Mostly cloudy with scattered strong to severe thunderstorms Thursday; Heating up this weekend

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) -After a beautiful day here across Greater Nebraska, conditions around the area for Thursday will go down with some strong to severe storms potentially moving through the region Thursday afternoon, with a potential heatwave coming into the area this weekend.

During the morning Thursday, the area was experiencing mostly cloudy to overcast conditions with temperatures in the 50s and 60s and the dew points were near saturation and the winds were brisk with speeds around 5 to 15 mph and the direction of the winds were out of the south and east. The reason why is because we are wedged in between the back end of the area of high pressure and the area of low pressure to our south and west. This area of low pressure will influence our weather today with some showers and thunderstorm activity.

During the day Thursday, these clouds will persist with warm temperatures around the 80s with scattered showers and thunderstorms developing during the afternoon hours with some storms being on the strong to severe side. A Marginal to slight chance of severe weather is poosible for Greater Nebraska, which means hail the size of quarters to golfball sized, damaging winds around 60 mph and a non zero chance of a tornado. The timing for the severe weather will be mainly between 4 p.m. CDT to 9 p.m. CDT. Overnight, conditions calm down and the lows overnight will approach the lwo to mid 50s.

After the severe weather Thursday, things will be heating up this weekend around here with temperatures climbing from the mid to upper 80s on Friday to low to upper 90s on Saturday and Sunday, and apporaching the 100s once we get into Monday. The reason why we are seeing this is because of a strong ridge of high pressure moves into the area and this could cause a heatwave here across the region. Persons need to make sure they are staying hydrated, take plenty of breaks from the elements, check on neighbors and stay cool.

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