Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Omaha/Valley, NE
Issued by NWS Omaha/Valley, NE
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417 FXUS63 KOAX 042308 AFDOAX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE 508 PM CST Thu Dec 4 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Expect some slick roads Saturday into early Sunday as some snow moves through. The highest potential for at least 1" will be northeast of a Norfolk to Omaha line (40-70% chance). - High temperatures over the next week will generally be in the 30s and 40s, but Sunday will be colder, with highs in the teens to mid 20s. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 332 PM CST Thu Dec 4 2025 Early afternoon analysis showed an upper level trough axis passing through the area while surface high pressure was sitting over IA/IL/MO. In addition, a surface warm front was approaching from the west and will give us relief from the cold, with the mid 30s-40s behind it progged to move into the forecast area on Friday. A few pieces of short term guidance also suggest we could see some patchy fog develop along the front as it pushes through late tonight/early Friday. By late morning/early afternoon Friday, some weak shortwave energy will be passing by to our north with associated snow falling across SD/MN. Most guidance suggests any accumulation will stay to our north, though a few pieces of short term guidance show some showery precip near a cold front progged to pass through Friday afternoon. If these develop, could see some brief snow or even sleet showers given the convective nature depicted by various CAMs. However, model soundings don`t show much in the way of instability and saturated layers are fairly shallow, so confidence in them occurring is on the lower side (5-10% chance). Attention then turns to snow chances Saturday into early Sunday. Some shortwave energy currently over the Gulf of Alaska will push toward the Rockies by Saturday morning while a surface low spins up over eastern WY and eventually pushes through NE and KS Saturday afternoon/evening. Guidance is in pretty good agreement that a band of frontogenesis and snow sets up somewhere over SD/NE/IA, though still some differences in exact track with EPS members generally a little farther northeast than other guidance. As it stands, consensus gives areas northeast of a Norfolk to Omaha line about a 40-70% chance of at least 1". The heaviest snow would likely fall Saturday afternoon into the evening and come to an end by sunrise on Sunday. Expect some slick spots in these areas, as well as potential for some reduced visibility with wind gusts of 20-25 mph at times. Farther south, temperatures will be a few degrees warmer with guidance good warm air advection across southeast NE into southwest IA. As a result, model soundings show fairly deep low level saturation with lack of in-cloud ice at times, suggesting potential for some drizzle. With surface temperatures hovering right around freezing, some ice accumulation could occur, but still lots of smaller scale details to work out and just 1 degree could make a pretty big difference, so confidence in this is quite low. We`ll be quite cold again behind the precip, with highs on Sunday in the teens to mid 20s as surface high pressure builds in. Lows that night will be a little more questionable as the high pushes east and southerly flow/warm air advection return. Currently have lows in single digits above and below 0, coolest over west-central IA, but if that warm air advection ramps up quicker and we get some resulting cloud cover, we could end up several degrees warmer. We`ll then trend warmer to start next week with highs in the upper 20s and 30s Monday followed by upper 30s and 40s Tuesday. Guidance is in decent agreement that another system tracks through the Plains sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday, though still lots of spread on timing and track. For now, have a 15-20% chance of precip (rain and snow), but overall confidence is pretty low. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY/... Issued at 502 PM CST Thu Dec 4 2025 The MVFR ceilings over OFK have eroded this evening. The remaining MVFR ceilings are expected to remain west of OMA and LNK, but the potential for a brief reduction in ceilings will continued to be monitored over the next few hours. Otherwise, VFR conditions will be predominant. Winds are southerly this evening with speeds between 10 to 15 kts. Winds speeds will gradually decrease this evening. LLWS is anticipated early tonight as a strong southwesterly low-level jet overspreads the weakening southerly winds at the surface. LNK and OMA are most likely to see impacts with OFK remaining just below LLWS criteria. By early morning, any LLWS should cease. Winds become more westerly heading into Friday afternoon as a frontal system begins to move into the region. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...None. IA...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...CA AVIATION...Chehak