Forecast Discussions mentioning any of "HRRR" "RAP" "RUC13" "RUC" "RR" received at GSD on 11/23/16


Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service Aberdeen SD
922 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 922 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Some light snow may make it into the far eastern CWA but the chances dont look that good according to the latest nam. Otherwise, areas of fog will likely remain in the east with improvement towards morning. The lowest visibilities will be in the Sisseton Hills region. Updated forecast. UPDATE Issued at 550 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 00z aviation discussion updated below. && .SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Wednesday Afternoon) Issued at 340 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Much of the precipitation across the northeast CWA has dissipated and have therefore canceled the Winter Weather Advisory. Temps have largely remained above freezing today as well, which has greatly limited any impacts of icing. The only exception is along the Coteau ridge where temps are hovering around 31 or 32 degrees. Areas of fog and drizzle now remain over the eastern CWA, based on web cams and observations. Although, feel the biggest impacts from any drizzle or freezing drizzle remain in and around the Coteau region. Inserted this into the grids for the remainder of the afternoon and evening hours. Main area of precip associated with the surface low continues to drift northward across southeast SD, but feel it will be rather difficult for it to penetrate much into the CWA, if at all this evening. This is shown by the HRRR and other hi-res models. Have therefore reduced POPs quite a bit this evening as well as QPF/snow accums. Will have to monitor fog overnight, especially over the east within the trough axis where winds will be lightest and moisture pooling with be the greatest. Tried to time the departure of fog with the onset of slightly stronger winds on the back side of the surface trough. Will also be watching the massive stratus deck sliding south across ND. Models suggest this will overspread the western CWA later this evening and have increased sky cover grids accordingly. Looks like a cloudy night is in store, with clouds continuing into tomorrow, more than likely. Weak surface ridge over the area tomorrow, with weak mixing at 925/850 mb as well, so it may be hard to scour things out. Have also increased sky cover through Wednesday, but will not be surprised if later shifts have to hold on to cloud cover even longer. Given the abundance of clouds tonight, have increased lows a couple degrees, but they still may be a bit too cool for some areas and later adjustments may be needed. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday Evening through Tuesday) Issued at 340 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Thursday we will see a shortwave enter the plains, with a weak surface low expected to cross South Dakota. Isentropic forcing will result in some modest vertical lift, upwards of around 10 microbars, co-located close the vicinity of what is more or less a stacked low. SREF probabilities for measuring moisture are around 70-90 percent along an axis from Lemmon ND - Mobridge - Redfield - Watertown. SREF probabilities for measuring 1 inch of snow are also around 40 percent at the highest, around the Watertown area. Profiles mainly support snow, though the NAM Mobridge profile hints that ice introduction may be an issue. Will stick with the mainly snow forecast at this point. Friday-Saturday the region will be under a ridge aloft. 850/925mb temperatures will warm during this time, peaking around a standard derivation above climo. Models diverge over the handling of a system moving into the region late in the weekend, and while differing on timing - both the GFS and ECMWF bring a well developed system into the northern/central plains, and future forecasts will need to be monitored for potential winter storm impacts. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday Evening) Issued at 550 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 High low level low moisture will keep IFR/MVFR ceilings across the region through the night. The ceilings will lift some on Wednesday becoming VFR at MBG and PIR. There will also be some fog tonight into Wednesday morning mainly at ATY. && .ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...None. MN...None. && $$ UPDATE...Mohr SHORT TERM...TMT LONG TERM...Connelly AVIATION...Mohr
Area Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED
National Weather Service Corpus Christi TX
907 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .DISCUSSION...00Z CRP sounding indicated a strong inversion around 850 mbs along with a significant intrusion of dry air at this level. The mid level short wave trough will move across Oklahoma and north Texas tonight and be over the Ozarks down through the Arklatex region by Wednesday morning. Best lift will remain to the northeast of the area tonight into Wednesday morning as well as the deeper moisture axis. After looking at latest HRRR and Texas Tech WRF along with SREF, have reduced PoPs for late tonight over the northeast part of the area and diminished PoPs slightly for Wednesday morning over the Victoria Crossroads with PoPs in the chance category. Prefer the Rapid Refresh Model for timing on the front Wednesday. Expect the front will arrive over the northern counties by mid morning and through the southern Coastal Bend by 21Z and raised wind speeds slightly behind the front. && .