Mid-March sunset across central Nebraska, (Brian Neben, Courtesy)
HASTINGS — A surge of late week heat could set new daily temperature records across central Nebraska on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21.
According to the National Weather Service – Hastings, a strong ridge of high pressure will build across the western United States and overspread Nebraska late in the work week.
“As temperatures climb into the 80s later this week, a few record warm temperatures could be in jeopardy across the local area,” per NWS Hastings.
On Thursday, March 19 the forecast high for Hastings and Grand Island is 80 and 79 degrees respectively. The record high for each was 84 and 86 degrees, both set in 1921.
By Friday, the forecast high for Hastings and Grand Island will be 83 and 82 degrees. The record high was 82 degrees in Hastings in 1939 and 84 degrees in Grand Island in 1921.
NWS Hastings noted that 20 years ago on March 20, 2006, Grand Island set the daily snowfall record with 17.8 inches of snow.
On Saturday, March 21, the forecast high for Hastings and Grand Island will be 88 and 87 degrees. The record for each site is 87 degrees set in 1910 for Hastings and 83 degrees set in 1988 for Grand Island.
Temperature records for Hastings date back to 1907 and they date back to 1895 for Grand Island.
A cold front sweeping through on Sunday will bring temperatures down closer to seasonal norms, along with a light chance for rain and snow. However, meaningful precipitation remains unlikely through the end of the month.
Models show a 40 to 60 percent chance that the area will see less than 0.10 inches of precipitation through March 31.
