Warming again with a blustery Tuesday; increased fire danger

We continue to warm up for Monday and Tuesday this week. Already in the morning, temperatures were running closer to 60° which is our average HIGH at this time of the year.

We’ll be within a couple degrees of record highs for this time of the year on Tuesday. Cooler air will move in behind a front for the end of the week.

What you need to know for this week is that extreme fire danger will be in the forecast for Tuesday, storms are looking likely Wednesday, then we’ll cool down in time for Halloween on Thursday.

Gusts out of the south on Tuesday will be around 40-50 mph across southeast Nebraska. Winds will be that strong starting by the late morning hours and throughout the afternoon/early evening.

A Fire Weather Watch is in place across parts of southeast Nebraska, including for Lincoln and Lancaster County. This will likely be upgraded to a Red Flag Warning meaning fires that develop will spread quickly, so avoid fire-starting activities.

But more moisture will return in the form of storms by Wednesday. A front moving in from the west will cause thunderstorms to develop across eastern Nebraska Wednesday morning into the afternoon and evening. The severe weather threat is not expected to be significant.

The Storm Prediction Center has all of eastern Nebraska highlighted under a Marginal (Level 1 of 5) risk with those thunderstorms.

Main threats with thunderstorms the first part of Wednesday will be some small hail and possibly a few gusts around 60+ mph.

The rest of the week will feature cooler temperatures with highs closer to the upper 50s on Halloween (Thursday).

Meteorologist Jessica Blum 
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