Good afternoon everyone! The vast majority of the region is quiet as of 4:50pm CDT with only a few light rain showers currently impacting portions of western NE. This will change through the course of the night with additional details below! In other news, many across northern IA will likely receive their first freeze of the season Friday morning as temperatures drop into the lower 30s, hence the Freeze Warnings. Frost Advisories are in effect further southeast in southeastern IA and even a couple counties in far northeastern MO. We can’t rule out a few isolated locations under the Frost Advisories seeing their first freeze as well.
The light shower activity working through western NE is in association with our next disturbance, which will bring increased rain coverage to NE and KS into tonight. This activity will continue eastward, bringing scattered showers to portions of IA (more specifically southern areas) and MO after 4am CDT Friday morning. Some light snow showers may mix in across northern NE/IA. The NAM models have been hinting at some snow showers possibly mixing in as far south as far northern MO late Friday morning/early afternoon. This is a real possibility depending on how much cold air can infiltrate the area, but either way we are not expecting any accumulations from it. This disturbance will lift to the east during the day Friday with most activity exiting the region by 12am CDT Saturday.
Simulated radar from 1am CDT Saturday through 10pm CDT Saturday: We’ll be watching for our next wave of rain to impact the southern areas starting Saturday morning and persisting into Saturday night. A strong cold front will begin to push southward into the northern portions of the area Saturday afternoon/evening and with the extent of cold air coming down, chances are increasing for light shower/drizzle activity in NE and IA with heavier precipitation in the form of snows more likely in western NE. Accumulating snows are possible in the NE Panhandle Saturday night and eventually western KS heading into Sunday.
Total rainfall through 10pm CDT Saturday: Rainfall amounts will be generally light with a swath of 0.1-0.5″ of rain expected in central/eastern KS into MO. Most areas north of I-80 in IA will receive very little rain while NE will also see very light precipitation amounts of up 0.25″ of liquid.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out! Have a great evening!