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... /Issued 559 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016/ DISCUSSION...See Aviation section for 00Z TAFs. AVIATION...Cirrus shield will remain over South Texas through the evening hours with VFR conditions continuing. Low level flow will gradually weaken this evening as the frontal boundary over northwest Texas moves toward the region. Expect MVFR ceilings to develop over the inland coastal plains by 05Z and expand toward the coast and to the LRD area by 08Z. With weaker winds over the Brush Country, IFR ceilings and MVFR vsbys in fog will be possible between 10-14Z. Best chance for showers ahead of the front will be in the Victoria Crossroads late tonight and early Wednesday morning. IFR ceilings/vsbys will be possible with the showers. Isolated thunderstorms could also occur but did not mention in VCT TAF at this time. The cold front will move into the northern portion of South Texas 15-16Z and moves through the southern Coastal Bend by 21Z Wednesday. Isolated showers will be possible over the coastal plains behind the front in the afternoon but expect ceilings will be in the VFR category. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Corpus Christi 69 80 60 78 64 / 10 30 10 10 10 Victoria 65 75 49 75 57 / 50 50 0 10 20 Laredo 67 79 62 80 63 / 10 10 10 10 10 Alice 67 81 56 79 61 / 10 20 10 10 10 Rockport 71 78 58 74 65 / 20 40 10 10 10 Cotulla 64 79 56 77 62 / 10 10 10 10 10 Kingsville 67 81 57 80 62 / 10 20 10 10 10 Navy Corpus 71 79 64 75 67 / 10 30 10 10 10 && .CRP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...None. GM...None. && $$ TMT/89...SHORT TERM
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service State College PA
1029 PM EST Tue Nov 22 2016 .SYNOPSIS... High pressure will build east over the region tonight and Wednesday. Weakening low pressure lifting out of the Mississippi Valley will track just north of Pennsylvania on Thursday... bringing moderating temperatures and a chance of rain showers Wednesday night and Thursday...along with light mixed precipitation across the northern half of the state. Another cold front will cross the commonwealth Friday night and Saturday, delivering another brief punch of cold air and a gusty northwest wind. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING/... Lake effect stratocu over the NW Mtns should give way to clearing skies late tonight, as high pressure ridge builds into the region. Mostly clear skies and light wind will allow temps to tumble well into the 20s across much of the region and into the upper teens across the snow-covered NW Mtns. Latest HRRR and SREF support the possibility of patchy valley fog toward dawn across the Alleghenies. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH 6 PM WEDNESDAY/... The sfc ridge axis will be parked over central PA on Wednesday as increasing high level moisture advects eastward. Model RH time sections indicate a mostly sunny start to the day, then thickening high clouds by afternoon. Position of surface ridge and increasing cloud cover will result in limiting mixing/warming...likely preventing temps from reaching 40 across the north...and capping readings to the upper 40s across the southeast counties. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... Timing of the precipitation ahead of the next system still looks good to develop Wednesday evening into the overnight. The precipitation type will be an issue over the northern 1/3 or so of the forecast area as the precip moves into marginally cold air in place over the region. Latest guidance suggests at least the potential for some pockets of freezing rain or sleet (wet snowflakes?) Wednesday night into early Thursday morning with surface temperatures dropping to freezing in some of the normally cold spots across Northern Pennsylvania. Overall QPF appears to be quite light with most locations probably seeing a tenth of an inch or less, but with increasing travel volume for the holidays, any kind of wintry mix could cause big headaches. The GFS/ECMWF both weaken the cold/occluded front as it enters the state Thanksgiving Day in favor of a new, albeit weak secondary low along or just off the Delmarva coast. This weak low should scoot harmlessly off to the east as the amplifying upper trough slides into the region for late Friday and Saturday. Enough cold air could move in to change the rain showers to snow by Saturday morning. Unsettled conditions with a gusty NW wind Saturday will yield to drier brighter weather for the second half of the weekend. There is consensus among the medium range models that a pretty hefty front will be approaching by Tuesday, which if it could bring widespread rainfall would be very beneficial given how dry we have been this fall. && .AVIATION /04Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... VFR conds expected tonight as breezy conditions diminish thanks to building high pressure. Wednesday will be quiet. Unsettled weather returns starting Wed night and persists into Sat. A period of freezing precip/icing potential will exist generally north of I-80 late Wed night into Thu. Outlook... Wed night and Thursday...MVFR to IFR conditions as periods of rain spread east across the state. Mixed precipitation/icing possible across the northern mountains. Fri...Restrictions likely N/W with scattered rain showers. Sat-Sun...Restrictions possible N/W with scattered snow showers. && .CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...DeVoir NEAR TERM...Fitzgerald SHORT TERM...DeVoir/Fitzgerald LONG TERM...La Corte AVIATION...DeVoir/Gartner
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Duluth MN
