Hello from the NSCO community! This is the weekly recap of recent weather trends we experienced for the state of Nebraska. This week, we stayed on the warm side of average with a persistent upper-level ridge keeping highs generally in the 80s and a few spots in low 90s throughout the state into Friday. Figure 1 shows high temperatures from Thursday at Nebraska Mesonet stations. The humidity levels stayed relatively low through the week. By Saturday the western trough moved closer to the Plains and brought showers and storms Saturday evening in the Panhandle. For the most part though, I will be focusing on Monday through Friday in the discussion below.
Figure 1. Maximum temperatures on Thursday, October 2nd
Looking at upper-level height trends, at 500 mb we had a consistent building ridge over the central Plains for much of the work week, with shortwaves rounding that ridge and briefly increasing mid- to upper-level cloud cover. A following trough over the West Coast deepened into a cutoff feature as it dug eastward into the area later into the week. That evolution increased southwesterly flow aloft, and enhanced moisture transport into the region west of Nebraska. Looking at the surface trends, a broad high was sitting near the Great Lakes early in the week supporting southerly flow into Nebraska (warm and mostly dry).
Precipitation was mostly limited through the work week. There were a few areas of showers, and some convective actions were noted, especially in northeast Nebraska. We experienced mostly warm and dry weather throughout the week thanks to a central-Plains ridge. Cooler, more fall-like highs (60s–70s) are expected by early next week, hopefully bringing some much-needed fall feelings back into Nebraska as we have been experiencing July and August heat the past week.
Temperature and precipitation roundup
Maximum High Temperature: 94°F, Verdel 6 SSE
Minimum High Temperature: 73°F, Harrison 20 SSE
Minimum Low Temperature: 36°F, Harrison 20 SSE
Maximum Low Temperature: 71°F, Columbus 3 NE
Maximum Precipitation: 0.94", Riverdale 0.2 NW
