Drought conditions across Nebraska on Dec. 9, (U.S. Drought Monitor, Courtesy)
KEARNEY — Large temperature swings but little precipitation will be in store for central Nebraska throughout mid-December.
“A strong arctic high-pressure system will build into the Upper Midwest by Friday night and this will shift our winds to the northeast and east. There will be an area of surface convergence and rising motion along a NW-SE track from Montana into Iowa where light snow will be likely between later Friday into Saturday. Most of the state is likely to miss out on this but there will be a chance for an inch or two of snow between O’Neill over toward Wayne and Tekemah,” according to the Nebraska State Climate Office (NSCO).
“Saturday will be the coldest day in the state with highs in the single digits and teens in much eastern of north central Nebraska with 20’s in south central Nebraska. Temperatures will be considerably warmer in far southwest Nebraska and the southern Panhandle where highs in the 40’s will be likely. It is possible Bushnell could get into the lower 50’s. Sunday morning will be cold to very cold for most of the state with subzero low temperatures likely for the northeast quadrant of the state,” per the NSCO.
“The late week troughing over the Great Lakes region looks to be the end of the polar vortex stretching train and the beginning of a new pattern that will be drastically different than the one that we are in,” per the NSCO.
“This will feature broad ridging over the central U.S. with western troughing. This will lead to mild temperatures from the Rockies to the Great Lakes and very warm temperatures across the southern portion of the country in the period leading up to Christmas,” per the NSCO.
“With the main storm track well to our north and west, we should remain mostly dry during this period. It is possible a more active pattern would set up after Christmas if the troughing gets deeper into the west. Regardless, most indications are that our region would be warmer than average to finish out the month, so precipitation that does fall would most likely be in the form of rain,” per the NSCO.
The lack of precipitation this winter season so far has allowed for drought conditions to creep back into the state, there is a swath of abnormally dry, D0, conditions from the Intestate 80 corridor in the Tri-City area to north central Nebraska.
There is a pocket of moderate drought, D1, conditions across Merrick, Nance and Platte counties.
“Conditions across the High Plains changed very little this week as much of the region received only light precipitation and remained colder than normal,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, “The Dakotas saw little meaningful moisture, and Nebraska saw none, leaving drought conditions unchanged.”
