Saturday snow chance; Arctic blast this weekend

Isolated pockets of rain/snow/mix moved through the state overnight Thursday and into early Friday morning. These have since come to an end, and we’re trending in a drier direction for most of Friday.

There will be plenty of sun to go around, with partly cloudy skies on average. High temperatures will be mild, in the low-40s in Lincoln. A few areas may end up remaining in the 30s for afternoon highs.

Despite the increased sunshine on Friday afternoon, clouds return on Friday night. Snow will also overspread portions of north-central and northeast Nebraska.

Most of the moisture will fall in northern Nebraska, and that is where we see winter weather alerts. Winter Weather Advisories and Winter Storm Warnings are in effect for northern Nebraska. More snow is expected to fall on Saturday in the warning area.

We can’t rule out some light snow for areas closer to Lincoln late Friday and into Saturday. There’s a chance that all of the moisture passes to the north, however. Even if Lincoln can see the flakes fly, accumulations won’t be all that high.

Anywhere from 4″-8″ is possible in far northeast Nebraska, for areas closer to O’Neill and Sioux City. Totals drop off the farther south you travel. Up to 1″ isn’t out of the question along and north of I-80. However, the chance of seeing 0″ to trace amounts increases as you get closer to I-80.

It should also be noted that this forecast accounts for snow through midnight Sunday. Areas of western Nebraska may see more snow on Sunday, and this forecast does not account for that.

One thing that will affect everybody is the drop in temperatures this weekend. Temperatures will be in the 30s early Saturday and fall through the day. By Sunday afternoon, we’ll be looking at highs in the teens and lows in the single digits.

Meteorologist Malcolm Byron

Facebook: /mbyronwx

Twitter: @mbyronwx