702
FXUS63 KLBF 291123
AFDLBF
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service North Platte NE
623 AM CDT Wed Apr 29 2026
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Dense fog expected across southwest Nebraska and the southern
Sandhills through the early morning hours. Visibility
expected to drop under one quarter mile at times, including
along Interstate 80.
- Showers and thunderstorms are expected to persist across
southwest into central Nebraska over the next few days. This
may bring additional rainfall amounts between one tenth to one
quarter of an inch.
- A return of warmer and drier conditions is expected into the
weekend and early next week.
&&
.SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/...
Issued at 305 AM CDT Wed Apr 29 2026
The recent rainfall has brought a resurgence of moisture across
southwest Nebraska, with dewpoints in the lower to mid 30s.
Overnight, as temperatures cool near freezing, this will cause high
relative humidity, around 90 to 100%. Surface winds remain mostly
light and variable tonight, so expect that the light winds and high
humidity will cause areas of fog development overnight. In fact,
short range ensembles bring around an 80 percent chance for
visibility to drop below one mile tonight, and remain near 80
percent for visibility under one quarter mile at times along the
Interstate 80 corridor. With the high confidence in fog development
overnight, and strong signals for dense fog overnight, have decided
to issue a Dense Fog Advisory for southwest Nebraska into the
southern Sandhills. Drivers should exercise caution overnight into
the early morning hours, as visibility may rapidly decrease.
Light winds persist into the morning, which will allow fog to linger
into the mid to late morning hours. This will keep a fairly moist
environment ahead of a front along the front range of the Rockies,
which is expected to provide a focus for additional showers and
thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon and evening. Forecast soundings
suggest a little bit of elevated CAPE, generally in the 200-400 J/kg
range, which should support some thunderstorm development. However,
given the relatively weak CAPE and shear, not expecting storms to
reach severe levels. However, some stronger rain showers may be
possible with thunderstorm activity, which may bring additional rain
amounts of one tenth to one quarter of an inch. With the expected
showers and thunderstorms, as well as persistent cloud cover,
trended high temperatures towards slightly cooler guidance, keeping
temperatures near seasonal in the afternoon.
Cloud cover persists overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning,
helping keep overnight lows in the 30s across the region. A cold
front is expected to track south across the Dakotas into north
central Nebraska Wednesday night, meaning rain showers may continue
through the night mostly across southwest Nebraska, along and south
of the Interstate 80 corridor. For this portion of the region,
overnight lows are expected to remain above 35 degrees, so expect
that precipitation will remain as rain showers throughout the night,
but cannot completely rule out some lighter flurries where localized
temperatures are on the cooler side. However, given the light
precipitation expected, not anticipating any impacts from
precipitation Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
As with Wednesday, fairly persistent cloud cover will keep daytime
highs near seasonal Thursday afternoon, with highs ranging from the
mid 50s to lower 60s. Showers may linger through the morning hours
and into the early afternoon as the cold front exits the region.
With the cooler post frontal temperatures Thursday afternoon,
expecting that precipitation remains rain showers, with low chances
for a rumble of thunder. With the front pushing through the region,
winds shift to northerly around 10 to 15 mph, with gusts up to 25
mph in the afternoon.
&&
.LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
Issued at 305 AM CDT Wed Apr 29 2026
Upper ridging establishes across the Intermountain West by Friday
morning, with heights rising aloft locally as it does. This upper
ridge will then begin to slowly push east into the Rockies this
weekend. Increasing warm advection will boost highs back into the
60s for Friday and into the 70s for the weekend and into early next
week. These warmer temperatures will bring a return of lower
humidity across the area, with minimum afternoon humidity in the
teens to 20s each day this weekend and early next week. That said,
recent rainfall and cooler temperatures may lead to more favorable
fuel conditions, and could keep any fire concerns lowered.
Some threat for precipitation may return Sunday night into Monday
and again on Tuesday into Wednesday. The first of these arrives as a
shortwave rounds the apex of the ridge axis and this could lead to
precipitation across portions of the area. This round looks to
remain light at best, though confidence remains low for now. The
second is as deeper upper troughing begins to eject east into the
Plains by Wednesday morning, leading to ridge breakdown and a return
of southwesterly flow aloft. This much deeper system looks to bring
a swath of heavier precipitation somewhere across the Plains, though
confidence in where remains low for now. Trends will continue to be
monitored, as this could bring another round of beneficial
precipitation to the area.
&&
.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/...
Issued at 625 AM CDT Wed Apr 29 2026
Low stratus and fog will persist across portions of the
Sandhills and southwest Nebraska through late morning, before
VFR returns for all terminals by early afternoon. VFR conditions
are then expected to prevail through tomorrow morning across all
of western and north central Nebraska.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible this afternoon,
with a threat for gusty, erratic winds and brief MVFR
visibilities.
Winds remain from the northwest this afternoon at 5 to 10kts.
Winds are then expected to become light and variable overnight.
&&
.LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
Dense Fog Advisory until 9 AM CDT /8 AM MDT/ this morning for
NEZ022>024-035>038-056>059-069>071.
&&
$$
SHORT TERM...Richie
LONG TERM...Brown
AVIATION...Brown
NWS LBF Office Area Forecast Discussion