Lincoln, NE 68504 Weather

Key messages

- Shower and storm chances arrive late tonight into early Friday with on and off chances sticking around into the weekend. Trends are toward drier weather into the evening of Halloween.

- A strong weather system moves into the region early next week, bringing another round of showers and thunderstorms Monday into Tuesday. Periods of heavy rain are possible.

Discussion

Issued at 155 PM CDT Thu Oct 29 2026

Early afternoon analysis showed yesterday's cold front now stretching from northeast MO toward southwest KS. Behind the front, surface ridging was leading to quiet weather with plenty of sunshine across the area. Temperatures as of 1 PM were mostly in the 60s, with perhaps a few 70 degree readings in southeast NE.

The quiet weather will be short-lived, however, as the front to our south starts to advance back northward as a warm front this evening. In addition, warm air advection and low level transport will be ramping up, leading to shower and isolated non-severe thunderstorm development north of the front by late evening into the overnight hours. Accumulation should generally remain southeast of a line from Norfolk to Sioux City. Any notable north of I-80 should gradually diminish through the day, though some light spotty showers or even some drizzle could linger in these areas. To the south, guidance suggests ongoing potential for showers and a few isolated storms lingering into early afternoon before we see a brief lull from mid to late afternoon. Precip redevelopment should then occur by early evening (around 6 PM) as shortwave energy currently along the TX/Mexico border pushes into the area and the surface warm front starts to slide farther north into the forecast area. Given the cloud cover and precip during the day, instability will be limited, but guidance does show some elevated instability sneaking in behind the front, which would be just enough for some additional thunderstorm threat. Severe weather is not expected, but you'll want to keep an eye on the weather if you have outdoor plans Friday night.

Like Friday, Saturday will see some lingering light showers during the day, but the general trend throughout the day will be to dry out, with 30-40% chances in the morning giving way to 15-20% chances for the afternoon and evening. Outside of the precip, it is looking like a fairly nice Halloween, with high temperatures mostly in the 60s and evening temperatures in the upper 50s to lower 60s with a light south to southeast breeze. Some additional shortwave energy will slide in late Saturday night into early Sunday and bring additional spotty showers, but shouldn't amount to too much.

Attention then turns to a much stronger system progged to move through the area Monday and Tuesday, possibly into Wednesday. The general idea is that a cutoff low currently spinning off the Pacific Northwest coast will move into the Desert Southwest and phase up with a trough currently well off into the Pacific. A fairly strong surface low will develop east of the Rockies and track across the Plains through the middle part of the week, bringing widespread precipitation to the area. The main questions remain track and timing/speed of the system, with solutions ranging from precip ending late Monday night/early Tuesday to precip ending late Wednesday night. Some ensemble members also suggest a decent plume of instability out ahead of the system, which could yield at least a small severe storm threat given the amount of shear that usually accompanies these systems. In addition, NAEFS guidance suggests precipitable water values approaching or exceeding 1.5", which is in the 99th+ percentile of climatology for this time of year, so the rain would likely be pretty efficient. Finally, it will also likely be pretty gusty at times as the system moves through, with ensembles showing 30-40 mph gusts ahead of and behind the low. Otherwise, expect high temperatures to remain in the 60s and 70s through Monday before the northwesterly flow on the back side starts to usher in cooler air and highs fall into the 50s and 60s.

Aviation

Issued at 603 PM CDT Thu Oct 29 2026

VFR conditions begin the period with continued east winds. A weather system is lifting north into the area this evening. Falling ceilings and rain chances overspread the area tonight into Friday. Conditions will deteriorate first from south to north. MVFR ceilings arrive between 06Z-09Z early Friday morning, falling to IFR between 14-16Z late Friday morning. Areas of thunderstorms are possible, but remain widely scattered across the region. At this time, LNK is most likely to see VCTS with OMA remaining north of expected thunderstorms. East winds continue through the TAF period.

Watches, warnings and advisories

NE: None. IA: None.