Warmest of this week first; t’storms possible later Wednesday

A very mild morning will lead to temperatures warming quite a bit once the sun comes up. Expecting a lot of sunshine and southwestern winds to boost temperatures into the middle 40s around 9 a.m. and upper 50s by 11 a.m. Monday morning.

Southwestern winds will be very strong at times especially through the afternoon. Gusts around 30-40 mph will be possible across eastern Nebraska, but with the dry conditions many still face, this promotes elevated fire danger for Monday.

A Red Flag Warning is in place for almost all of eastern Nebraska and some of the Sandhills. A combination of very dry conditions (low relative humidity), strong winds and warm temperatures will contribute to extreme fire behavior. Any fires that develop would spread quickly.

The warmest of the week will be Monday, with highs in the upper 70s. Records are safe for Lincoln (84° in 1972), but Omaha and Norfolk are a couple cities who could come close.

Our next chance for precipitation in the form of rain across southeast Nebraska looks possible heading into the second half of the week.

By Wednesday, another system will be developing off the Rockies with the chance for some isolated thunderstorms across Nebraska. There’s still questions regarding the track, strength and timing of this system that we’ll need to get a better idea of in the coming days.

Stormcast on Monday morning was showing that southeast Nebraska would be in the warm sector ahead of a warm front Wednesday evening and night in which some thunderstorms could fire up. With that, rain chances continue into Thursday, with some snow trying to mix in for western Nebraska.

For the first time in 2024 and the first time since October, we’ve got a risk for some severe storms for Wednesday night highlighted by the Storm Prediction Center. Lincoln and southeast Nebraska for now under a Marginal (Level 1 of 5) risk. At this point, all severe weather modes appear possible.

Showers will continue overnight and into Thursday, causing us to cool into the 50s to close out the work week.

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
Twitter: JessicaBlumWx 
Facebook: JessicaBlumWx 
YouTube: JessicaBlumWx