848 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 847 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Light snow continued to move north through the far northern Minnesota and was spreading east through northern Wisconsin as well. Snow had made it to the International Border and was occurring at KRZN and likely over northern Bayfield county as well. We expanded on the Winter Weather Advisory this evening and included the rest of our northern zones. MNDOT reporting icy roads over Koochiching county and we have 2 to 4 inches falling across central and northern Saint Louis county into Wednesday afternoon. We had some reports of freezing drizzle in our southwest zones. The RAP forecast soundings suggest mainly snow will occur...but satellite imagery does show some warmer cloud tops moving through that area as well as toward Koochiching county so it does make sense it will continue tonight. No other significant changes were made to the short term forecast at this time. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 356 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 At 345 PM, skies were cloudy across the Northland. Light snow continued to push northeastward across the region, with visibilities and ceilings gradually decreasing throughout the day. We have recently started to see a good deal of visibilities at one mile or less. Temperatures were generally in the lower 30s. We are still seeing a few random reports of unknown precipitation on AWOS observations, but overall the precipitation appears to be in the form of snow for most areas. The focus for the period from tonight through Wednesday will continue to be snow potential. Based on a thorough model assessment, it appears the best chance of seeing decent snow accumulation will be in east central Minnesota, the north shore of Lake Superior, and northwest Wisconsin. Have continued the winter weather advisory for the southern half of the CWA, and expanded it to cover the north shore and the interior portions of the Minnesota Arrowhead. Total snow accumulation in those areas should range from 2 to 5 inches, with localized amounts of around 6 inches along the north shore. We should see several waves of snow move northeastward overnight, leading to a prolonged period of light snow. We could see a bit of light rain mix in across portions of the south and in coastal areas by Wednesday afternoon. The snow will gradually decrease from west to east on Wednesday, but will linger into Wednesday night across the Arrowhead. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Tuesday) Issued at 356 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 A weak mid-level wave moves across the upper Midwest late Thursday then a warming trend aloft as a broad mid-level ridge builds in and warmer air advects in from the south. Late in the weekend a deep fast-moving longwave trough will eject out the central Rockies, deepening over the central/northern Plains Sunday. Despite some warm air advection ahead of the low, the airmass being advected in will not bring in much moisture, so mid-levels may be slow to saturate through the day Sunday, but by Sunday night a wide band of rain changing to snow in the area of strong mid-level PVA across much of northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, with a rain/snow mix possible into Monday as the low crosses the mid-Mississippi river valley before changing back to all snow Monday night through and continuing through mid-week if not longer as the low continues to deepen over the mid-Mississippi river valley. Some concerns for freezing drizzle over the weekend as we lose the ice aloft but may keep a saturated layer at low levels. Decided not to include a mention at this point, but across north-central Minnesota Friday night and late Saturday into Saturday night conditions may be favorable for drizzle/freezing drizzle. Temperatures fairly mild with highs in the mid 30s each day and lows in the mid to upper 20s. (Normal highs for late November are in the upper 20s, lows usually in the mid teens.) && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening) Issued at 537 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Low pressure was centered in Kansas this evening with an inverted trough extending well north through the Northern Plains. The low will move northeast through Wednesday with the inverted trough moving over the Northland. A prolonged period of light snow will occur with a few periods of moderate snow occurring as well, especially from the North Shore down to the Twin Ports region. Temperatures may be warm enough for some light rain as well, mainly right along the Lake Superior shore and over portions of northwest Wisconsin. Ceilings will lower through the night to IFR or LIFR for most areas. VSBYs will be IFR/LIFR as well both in snow as well as some fog later tonight into Wednesday. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DLH 30 34 28 35 / 100 90 20 10 INL 29 34 26 34 / 80 70 20 20 BRD 31 34 27 34 / 100 50 10 20 HYR 32 35 28 36 / 100 90 30 10 ASX 32 36 30 38 / 90 90 40 20 && .DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...Winter Weather Advisory until 3 PM CST Wednesday for WIZ001-002- 006-007. Winter Weather Advisory until 6 PM CST Wednesday for WIZ003-004- 008-009. MN...Winter Weather Advisory until 9 PM CST Wednesday for MNZ012-020- 021. Winter Weather Advisory until 3 PM CST Wednesday for MNZ010-011- 018-019-026-037-038. Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM CST Wednesday for MNZ025- 033>036. LS...None. && $$ UPDATE...Melde SHORT TERM...DAP LONG TERM...JJM AVIATION...Melde
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Grand Forks ND
