A snow shower moves through Odessa during early evening of Sunday, Oct. 29. (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY — The cold start to the work week will continue Tuesday, with wind chills in the single digits to start Halloween. However, there will be a warming trend with highs in the 60s by Friday.
A highly amplified upper-level pattern is in place thanks to deep troughing over the Great Lakes region and a strong ridge of high pressure along the West Coast, according to the National Weather Service – Hastings.
A potent disturbance will dive out of central Canada today and this feature will be responsible for forcing another strong cold front through the area tonight.
The timing of the front looks to be overnight, and gusts could be up to 30-40 mph just behind it. All this will contribute to single digit wind chill readings for Halloween morning.
These strong cold air advection events are reliable producers of snow flurries, so they could be a possibility during Monday evening into Tuesday morning.
On the positive side, the winds should decrease substantially from west to east during the day as the high-pressure ridge shifts near the area.
Any trick-or-treaters will still need to bundle up as the air temperature will be in the 30s, falling into 20s. “Wear plenty of layers of clothing, especially hats and gloves, and take warming breaks, if at all possible,” NWS Hastings said.
Return flow will set up Tuesday night and will lead to a gradual warming trend for the second half of the work week. Neither Wednesday nor Thursday looks overly windy, so both afternoons should be decent by early November standards with highs in the 50s and 60s.
Models hint at yet another cold from moving through the region on Friday night, but this feature looks to be largely Pacific-based and lacking a substantial amount of cold air behind it. Temperatures should only drop a few degrees for the weekend.
Light rain showers cannot be ruled out behind the front, but these look to be scattered and many areas will remain dry.
The upcoming weekend looks fairly pleasant by early November standards.
