Forecast Discussion
NWS Omaha/Valley, NE

803
FXUS63 KOAX 241716
AFDOAX

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE
1116 AM CST Sat Jan 24 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Light snow will gradually diminish in coverage today, with
  lingering snow over southeast NE and southwest IA Saturday
  afternoon into Saturday night.

- Additional amounts of 1-2" are expected today, with highest
  totals along the KS border, decreasing with northeast extent.
  A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for southeast NE.

- Continued cold through Monday morning. Coldest wind chills of
  -15 to -25 expected Monday morning.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 249 AM CST Sat Jan 24 2026

Today...

Dry air hindered snowfall production for locations north of HWY-30
overnight, while those across the southern half of our forecast area
will likely be waking up to at least a dusting of light snow. As of
2 AM, road cameras show snow covered roads across Lincoln, and
through Omaha, with a notable improvement across the river in
Iowa. With temperatures bottoming out in the single digits
below 0, even a light breeze pulled wind chills down to the
negative teens overnight. Subtle isentropic lift, reinforced by
transient frontogenesis will continue to bring snow, primarily
to southeast Nebraska this morning, before tapering off
this afternoon. When all is said and done, expect totals up to
2-3" near the Kansas border, with amounts tapering off to the
north. Some locations north of I-80 could see little more than
a dusting. Minor travel impacts (e.g., reduced visibilities
and/or snow- covered roads) will continue in the area of highest
accumulation, where a Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect
until 6 AM Sunday. Additionally, conditions appear just snowy
enough to create slick roads along I-80 from Omaha through
Lincoln this morning. Therefore opted to add another Winter
Weather Advisory segment for this area until noon, when
snowfall will likely taper off sooner.

Temperatures will struggle to recover under cloudy skies this
afternoon, likely only reaching 5 to 10 degrees. But, that is
still double what we saw on Friday.

Sunday through Monday Morning...

Tonight, lows fall back into the single digits below 0, with wind
chills of -5 to -15. We`ll see a brief "warm up" on Sunday, when
highs double again, reaching the mid teens above 0. However, it will
be short-lived as the next surge of arctic air moves in Sunday
night/Monday morning. Lows to start the school week will fall to -4
to -10, with a light north wind making it feel like -15 to -25
in some locations. This could eventually necessitate another
round of Cold Weather headlines.

Monday and Beyond...

With large scale troughing moving off to the east, and ridging
building over the western CONUS, expect dry conditions with another
brief warming trend Monday through Wednesday. Highs each day
are expected to reach the upper 20s and low 30s, with a few
upper 30s possible Wednesday. Lows Tuesday and Wednesday morning
will remain in the single digits to low teens above 0.

A trough diving south through the Great Lakes could being us a
glancing blow of light precip Wednesday, but latest model runs have
shifted it just to the east of us. Temperatures will likely dip back
into the 20s by the end of the week.

&&

.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/...
Issued at 1116 AM CST Sat Jan 24 2026

Earlier light snow has ended at KOMA and KLNK with predominantly
BKN-OVC ceilings at FL150-200. There is some model signal for
MVFR ceilings (FL015) developing at KLNK this afternoon.
However, confidence in that scenario is currently too low to
include in the forecast. Otherwise, VFR conditions are expected
to prevail through the forecast period at all terminal
locations. Light east to southeast winds this afternoon are
forecast to become light and variable in direction tonight into
Sunday morning at KOMA and KLNK.

&&

.OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...Winter Weather Advisory until noon CST today for NEZ068.
     Winter Weather Advisory from midnight tonight to 6 AM CST
     Sunday for NEZ088.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM CST Sunday for NEZ089>093.
IA...None.

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...KG
AVIATION...Mead

NWS OAX Office Area Forecast Discussion

Forecast Discussion
NWS Hastings, NE

978
FXUS63 KGID 241125
AFDGID

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Hastings NE
525 AM CST Sat Jan 24 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- The period of accumulating snowfall is expected to come to and
  end this morning to afternoon as the last of the light snow
  showers clear from northwest to southeast.

- With the snowfall soon expected to come to and end later
  today, the Winter Storm Warning and Winter Weather Advisory
  will likely be allowed to expire ahead of their original end
  times (originally in effect until 6AM Sunday).

- A Cold Weather Advisory remains in effect until Noon Monday.
  Wind chill values each night (especially Sunday night) will
  fall as low as -15 to -30 degrees with minimal recovery during
  the day. In addition, overnight lows will also continue to
  fall into the negative single digits each night through Sunday
  night.

&&

.UPDATE...
Issued at 249 AM CST Sat Jan 24 2026

Near-Term: Light snow continues to fall across a majority of the
forecast area early this morning (south central Nebraska & north
central Kansas). The denser and more uniform snowbands have
continued to stay primarily south of the state line and closer to
areas where the DGZ is taller and areas where the more saturated low-
to-mid levels preside. This organization has left snow depths in
south central Nebraska mainly between a trace up to 1-2" this
morning (generally shy of our 1-4" forecast). Amounts across north
central Kansas should generally fall between the 2-5" range with a
few locally/isolated higher amounts possible by the end of the
accumulation period later this afternoon.