744 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 744 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Snow has mostly ended across all but the KBDE area. Let the WSW expire at 01Z as scheduled. However, drizzle has been falling at KGFK for the last few hours and similarly at KPKD where temps have been below freezing and they are seeing some icing reported at the ASOS. Road temps in a few areas, particularly where there is higher snowpack, are below freezing, but many others have the forecasted Road temps staying right around the 32 mark. With uncertainty as to where the line of FZDZ/just DZ will be, along with some spots seeing slush refreeze possible, have put out an SPS highlighting slick spots on roads from the Sheyenne and Red River Valley eastward into MN. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 256 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Current radar and surface observations indicate that all freezing or frozen precipitation has move east of the Red River into Minnesota...where it is difficult to find any reports of precipitation other than snow. Fosston does continue to show UP. Main urban areas to be impacted by afternoon accumulation will be Crookston to Bemidji...Thief River Falls...Warroad and Baudette and all other higher traffic areas across northwestern Minnesota. The band of snowfall continues to peter out as it advects east of a Roseau to Crookston line and advisory level impacts are diminishing. For this reason, have shortened the end time of the advisory to 7 PM CST. Main impact now will be the light snow moving over areas that may have received some patchy freezing rain this morning where temps had fallen as low as 28 F. Less confidence for advisory level impacts across Otter Tail county but as we get into higher elevations around Wadena UP is being reported. The HRRR has a decent handle on current trends and continues to decay the band of precip through 23Z. The latest band however does reinstensify this are in the 01Z to 03Z timeframe however low confidence we will see redevelopment. Models also vary on northward extend of precip band across SW Minnesota, however the HRRR keeps it well to the south of the CWA and will trend POPs in the southern valley down after midnight. Snow expected to continue in the far east until early Wednesday morning. With no strong push of dry air, expect low level moisture to continue through the day tomorrow and possibly bring some fog or, with drying aloft, patchy drizzle late tonight in the west and across the region tomorrow. At the current time not enough confidence on exactly where this will occur and elect to not add drizzle to the wx grids but certainly something to look at after this system winds down. Very little diurnal temperature change over the next 24 hours and overnight lows should remain just below freezing with daytime highs tomorrow struggling to rebound with little solar, possibly reaching the mid 30s by mid afternoon. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Tuesday) Issued at 256 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Wednesday night to next Tuesday...Overall seasonal temperature regime with two time periods with precipitation possible. First snow departs NW MN Wednesday night with the 500mb fast flow bringing the next weather system and chance of PoPs across the southern valley during the daytime on Thanksgiving. Expecting some -sn with maybe a rasn mix in the afternoon as daytime heating brings temps into the mid 30s. System departs quickly Thursday night and 500mb ridging with SFC high pressure spread across the northern plains. This pattern sets up for the long holiday weekend with highs in the mid to upper 30s and lows in the 20s. By Sunday night into Monday the 500mb ridging breaks down with a along wave trough inducing a strong colorado low pressure system to develop and move out over the central plains. Placement and track of that system and the evolution of the upper long wave pattern remain in flux. Ensemble spreads indicate significant precipitation is likely somewhere across the northern and central plains with the potential for a long duration event as the upper low stalls and pinwheels over the north central CONUS for the mid week time frame. As this system wraps up to our south and lifts northward PoPs increase from our southeast to northwest for Monday and Tuesday. Once again with this system there is minimal cold air to work with as there remains well above normal conditions across Canada, where here remains little to no snow pack. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening) Issued at 744 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 IFR to LIFR conditions continue at all TAF sites except KDVL, which is MVFR and has northwest winds on the backside of the surface trough axis. Even KDVL should see some lowered ceilings later tonight, The TAF sites along and east of the Red River will be east of the trought for much of the night, with low level moisture pooling. LIFR ceilings and lowered visibilities will be possible in many areas, and some FZDZ is not out of the question at KBJI and KTVF. Will keep most visibilities around 2-5SM for now, although some 1SM and lower will be possible. Some improvement in visibility towards the end of the period, but low stratus will remain with mostly IFR conditions. Winds will shift to the northwest but stay below 12 kts. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...None. MN...None. && $$ UPDATE...JR SHORT TERM...Speicher LONG TERM...JK AVIATION...JR
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Sioux Falls SD
510 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 341 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Intense upper level wave moving northeast into far southern Nebraska this afternoon. Deformation zone to the north has been concentrating band of light rainfall, with nose of PV advection into mid Missouri valley finding additional development of showers and even isolated rumbles at mid afternoon. Temperatures dancing on the warm side of 32 degrees this afternoon in and around southwest MN, with just a few spots trying to hold at 32 degrees. Calls around the area have not revealed any issues with icing, nor has any groundtruth been found to automated reports of snow at Tracy and Slayton. Temps aloft remain warm, with a fairly deep layer of 4000- 6000ft suggested to reside in the 0 to +2C range before a small sub- freezing layer closer to the surface. Challenge for the night will be dealing mainly with precipitation and potential transition to snow. Strong wave lifting northeast is beginning to shear, and expect that pulse of precipitation will fill into the location of deformation