Here is the rest of the NWS advisory, issued at 5:30 a.m. Thursday:
The precipitation is expected to begin as freezing rain and sleet after midnight Friday and continue through early Sunday. Rain and freezing rain are most likely Saturday across Southeast Nebraska and Southwest iowa. A mix of snow and freezing rain is more likely north of Interstate 80, with the heaviest snowfall across far northeast Nebraska and West Central Iowa. The exact path and timing of the system are still somewhat uncertain. So it is too soon to forecast specific precipitation amounts and types for any one location.
In alphabetical order, here are summaries of each Omaha station's forecast Wednesday night (at either 9 or 10 p.m.):
KETV Chief Meteorologist Bill Randby said the key is where a cold front from the north mixes in with moisture coming from the south."Do we just get a little bit of snow, then quickly change over to rain and not have an ice storm? Or is the ice storm in Tekamah or Sioux City? I feel pretty confident there is going to be an ice storm across part of eastern Nebraska and a good chunk of Iowa. And a very heavy snow - something on the order of a foot for some people - certainly up toward the Sioux Falls area (and) southern Minnesota."
Later, Randby told co-anchors Julie Cornell and Rob McCartney "if the colder air stays in here ... a historical thing that our computer models don't handle well, we could be talking about just a substantial icing event."
KMTV Chief Meteorologist Ryan McPike said moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and tropical moisture out of the southwest figure into the system, with the storm track appearing to be just south of Omaha."At the very least, we're going to see some type of wintery precipitation," McPike said. "It may start as a little frozen precipitation, go to rain Saturday afternoon and then maybe some light snow as the cold air works in behind this system."
McPike said it is still a bit early to forecast what type of precipitation, but "things are coming together."
"It looks like the track will be near us, or a little bit south which is favorable, especially south of us, for wintry weather," he said. "I don't think moisture is going to be a problem. Certainly the cold air is going to be in place. It just kind of depends how deep that cold air is as to what type of precipitation we see."
KPTM Chief Meteorologist Tyson Pearsall told viewers his forecast was an early indication of what was going to happen and that it would be updated over the next couple of days."(The) best chance for accumulating snow - possibly eight or more inches - as you start to make your way toward Northeastern Nebraska up around Sioux Falls, northwest Iowa, too, " Pearsall said. "Further off to the south, right here in the Metro, from Lincoln down toward Plattsmouth, a little bit of everything. Freezing rain a concern. Snowfall a concern. Sleet a concern, too. You can see the snow line of about four plus from just about Omaha north, then freezing rain becomes a big concern as we go across eastern, southeastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa, too."
Pearsall said one computer model puts "96 one-hundredths of an inch of precipitation - nearly the equivalent of one liquid inch of moisture" - on Omaha.
WOWT Chief Meteorologist Jim Flowers showed a graphic revealing information from two computer models, one keying in on ice and freezing rain, the other keying in on freezing rain that turns to rain."Looking at these rains, as far as freezing rain goes, both are giving us over half-an-inch of freezing rain before any potential changeover," Flowers said. "So that's the key we're looking at now as far as surface temperatures as we head into Saturday."
Flowers said somewhere in the pink area on his "Potential Ice Storm" graphic is looking at a fairly significant ice event. "It would tend to favor the northern half of the area, but we will of course keep you apprised as those models keep coming in over the next couple of days."
Want even more details? Read the station weather blogs:
KETV
KMTV
WOWT
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