WEATHER ALERT DAY: Dangerously cold conditions for Friday

Winter Weather Advisories are in place for western and northern Nebraska until 6 AM Friday morning. In these areas, strong winds will create areas of blowing and drifting snow that could reduce visibility. If you have to be out on the roads, please do so carefully and give yourself plenty of time to get where you’re going. Please also check the latest road conditions using Nebraska 511 before you travel!

Also, if you have to travel, please make sure you have your winter survival kit in your vehicle before you do.

The main impact for Friday and Saturday and into Sunday morning are cold conditions across the area. Wind Chill Warnings cover the entire state from now until 12 PM on Saturday as wind chills could be as cold as -30° to -55° at times.

Frostbite and hypothermia can develop in just minutes with conditions as cold as they are forecast to be. Make sure to dress appropriately for the conditions with multiple layers and keep as much of your skin as covered as possible!

Friday is expected to be dry, windy and cold... but we will see sunshine. Mostly sunny to partly sunny skies will dominate throughout the 1011 region throughout the day. Cloud cover will start to creep in from the west as we head to bed.

Blustery northwest winds will continue through the day on Friday as winds will continue to gust between 30 and 40 MPH, again leading to the brutally cold wind chills as well as areas of blowing and drifting snow. Winds are then forecast to weaken as we head into the day on Saturday and eventually pretty calm by Sunday.

Daytime highs on Friday will try and climb a few degrees, but it will remain bitterly cold across the state. Temperatures should climb back above zero though, reaching the single digits to around 10°. Sub-zero wind chills will continue through the day on Friday, so having actual air temperatures above zero will be of little consolation.

We’ll see another brutally cold morning as we start the weekend as Saturday morning lows will drop back down to around -5° to -10° for the coverage area. Again, wind chill values could drop as low as -20° to -40° at times, but the decreasing winds should help us avoid the worst of the possible wind chills.

Temperatures will take a few steps forward by Saturday afternoon with temperatures reaching the low teens to low 20s across the state. Again, despite the warm up, feels like temperatures will likely remain below zero for most. However, the Wind Chill Warning will end at noon on Saturday across the state.... indicating things will start to be on the warmer side in terms of wind chill by Sunday.

Into Christmas Day, more cold conditions are expected for the morning as temperatures once again dip below zero for most of 10/11 Country. A few western areas will be able to get above zero. Look for lows in Lincoln on Sunday around -5° with even colder wind chills.

Temperatures will take another step forward by Sunday afternoon as we see highs jump back to the 20s, 30s, and 40s across the state. The warmest weather will stay across western and southwestern Nebraska with highs in the mid teens to low 30s for eastern and central Nebraska.

The extended forecast does offer us more hope as we look towards the end of 2022 as above average temperatures return to the forecast by the middle and end of the week next week. Look for highs to return to the mid to upper 20s on Monday, the mid to upper 30s on Tuesday, and then eventually back to the mid 40s by the middle and end of next week! Mainly dry weather is forecast over the next week with a small chance for a few snow showers on Sunday mainly in the late night to overnight hours and the chance for rain on Thursday.

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