So when will the snow come to and end?: The last of the flurries and
areas of light snow showers will soon clear out this morning, first
clearing across places north of Interstate-80 between 4-8AM and the
remainder of south central Nebraska between 6AM-12PM. Light snow
will still be possible across north central Kansas and potentially a
few far southern Nebraska places through 4-8PM tonight as the tail
end of the system pulls away to the east. Though a few flurries
can`t be completely ruled out Sunday evening (10-20% chances), the
end of the snow accumulations this weekend will more than likely
close out this morning/afternoon. At this point in time, we expect
conditions to clear soon enough to be able to expire the Winter
Weather Advisory and Winter Storm Warnings earlier than originally
expected (currently in effect until 6AM Sunday).

What about the temperatures?: High surface pressure to the northeast
today has helped keep winds light at the surface. In addition, the
arctic airmass contained underneath of the pressure center has
continued to infiltrate into the area. As result, highs today should
not escape the single digits with lows tonight projected to range
the minus single digits. Though highs for Sunday will warm to the
teens to low twenties, mainly from the poking sun, a weak surface
trough will align the weak and variable wind filed back to a
northerly direction during the day. Lows Sunday night as result,
should be able to reach their coldest point of the weekend with
temperatures as low as -5 to -12 degrees. Wind chill values will
continue to spread across the -15 to -25 degrees range each night
through Sunday night, prompting the need to continue to Cold Weather
Advisory through 11AM Monday.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 200 PM CST Fri Jan 23 2026

The worst travel conditions will be late this evening/overnight
through Saturday afternoon.

Will hit the main points regarding the ongoing winter weather
event/headlines up front:

- Overall trend is for somewhat lower snow totals, especially
  across south central Nebraska since the daytime snowfall has
  struggled to materialize. This is likely due to the overall
  weak lift struggling to overcome dry low level air - as
  evident by surface dew points in the double digits below zero.
  A 1048mb high pressure was recently analyzed near Sioux Falls,
  and this is quite strong, even by late Jan. standards. This
  high pressure is being pretty effective at funneling a
  continuous stream of drier air in from the N/NE. This will be
  overcome somewhat tonight as stronger, deeper ascent
  overspreads the region - but rates will still remain light.

- Snow amounts will likely range from around 1", or less, along
  and N of I-80, to 1-4" between Hwy 6 and Hwy 136, to 4-6" in
  Rooks, Osborne, and Mitchell Counties in north central Kansas.
  Even these southern counties may experience a decent N-S
  gradient. Accumulations should be fairly efficient, once they
  get going, owing to deep snow growth zone and light winds to
  limit fracturing and compaction. Very high snow to liquid
  ratios of around 20:1 (possibly higher) should be common.

- No changes have been made to the ongoing headlines with this
  forecast package. With that said, I do expect we`ll need an
  adjustment to end the Winter Weather Advisory and the Winter
  Storm Warning considerably earlier than the current 6AM Sunday
  expiration time. Yes, we could see some very light snow
  linger into Saturday night, but appears the brunt of
  accumulations, even in these far S zones, will wrap up
  Saturday afternoon and/or evening.

- No changes to the existing Cold Weather Advisory, either. It`s
  a headline that is somewhat marginal to keep in place during
  the daytime hours, but rather than run the same headline off
  and on over the next 3 days - felt it`s simpler from a
  messaging standpoint to continue it through Monday AM, as is.
  The weak winds tonight into Saturday also add to the
  "marginality" of it, but this is by far the worst stretch of
  cold air we`ve seen thus far in an otherwise unseasonably warm
  winter. We are likely past the worst of the wind chills of
  this event (which occurred this morning), but Sunday night
  into Monday morning will see the coldest air temperatures
  amidst clearing skies over fresh snowcover. Thus, even light
  bouts of wind will be brutal and it`s a new school/work week.

Haven`t spent a whole lot of time looking at the extended given
the active short term...but overall, it appears rather dry and
quiet. Temperatures don`t look to be quite as warm as they once
did a few days ago - likely owing to new and VERY WIDESPREAD
(look at the national watch/warning map...this is a HUGE system
with far reaching impacts in area AND magnitude) snow cover.
However, we should at least get back closer to freezing/normal
Tuesday into Wednesday.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SUNDAY/...
Issued at 520 AM CST Sat Jan 24 2026

For KGRI/KEAR Airports:

MVFR ceilings and visibilities will be possible temporarily
between 12 and 14-16z this morning as light snow sweeps across
the area. The light snow showers should clear out between
13z-17z this morning, clearing at KEAR before KGRI. After 18z,
VFR conditions become very likely through the remainder of the
12z TAF period. Ceiling as low as 3-6kft will be possible
through the first half of the day before bases rise to between
10-15kft for the remainder of the day and a majority of the
night.

Winds today will remain light (speeds and gusts less than
15kts). Directions start out of the south and will turn
southwesterly through the day and night.


&&

.GID WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...Cold Weather Advisory until noon CST Monday for NEZ039>041-
     046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM CST Sunday for NEZ082>087.
KS...Cold Weather Advisory until noon CST Monday for KSZ005>007-
     017>019.
     Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM CST Sunday for KSZ005>007.
     Winter Storm Warning until 6 AM CST Sunday for KSZ017>019.

&&

$$

UPDATE...Stump
DISCUSSION...Thies
AVIATION...Stump

NWS GID Office Area Forecast Discussion