Damaging Wind in Nebraska, June 28, 2026

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE
1203 AM CDT Sun Jun 28 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- A strong to severe storm possible overnight in far northeast
  Nebraska.

- Dangerous heat builds Sunday and Monday, with heat index
  values reaching 105 to 110 degrees in some areas.

- Hot and humid weather continues into next week, with
  occasional evening and overnight thunderstorm chances.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 1035 PM CDT Sat Jun 27 2026

Sfc analysis indicates the warm front is draped near I-80 as of
9:00 PM with skies having cleared over the evening hours. The
mid-level pattern is dominated by a cutoff low spinning over the
state of WA, with an amplifying ridge over the Great Plains,
and a shortwave betwixt the two. That shortwave having
initiated some severe weather over NE Wyoming that has made its
way onto the NE Panhandle and SD prairie.

Overnight will see the thunderstorm complex out west continuing
east, clipping far northeast Nebraska. Severe warnings are
unlikely as the system should be cold pool dominant by that
point and will be working into a more stable environment, but
our meteorologists will be monitoring for severe wind gusts.
Have limited PoPs to 15-30% for the northernmost counties.

At the same time, the warm front will continue to make progress
farther north, opening the door for the season's hottest temps
so far. The convective cloud cover overnight will be clearing
from south to north, replacing Saturday's overcast skies with a
powerful June sun that's about as high in the sky as it can get.

.SUNDAY...

Under that sunshine and quick southerly flow, temps will rocket
to near 90F by noon and mid- to upper-90s by late afternoon.
Dewpoints will be highest in the dense corn fields of Iowa,
leading to heat indices of up to 110F there. For this reason,
a extreme heat warning has been posted there and for the Omaha
metro where the urban heat island can make homes with no air-
conditioning very difficult to cool, even overnight. A heat
advisory is posted for most of the remainder of the area with an
exception of the area around Norfolk, Albion, Columbus, where
humidity will be a bit lower. Cedar and Knox County also have a
heat advisory for the hottest 8 hours of the day. Elsewhere,
the heat headlines (advisory and warning) will be left in place
overnight due to the warm overnight heat indices (78-82 mins).
The unusual warm nighttime lows prevent the body and buildings
from cooling down. This creates a compounding risk of heat-
related illness over the consecutive days of toasty temps.

.MONDAY...

There may be a degree or three improvement on the western
periphery of the forecast area, but Monday will nearly be a
repeat of Sunday with Iowa being just as hot. Heat indices of
100-105 in the advisory area and 103-109 in the excessive heat
warning. It'll be another breezy one with winds forecast to peak
at 15-30 mph.

Monday night has the potential to bring some severe weather to
the area with a front expected to settle into the area as a
shortwave works through the Dakotas. Forcing for ascent will be
better north of here, but the atmosphere over eastern Nebraska
and western Iowa will be juicy and unstable. There's just too
many question marks in placement and timing (disagreements in
numerical models) that the SPC's 'slight' risk (2 of 5) is
reasonable. Expect that area to be better defined over the next
36 hours. Have maintained the PoPs of 30-55% over the northern
half of the CWA.

.TUESDAY...

Heat headlines continue for areas south and east of Columbus
and Wayne for Tuesday, due to the warm overnight lows and heat
indices pushing near the century mark again. Confidence in the
dangerous heat is lower for Tuesday as the area will be on the
northwestern edge of the ridge and under brisk northwest mid-
level flow. Pattern recognition suggests a temperature forecast
prone to bust by ridge-riding waves, MCSs, or leftover cold
pools. If all goes according to plan, partly cloudy skies will
allow temps to soar once more before thunderstorms develop again
in the afternoon/evening (PoPs of 35-65) as moisture continues
to stream in from the south and instability will be easy to
produce.

.BEYOND...

Current forecast has Wednesday cooling a couple of degrees
before ridging reasserts its control over the Corn Belt for the
holiday weekend, driving high temps and heat indices to
dangerous levels once again. Predictability for severe weather
and rain chances will be mostly dependent on subtle shortwaves,
sfc boundaries, or influence from previous convection. I'm not
sure which days it will be, but additional days of heat
headlines are very likely.

&&

.AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z MONDAY/...
Issued at 1203 AM CDT Sun Jun 28 2026

MVFR cigs have developed at the terminals this evening. Expect
them to clear from south to north overnight, clearing at KLNK
fairly quickly in the next hour or two. LLWS potential will be
greatly dependent on how well strong winds aloft can mix down to
the surface. We're already seeing gusts to 22-23kt at KLNK so
have removed LLWS from KLNK as I expect it will keep gusting
overnight. KOFK has the best potential for seeing several hours
of LLWS until around 11Z when winds should be weakening at this
site. Expect gusty winds to persist through Sunday afternoon at
KOMA and KLNK, with gusts 20 to 25kt out of the south. Skies
become clear in the morning and stay mostly clear through the
end of the TAF period.

&&

.OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...Heat Advisory from 1 PM Sunday to 9 PM CDT Tuesday for NEZ015-
     034-044-045-050-051-065>068-078-088>093.
     Extreme Heat Warning from 1 PM Sunday to 9 PM CDT Tuesday for
     NEZ052-053.
     Heat Advisory from 1 PM to 9 PM CDT Sunday for NEZ011-012.
IA...Heat Advisory from 1 PM Sunday to 9 PM CDT Tuesday for IAZ043-
     055.
     Extreme Heat Warning from 1 PM Sunday to 9 PM CDT Tuesday for
     IAZ056-069-079-080-090-091.

&&

DISCUSSION...Nicolaisen
AVIATION...McCoy