Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Omaha/Valley, NE
Issued by NWS Omaha/Valley, NE
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338 FXUS63 KOAX 050509 AFDOAX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE 1109 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 /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SATURDAY/... Issued at 1104 PM CST Thu Dec 4 2025 VFR conditions are expected through the TAF period. Low-end LLWS at OMA and LNK is expected to subside over the next few hours. Across the area, south winds continue through the early morning. A southwesterly to westerly wind shift overspreads the region from northwest to southeast through the late morning and early afternoon with a passing frontal system. Increasing clouds is expected with this passing system, but VFR ceilings should remain. Any MVFR ceilings are expected to remain north of the area. && .OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NE...None. IA...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...CA AVIATION...Chehak