The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch in effect from Friday evening through Saturday for a good portion of east central and northeast Nebraska.
Meteorologist Brian Barjenbruch says conditions will change on Friday.
“Friday looks to be windy and actually quite warm,” according to Barjenbruch. “You will feel that gulf moisture come up into the area and get some thunderstorms, mainly in the mid-afternoon and evening hours. Overnight on Friday night we will see a pretty strong cold front move through and by Saturday morning we will have winds gusting up to 40-plus miles per hour out of the north with lots of cold air coming in.”
Knox, Cedar, Thurston, Antelope, Pierce, Wayne, Boon, Madison, Stanton, Cuming, Platt, Colfax, Butler and Seward Counties are included in the storm watch area. Blizzard conditions are possible with winds as high as 50 mph. Snow accumulations of 6 to 12 inches could fall north of Neligh to Pierce to the Coleridge line. Three to six inches is expected south of that line. Blizzard conditions are possible due to heavy falling or blowing snow and the strong wind. This could lead to dangerous travel conditions.
Barjenbruch says as this system moves through there could be some strong thunderstorms in southeast Nebraska.
Temperatures Friday will be in the 70’s for much of Nebraska but fall overnight as the cold front moves through. Highs on Saturday and Sunday will be in the 30’s before slowly warming back into the 60’s by Tuesday.