


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS North Platte, NE
Issued by NWS North Platte, NE
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560 FXUS63 KLBF 302324 AFDLBF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service North Platte NE 624 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Cooler temperatures and expansive rain and thunderstorms continue today through much of Sunday and into early Monday. - Temperatures warm slightly by Tuesday before the next disturbance approaches and drops temperatures once again back to the 60s and low 70s for Wednesday/Thursday. - The end of the week appears likely to return to seasonable temperatures with values in the upper 70s to low 80s. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 322 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2025 Today/Tonight...expansive rain and thunderstorms cover much of west central Nebraska. This is in response to a h5 trough diving southeast through the area. At the surface, modest low pressure was developing over southwest South Dakota within an inverted surface trough. This has kept air fairly stagnant and maintained the anomalous moisture quality locally. This equates to precipitable water (PWAT) values exceeding 1.25" or 125-150% of normal. A strong PV anomaly within the midlevel will continue to support the rain and thunderstorms through tonight as a result. Lapse rates remain poor, at or below 6 C/km, and as a result instability is weak. Even so, do expect a few areas of thunderstorms within all the precipitation but combining the low instability with poor shear should yield no severe weather outside of heavy rain. With regards to the rainfall potential...within a converging line on the forward edge of the low pressure center, believe a northwest to southeast oriented line of heavier rain and thunderstorms will develop later this afternoon. HREF Localized Probability-Matched Mean (LPMM) output shows areas potentially reaching 2-4" through daybreak on Sunday east of Highway 183. Recent HRRR runs echo this thought with deterministic output exceeding 2" for much of our north central Nebraska counties. Flash Flood Guidance remains fairly high for these areas with most locations exceeding 2.5" for 1-hour criteria. Will forgo any hydro headlines as a result. Tonight, lows fall into the 50s to near 60F west to east. Will need to monitor the potential for fog, perhaps locally dense, given abundant moisture near the surface and generally calm winds. For now, will cap mention at "Patchy" and advise subsequent shifts to monitor the threat. Sunday/Sunday Night...lingering rain and thunderstorms will continue across largely the northeast half of the forecast area through much of the day. H85 flow wrapping beneath the h5 circulation will reinforce low-level moisture and low stratus. This will greatly hold temperatures back in the affected areas with highs holding in the low 60s. Rain will continue mainly for areas east of Highway 83 thanks to southeasterly fetch of the low-level flow. PWATs will remain high though drier air will begin working into our western zones by the afternoon. Still, can`t rule out some additional heavy rain though forcing remains weaker thus QPF decreases to less than 1" for the day outside of localized areas. This is nearly identical to HREF LPMM output. Outside of rain, more appreciable breaks in the clouds and lack of cooling rains should allow temperatures to reach the middle 70s. Further west to east clearing of rain will occur Sunday night. This will support slightly cooler lows with many low 50s extending further east and only upper 50s east of Highway 183. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... Issued at 322 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2025 Monday/Tuesday...upstream ridging will amplify with highly meridional flow expected to build in to start the new work week. Ridge axis will remain well west of the Continental Divide. This should keep much of the warmer air out of the area though a modest warm up is still expected. With h85 temperatures returning to the middle and upper teens for our western zones, the result will be daytime highs back to the middle and upper 70s then upper 70s to lower 80s respectively for Monday and Tuesday. Precipitation chances appear quite limited outside of late Tuesday night as the next system bringing another strong cool front drops south into western Nebraska. Wednesday and beyond...as mentioned, a strong cool front will dive south out of South Dakota late Tuesday. This feature will remain fairly progressive thanks to quick eastward tracking of the parent low pressure and strong Canadian high pressure building in behind it. Precipitation chances will wane through the day Wednesday as the main surface boundary settles south by the daytime. Temperatures will once again fall across the region with a return of more Fall- like conditions. Highs will settle into the low 60s, or below the 10th percentile in LBF and VTN`s respective climatologies. Though notable, this will be brief as shortwave ridging works in by Friday. Height anomalies don`t achieve significant values, but support the warming temperatures advertised by NBM guidance. Inner-quartile MaxT values show steady increases Friday through Sunday with median values reaching the low 80s. Signs point to another cooldown to start the beginning of the following week, however, spread remains fairly high between individual ensemble members and deterministic values hover closer to the 25th percentile likely suggesting a cool bias potentially attributable to the recent cooler weather. So it remains to be seen how much cooler we actually get beyond Day 7. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SUNDAY/... Issued at 614 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2025 A slow moving upper level disturbance will continue to bring a chance of showers and thunderstorms to the region through Sunday, although the highest chances will be east of Highway 83. Based on latest radar trends, have removed any mention of rain tonight in the LBF taf as most of the lingering showers and storms will stay west and east of the airport. For VTN, showers and a few storms are heading southeast towards the area, thus kept a tempo group from 00z to 03z for showers. By late evening and overnight, low stratus and fog will develop across much of the area. High confidence this will occur, but lower confidence at the onset of the event. Low stratus, fog and a chance of showers will lead to poor fly conditions through mid-morning on Sunday before CIGS rise into the VFR category along and generally west of Highway 83. MVFR CIGS may linger into the afternoon to the east of Highway 83 as the system slowly departs the area. Gusty winds up to around 20 knots are possible on Sunday. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...NMJ LONG TERM...NMJ AVIATION...Eckberg