zone by late afternoon and early evening. HRRR has been handling the overall trends quite well, and have followed general distribution of pops along those lines. With rain prevailing through the late afternoon and even early evening, will take gradual cooling with dynamic lift and advection of cooler air into inverted trough zone to begin to push deep enough cooling to start a change to snow. Total snowfall will be limited by two things, the tendency for the banding to weaken starting around 03z-06z window, and the time it takes for cooling to occur. Combination will be likely to bring the greatest snowfall potential for southwest Minnesota, where up to a couple inches will be possible. Have continued the winter weather advisory for this, and potential that even a bit of spotty light freezing precipitation will occur very late afternoon or early evening before the change. Inverted trough will continue to push eastward, and areas ahead of feature will also be susceptible to some areas of fog, and perhaps even drizzle with depth of saturation fails to reach ice formation, especially in east central SD. Some light snowfall may linger early, but will also have shearing trough causing loss of deep enough saturation to support ice. If not for the overall trend to subsidence forcing, would think there could even be a bit of patchy drizzle or freezing drizzle across parts of southwest MN and northwest IA through the morning. Temps tonight will be slow to change, and likely not to get below the lower 30s. Not looking very favorable to get much in the way of sunshine with trajectory unlikely to allow much drying at lower levels with weak ridging pushing into the west by late afternoon. As a result, temperatures will be sluggish to change for most part, mainly 30s with a few readings into the lower 40s where less/no snowcover. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Tuesday) Issued at 341 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Main focus in the mid range will be on the next open wave system, which arrives in the central High Plains on Thanksgiving morning and quickly slides east through the region. While this system looks to have decent dynamics, with a strong jet moving across the plains, moisture will be lacking, especially early on in the event. Expect precipitation to begin moving into north central SD Thursday morning then expand across the forecast area midday into the afternoon. The better lift and highest chance for precipitation will be along and north of I90 and into the Iowa Great Lakes region. Temperature profiles have warmed a little with the 12z runs, resulting in warmer temperatures aloft and surface temperatures rising into the mid 30s to lower 40s as the precipitation threat increases across the area. Profiles also suggest a lack of ice crystals in the clouds for much of the day, only changing over to snow as the system is winding down Thursday evening. As a result, snowfall amounts look very minimal - less than 1 inch - and mainly centered along and north of highway 14. Drier pattern settles into the central states Friday into the weekend with upper level ridging and a warming pattern returning. Skies will clear while return flow brings light southerly winds on Friday. Winds pick up a little on Saturday, but will improve temperatures into the lower 40s and lower 50s. The next upper level wave approaches on Sunday afternoon and Sunday night, but there remains some uncertainty in the track and timing of this system. Both the GFS and ECMWF really strengthen the system, however the ECMWF has a slower and more westerly track compared to the GFS. Both models show the potential for this low to linger over the northern Plains and upper Midwest for several days at the start of next week. Thermal profiles suggest that the precipitation type also looks like a mix of rain and snow, but again would depend on the final track of the low. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening) Issued at 509 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Rain across southeast South Dakota into northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota will gradually end from northwest to southeast through the evening. On the northwest edge of the rainfall it might become cold enough to change to snow before ending. Otherwise, widespread IFR conditions are expected in low stratus with some general improvement from west to east tomorrow afternoon. && .FSD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...None. MN...Winter Weather Advisory until midnight CST tonight for MNZ071- 072-080-081-097. IA...None. NE...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Chapman LONG TERM... AVIATION...08
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Houston/Galveston TX
836 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .DISCUSSION... At 8 PM, a dry line extended from Ardmore OK to KJCT. A cold front lagged a bit behind extending from about KSPS to KHOB. The front had begun to accelerate to the east and will likely overtake the dry line in the next couple of hours. Closer to home, showers and a few thunderstorms will continue to develop across SE TX tonight. Water vapor imagery showed a weak disturbance over northern Mexico earlier this evening and this feature was triggering tonight`s showers. As the cold front over North Texas nears the region, additional showers and thunderstorms will develop. Feel the RAP, HRRR and other short term guidance are handling the situation well and have leaned toward the RAP/HRRR tonight into early Wednesday. 00Z soundings and the special CLL sounding don`t look all that impressive with limited CAPE. That said, shear values look good so can`t rule out an isolated tornado/damaging wind gust as the line of storms nears the area. Jet dynamics still looking good and SE TX will lie in an 80 knot right rear quad. Forecast is in good shape with high PoPs overnight into early Wednesday. Conditions should dry out quickly on Wednesday and the afternoon is looking dry with seasonal temps. 