fitting into the group below.
More sunshine will win out by the mid-morning hours on Wednesday. But despite a lot more sun, we won’t be warming up all that much. High temperatures nearing the upper 30s are right about normal for December 18th.
Temperatures are quick to shoot up to the 50s Thursday ahead of our next front.
But winds on Thursday will be much stronger. Early southwest winds will shift out of the northwest for the afternoon, gusting close to 45 mph for Lincoln and areas around I-80 and just north.
Blustery wind gusts across the state will be approaching about 50 mph through northern Nebraska Thursday afternoon.
Highs will remain seasonal in the 30s for both Friday and Saturday. Saturday is also the winter solstice, or the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight.
From there on out, we’ll be adding more daylight – especially into March as we spring ahead one hour.
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, “reining” it back in for Christmas week, temperatures gradually warm for us to be closer to about 50 throughout that holiday week. We’ve recently included a chance for rain by Thursday (the day after Christmas) as something to watch.
Meteorologist Jessica Blum
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