Saturday will bring the warmest weather of the holiday weekend, but conditions will change markedly as a blustery cold front moves in.
Strong winds, dropping temperatures and a chance of rain could make New Year's Eve a departure from what the region recently has experienced.
"It will feel raw for a couple of days," said Barbara Mayes, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Valley. "The winds will be pretty gusty."
Winds could gust to 50 mph Saturday in Omaha, possibly causing problems for area fireworks displays. Even more powerful winds are predicted farther west — as much as 60 mph in the Nebraska Panhandle and even higher into Wyoming.
Given that the atmosphere typically settles down after sunset, the winds are not expected to affect the New Year's Eve fireworks show in downtown Omaha, said organizer Vic Gutman.
The show is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at the Gene Leahy Mall, 14th and Farnam Streets. Organizers will wait for a lull in the winds if necessary, Gutman said.
A wind advisory is in effect Saturday across Nebraska and Iowa, indicating that high-profile vehicles may have difficulty on the roads. Winds are forecast from the northwest, which will pose more of a problem for east-west travel.
The winds are due to a cold front dropping down from the north, Mayes said.
Saturday's winds are unrelated to last week's extraordinary gusts that caused highway closings and accidents in western Nebraska, Mayes said.
Forecasters say winds will die down Sunday night and into Monday.
High temperatures in the low to mid-30s are predicted for Sunday and Monday in Omaha.
The unusual warmth that had settled over the region should return in early January, Mayes said. Long-range forecasts indicate it could last through the first two weeks of the new year.
Daytime highs in Omaha for the last three weeks of December have averaged among the 10 warmest years in 140 years of record-keeping, Mayes said.
Much of the nation also has seen above-normal warmth.
In Omaha, daytime highs have been above average on all but one day since Dec. 11. On average, highs at this time of year are in the low 30s. Lows are in the midteens.
Through Dec. 29, daytime highs in Omaha averaged 43.9 degrees, Mayes said.
The record average high for that time period is 49.5 degrees in 1889, she said.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com
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