Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Hastings, NE
Issued by NWS Hastings, NE
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326 FXUS63 KGID 172134 CCA AFDGID Area Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED National Weather Service Hastings NE 334 PM CST Mon Nov 17 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - A handful of light showers is possible (20-25% chance) north of I-80 tonight between midnight and 5AM. - Highs this week beyond Tuesday (upper 40s to upper 50s) and Friday (Mid to upper 40s), should range between the mid 50s to low 60s. - Precipitation chances near the end of the week will peak Thursday night into Friday morning. PoPs have jumped up to 20-50% for South Central Nebraska and up to 50-60% for North Central Kansas. The greatest confidence lies towards the south. - This Thursday/Friday system could deposit up to 0.5-1" of precipitation across our North Central Kansas areas. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 315 PM CST Mon Nov 17 2025 Tonight (Monday) through Wednesday... The low that we have been monitoring across the last few days now sits across Southeastern Wyoming and the western panhandle of Nebraska as of this afternoon. This system has already deposited a few bursts of sprinkles across some of Central Nebraska today with potentially a few more light showers to come later tonight (for a few areas near and north of I-80). This low across the next few hours will continue its journey eastward and through the rest of the Central Plains region. The latest models (particularly the HRRR & RAP) have recently flip-floped their guidance regarding the intensity and coverage of the systems`s wrap around showers tonight. We suspect that now only a handful of places near and north of I-80 could receive one of these brief light showers between midnight and 5AM tonight. Most areas, however, are likely to stay dry. Fog overnight tonight can`t be ruled out as a majority of the HREF ensemble members paint a broad NNW to SSE swath of fog developing across our the central 2/3rds of the area. A few places of dense fog may be possible and will be monitored closely for the need to issue any dense fog advisories or special weather statements. The low- level clouds left behind tomorrow morning should retain through the rest of the day with northerly winds setting up behind the system. Together, these features will impact highs, keeping temperatures from escaping the upper 40s and 50s. The wind directions becoming southerly with a few break in the clouds Wednesday will allow highs to return back to the upper 50s to low 60s. Thursday and Beyond... The feature of note in our long-range forecast will be the presence of a deep trough climbing through the Rockies Thursday. As this wave approaches the Central and Southern Plains, a weak surface cyclone will likely spinup near Oklahoma. Recent path projections of this low has nudged its trajectory towards a more eastward rather than a northeastward track. Because of this flatter forecast path, there is a little more question today of how far north its rain bands will actually stretch. The 12z GFS run shows the edge of the precipitation bands halting near the state line while the 12z ECMWF is slightly more generous, pushing the bands of precipitation up into the first few far southern counties of Nebraska. Given this setup, the coverage of precipitation will likely end up having a sharp northward cutoff of accumulation amounts. The NBM, used to define our PoPs, may be more on the generous side for Central Nebraska (20-50% best confidence south). The winners, by all means, should be our north Central Kansas areas that are currently projected to see anywhere between 0.5-1" of moisture by the end of the day Friday. Timing wise, the earliest precipitation could enter our far southern extent would be Thursday morning, with the highest confidence window late Thursday night into Friday morning. The forecast keeps the majority of the precipitation falling as rain with a low end chance for a few short-lived mixed precipitation possible if the rain bands venture north of I-80 during the early AM hours on Friday (places that could see temperatures approaching to just below freezing for a few AM hours). Besides the precipitation chances, highs should hold steady in the mid 50s to low 60s through the weekend, with a quick dip in highs on Friday. Excessive cloud coverage paired with steady north- northeasterlies will keep highs from exceeding the mid to upper 40s Friday afternoon. Over the weekend, a cutoff low forming off the southeast U.S. coast, could eventually rejoin the upper-level flow early next week. This possible disturbance would be the next feature in line to offer the area its next shot a precipitation near the middle of next week (potentially our first season snow). That is if it is able to propel itself into the Central Plains. We keep our tabs for now open on this disturbance, though so far there has not been enough consistency between model runs to give us the need to prepare our snow boots quiet yet. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/... Issued at 1123 AM CST Mon Nov 17 2025 For KGRI/KEAR Airports: Conditions: Current (17z) ob conditions reflect a swath of low- level stratus across the area with ceilings as low as 1,500ft for KGRI and 900ft for KEAR. This status will eventually drift north and temporarily away from the terminals between 1-6z (could lift earlier and return back later for KEAR). VFR conditions will likely only be short lived (only 5-9 hours) before reduced visibilities (as low as 2-4 miles) and/or low-end MVFR or IFR ceilings return overnight and stick through a majority of Tuesday morning. Precipitation: Light rain is possible between 6-10z, though the latest model guidance has been pulling away confidence for any measurable precipitation. Wind: Winds out of the southeast this afternoon (gusting as high as 25kts) will soon lighten (after 21z), becoming variable through much of the night. Winds will pick back up Tuesday morning out of the north at around 10-15kts. && .GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...None. KS...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Stump AVIATION...Stump