43 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 543 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016/ AVIATION... An upper level shortwave trough was moving over the southern part of the state into the KCLL area at 2330Z. Am expecting isolated thunderstorms will be possible for an hour or two (through about 02Z) near or over KCLL and KUTS; although a balloon sounding sent up at 20Z near KCLL showed a fairly decent cap which indicates better chances for showers than thunderstorms. Otherwise, a cold front will then move into the area from the northwest. The latest high resolution models have the frontal timing close to the 18Z forecast issuance. Main impacts will be chances for showers and thunderstorms ahead of the front. There is an outside chance for MVFR or lower associated with any of the storms. There is a small chance for gusty winds with any strong storms that do develop. Winds behind the front do not look to get much above 10 to 12 knots on Wednesday. 40 PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 347 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016/ DISCUSSION... WAA continuing across SE TX this afternoon with the bulk of the rain (albeit very light) remaining north of the CWA. The front appears to be just moving into the TX panhandle at present, and models seem to be on track with its timing so far. Progged low level wind shears still favorable for the development of strong to severe storms with the passage of this cold front overnight, but there is still some uncertainty with regard to the location of the upper jet/limited instability...especially for locations from the Houston metro (and further south). Better dynamics are still forecast to set up over the northern CWA (mainly north of a Brenham to Livingston line. As such not a lot of changes from what we are currently advertising. Rains are expected to clear the coast by late Wednesday morning as a cool/dry airmass settles over the state. No weather issues on tap for most of Thanksgiving Day, but the approach of an upper level disturbance from the west could increase clouds (with possibly very light POPs over our S/SW counties) during the evening hours. Scattered rain chances to linger into Fri with the next cold front moving on through to the coast. The short lived CAA behind this front will then transition to onshore winds and increasing temps/low-level moisture for the start of next week. The increasingly southwesterly flow aloft should also help keep ISO/Slight CHC POPS in the forecast for this timeframe. 41 MARINE... Extended the SCEC in the offshore waters with the front looking a little bit slower to move through, keeping the tighter pre-frontal pressure gradient in place. But otherwise, not much different in the general picture. Once the front does approach, winds look to diminish some, then turn northerly. Some showers and perhaps a storm or two may survive into the waters as the front moves off the coast in the mid-morning. Winds should quickly veer through northerly to northeasterly by Thursday morning, and look to vary between east and southeast through the end of the week due to another weak front. Sustained onshore flow becomes re-established for the back half of the weekend with strengthening winds. The winds look to surpass caution, and possibly even advisory thresholds Sunday night into Monday. 25 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... College Station (CLL) 60 68 47 73 53 / 80 30 0 10 20 Houston (IAH) 64 71 50 74 54 / 70 60 0 10 20 Galveston (GLS) 70 74 60 70 62 / 60 60 10 10 20 && .HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. GM...SMALL CRAFT SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION until 6 AM CST Wednesday for the following zones: Waters from Freeport to the Matagorda Ship Channel from 20 to 60 NM...Waters from High Island to Freeport from 20 to 60 NM. && $$ Discussion...43
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Lincoln IL
900 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 900 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 The surface low remains well to the west of Illinois, in northeast Kansas at 0230z. However, a band of steady rains has progressed well ahead of the front extending from north to south through Illinois. There already is evidence of some dry air in Missouri creating a break in the steady rains into far western Illinois. The latest HRRR shows some re-development behind the current back edge of the rain band, mainly from 06z-10z before the line progresses east of I-57. The surface low will only progress into northeastern Missouri by 16z tomorrow, with additional showers likely to fill in as we see additional support for precip from jet stream flows and the upper trough. Waves of dry air wrapping into the system at mid-levels will create a more scattered nature to the rains, but low level saturation will help to produce periods of drizzle as the low finally moves into Illinois Wed afternoon. Thunder has occurred with the line of showers this evening, and have expanded the coverage of isolated storms the rest of the night to include more of the area south of I-74. It appears that the evaporative cooling that caused some light snow in northern Illinois earlier this evening has diminished with the onset of low level saturation. Therefore, we do not expect any wintry precip in our forecast area the rest of the night, as temperatures remain relatively steady in the low to mid 40s. Updated the PoP and weather grids for the next 12 hours to account for the faster advance of the current band of precip, as well as thunder potential. The latest forecast info is already available. