Rainy Tuesday to give way to snowy Wednesday, Thursday

A gloomy, rainy Tuesday in southeast Nebraska is expected to bring plenty of moisture to the area, but won't be the end of precipitation for the area. 

The rain hitting southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas Tuesday is expected to bring between .25 to .75 inches of moisture across the region, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Omaha. 

Far southeast Nebraska, particularly east of Fairbury and south of Interstate 80, could hear the occasional rumble of thunder Tuesday afternoon. There is a low chance of an isolated severe storm as well. 

The rain moves out Tuesday night and will make way for a new system coming into the area Wednesday afternoon. It's expected to bring accumulating snow across southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas. 

In Nebraska, Jefferson, Gage, Thayer, Johnson, Pawnee, Otoe Nemaha, Richardson and Nuckolls counties are under a Winter Storm Watch, which goes into effect Wednesday at noon. It will last until Thursday at noon. 

In Kansas, Republic, Washington, Marshall and Jewell counties are part of the Winter Storm Watch as well. The National Weather Service office in Topeka, Kan. says it goes into effect Wednesday afternoon and will last until Thursday morning. 

The NWS is forecasting anywhere from 3-6 inches of snow across the area with the storm. Winds are expected to gust up to 35-40 miles-per-hour. Officials at NWS also note that forecast snowfall amounts remain uncertain. 

The storm is expected to move out of the area by Thursday afternoon, with the sun coming back out to end the work week.