Cooler But Seasonable Until Monday, But Then........

A southerly breeze and sunshine helped boost highs today into the 50’s, and even the lower 60’s around Imperial. However, winds gusting up and over 25mph at times made it feel cooler.

A cold front will move through Greater Nebraska overnight, but it will come through dry and the only effect will be to shift the winds from southerly to a more northerly direction. Skies will be partly cloudy and lows will bottom our in the 20’s.

These northerly winds will allow some cooler air to our north to arrive for Friday, so highs will generally be in the 40’s with mostly sunny skies and a light breeze.
Cooler air will continue to filter in Friday night into Saturday with lows in the teens and highs in the 30’s.

But a warm front will move through the area by Sunday, and a milder southerly wind flow will raise highs into the 40’s, and perhaps near or over 50 in a few places.
However, during the weekend some bitterly cold arctic air will be situated over Montana and North Dakota with highs only reaching the single digits and teens, and lows at or below zero, especially over northern parts of these states. This very cold air is expected to stay in that general area through the weekend as areas of low pressure moving eastward across the Northern Rockies help keep that air bottled up to our north. But by Monday, a reinforcing shot of even colder air will move out of Western Canada into the Northern Rockies and Plains during Sunday, with highs staying below zero and lows perhaps falling to -20 over Montana Sunday night.

The arctic front associated with this bitterly cold air will move through Greater Nebraska during the day on Monday. Highs on Monday should still get into the 30’s and 40’s. But by Tuesday and Wednesday, highs should only be able to reach the single digits to the 20’s and 30’s from north to south, with lows ranging from below zero to perhaps in the single digits from north to south across the region, with Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day looking like the coldest period right not.

In addition, this cold air could be accompanied by some snow, which could cause some travel difficulties just in time for the Holiday, so please stay abreast of later forecast since there are some uncertainties regarding when and how much cold air will arrive in Greater Nebraska.

Mike