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday) ISSUED AT 218 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Early afternoon surface map showing the low center with our storm system over central Kansas, with a warm front arcing into far southern Illinois. Extensive dry air in place, with LAPS soundings still pretty dry below 8000 feet. Some light precipitation is starting to move into the far western CWA, but temperature/dew point spreads are still in the 20-25 degree range, so not much beyond very light rain has occurred. Associated upper low is seen nicely on afternoon water vapor imagery just crossing into southeast Nebraska, and this will begin to shear out as the surface low rides northeast into northwest Missouri by midnight. The column will continue to saturate from the top down this evening as precipitation becomes more widespread in the increasing lift. Would not be surprised to see a bit of graupel or sleet at the onset with the dry air, but will not add at this time with very low probabilities. It may take closer to midnight for the rain to get all the way to the Wabash Valley in southeast Illinois, but most of the forecast area will be seeing periodic showers by mid evening and continuing through the night. However, the dry slow wrapping around the surface low will start to taper the rain west of the Illinois River by late in the night. The surface low is progged to track over central Illinois around midday Wednesday as it weakens. Have continued with the very high PoP`s over the eastern CWA through the afternoon, but anything further west will likely be more scattered in nature as the dry slot fills in somewhat. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Tuesday) ISSUED AT 218 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 The expected departure of the approaching storm system has slowed a little from previous model runs, suggesting some light rain or drizzle will linger into Wednesday evening. While the system still pulls away soon enough for Thanksgiving Day to be dry, trends are definitely pointing to cloudier conditions for the holiday. Despite the inconsistency with the wave that had been seen with a weaker disturbance for Thursday night/Friday, the latest model runs continue to suggest that this wave will stay north of the forecast area. This supports dry weather lingering until late in the weekend and/or early next week as upper-level/surface ridging build across the region. As broad upper-level ridging builds across the region late this week, significant troffing develops across the western United States. The models are continuing to struggle mightily with how to handle this trof and any energy that ejects out of it. Significant spread remains in both inter and intra model ensembles, and run-to- run consistency has been poor. The unfortunately result of this uncertainty is keeping precipitation in the forecast from later Sunday into Tuesday. Some drier periods will undoubtedly be able to added later once a stronger model consensus emerges. Temperatures through the period are still on track to be a few degrees either side of normal. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening) Issued at 546 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Main concern continues to be with decreasing ceilings as rain overspreads central Illinois from the west. LAPS soundings confirm there remains a layer of dry air in the lower levels, but forecast soundings indicate virga and showers will increase the low level saturation early this evening. Rain will become widespread over the terminal sites by 01-02z. That saturation will start to bring the ceilings down, but upstream observations indicate VFR conditions should hold until after 06Z. Air mass saturation will quickly bring the ceilings down to MVFR range at all sites between 06-09Z and will be closer to IFR levels by 12Z. While the rain will be tapering off around KPIA/KSPI early in the morning, little improvement in ceilings is likely over central Illinois the rest of the forecast period. In fact, ceilings could drop to LIFR, and some residual lift of the saturated ground level airmass could trigger periods of drizzle during the day tomorrow. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ UPDATE...Shimon SHORT TERM...Geelhart LONG TERM...Bak AVIATION...Shimon
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN
829 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 405 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Late this afternoon, the surface low was analyzed across central Kansas with an inverted surface trough extending north-northeast into southern Minnesota and we`ve seen a steady stream of light precipitation today lifting north through the area. It`s quite a complicated forecast as precipitation type remains a big issue, and hence confidence in amounts remains very low for being so close in time to the event. Didn`t make a lot of changes to the going forecast except to tighten up the PoP gradient across far western MN. Current thinking for the metro area is the 2-4" range with the higher end on the north side and the lower end to the south. Then rain/snow line this evening should be just south of the metro area. Highest snow totals for closer to 3-5" are expected up the I-35 corridor north of the Twin Cities. In terms of snowfall rates and timing, the heaviest snow looks to fall this evening from 8PM- Midnight. Model soundings from the HRRR, RAP, NAM, GFS all seem to differ on low level thermal profiles hovering around the critical freezing mark and just how cool the surface will be. A deep layer from 700mb down to the surface looks to hover near that freezing mark so very slight fluctuations will cause big difference in P-type and hence impacts. We are leaning to the slightly cooler side based on latest observations and some of the hi-res guidance like the HRRR has trended to more snow accumulation than it was indicating earlier today. So, we still think a couple inches of snow is likely in east central MN through west central WI by midday tomorrow. