Nebraska braces for both ice and fire in the forecast this week.
As Monday morning brought the first freeze advisory of the year, similar conditions will linger through the mid-week.
National Weather Service Omaha Meteorologist Katie Gross tells KLIN News, Tuesday morning won’t be quite as cold as Monday, but low temperatures will bottom out around 35 degrees. By Wednesday, a widespread hard freeze is likely for all of eastern Nebraska with temperatures dropping into the mid-20s.
“We are definitely looking at a potential for some freeze action going on there,” said Gross. “If you have any sensitive plants or vegetation, you might want to bring those in or cover them if you can. It’s getting to that time of year where it gets pretty cold outside.”
By Thursday, highs will rise back into the mid-70s, and with that, a high fire danger conditions will return to eastern Nebraska.
“With that, we’re going to have relative humidity is dropping down near 20%, and then winds are going to start picking up,” Gross explained. “Residents should definitely stay safe if you’re planning any outside activities, if you have farm equipment, it could spark easily and fires would spread pretty rapidly those days.”
Just over the past weekend, 15 fire departments battled a wildfire for more than three hours in a cornfield near 84th and Branched Oak Road. An overheated bearing on a combine was determined to have sparked the field fire.
Gross says with winds gusting up to around 35 mph and some dry conditions due to a lack of recent rainfall, “…fires, if they do get ignited, would spread pretty quickly across the area.”
Keep posted on local frost/burn conditions at forecast.weather.gov.
National Weather Service Omaha/Valley