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Tuesday) Issued at 405 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Confidence increasing in some light snow rain/snow Thursday evening across central and southern Minnesota into west central Wisconsin. A much larger, more powerful storm will bring widespread rain along and east of the low track, with heavy snow northwest of the low track. It is possible that western MN could see the heavy snow with this system if the low tracks through central Minnesota. Meanwhile eastern MN and western WI should see rain. Early afternoon water vapor imagery with GFS 500mb heights showed an upper level wave approaching the Pacific Northwest, with another one upstream over the Allucian Islands. On Thursday this first wave will move west to east across the CONUS. Isentropic ascent ahead of this wave will lead to saturation, and forecast soundings show some light precipitation during the late afternoon and evening hours. Thermal profiles support snow for most locations, with a rain/snow mix on the southern side near I-90. Snowfall totals of around 1 to 2 inches seem reasonable, which wont be enough for winter headlines, but should be enough to make the roads slick for the Thursday evening travelers. The weekend looks dry and relatively mild with highs in the mid 40s to the south and mid 30s for the areas with snow. Late Sunday the aforementioned second upper level wave will emerge from the 4- corners region and lift northeast toward the Great Lakes. As of now, most of the forecast area is in the warm sector of this storm which means the majority of the precip will fall as rain. The one exception is western Minnesota where the band of heavy snow could set up. The super-positioning of the subtropical and polar jet means this storm has the potential to over achieve, so it should be taken seriously. However, the variability in the track indicates that it is too early to determine where the heaviest precipitation will fall and what type it will be. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Wednesday evening) Issued at 825 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 A wintry mix changing over to snow is still in the works this evening. IFR/LIFR is expected through the morning. The snow will exit eastern MN in the morning and linger in western WI until the afternoon. KMSP... We think the airport is very close to changing to snow. The western half of the metro has made the change and the slightly cooler air is crawling east. Once the switch over is made, it likely will remain snow through the morning commute. IFR conditions will continue through the morning. /OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ THU...MVFR cigs lingering. Chc -SN Thu night. VRB wind 5 kts. FRI...VFR. Wind NW 5 kts. SAT...VFR. Wind SSE 5 kts. && .MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...Winter Weather Advisory until 3 PM CST Wednesday for WIZ014>016- 023>028. MN...Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM CST Wednesday for MNZ042>045- 049>053-057>063-066>070-076>078. Winter Weather Advisory until midnight CST tonight for MNZ041- 047-048-054>056-064-065-073>075-082>085. && $$ SHORT TERM...SPD LONG TERM...JRB AVIATION...CLF
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
747 PM EST Tue Nov 22 2016 .UPDATE (Overnight through the upcoming weekend)... 00Z water vapor and H4 RAP analysis show an active but generally progressive upper level pattern over North America this evening. Looking from west to east we find a strong split northern stream jet arriving over the coasts of northern California/Oregon ahead of a sharp northern Pacific trough. This jet splits into two distinct branches...with one headed northward parallel to the coast of British Columbia while the southern split heads inland over the Great Basin region. Northern stream flow then digs a broad trough through the central part of the county before lifting back north through the Great Lakes/Southern Ontario. Finally...northern stream flow then dives back to the south off the New England coast around the periphery of a large cutoff upper low spinning over Nova Scotia. Further to the south...southern stream jet energy lifts northward from the western Gulf into the Tennessee Valley...over top a large area of mid/upper ridging in control of the eastern Gulf of Mexico/FL Peninsula. This upper ridge has been the dominate player in our weather the past 24 hours...and will remain in control of our weather through the daylight hours of Wednesday. At the surface...A broad area of continental high pressure extends southward from the Great Lakes through the Ohio Valley and then to the southern Conus/FL. Our position on the southern periphery of this ridge is providing a light synoptic flow from the northeast this evening. Over the next 24-36 hours...the slow movement eastward of the entire ridge axis will shift our winds more out of the east. This evening`s 00Z KTBW sounding profile still sampled an extremely dry atmospheric column over west-central Florida. The PW value was only 0.44". This value is up a bit from the 0.25" value Monday evening and the 0.31" reading Tuesday morning. However...0.44" is still below the 10th percentile of values for late November. Overall dewpoint depressions through the column are quite large and will keep our skies clear through the overnight hours. The sensible weather forecast for the next 48 hours is generally a quiet one. Stacked ridging hold control of the region through Wednesday afternoon...before shortwave energy passing to our north Wednesday night de-amplifies the ridge and transitions our flow to a more zonal pattern for Thanksgiving. These are all just details...as the subtle changes aloft will have little to no impact on our noticeable weather. The atmospheric column through the mid/upper levels will remain far to dry to support any chance of showers associated with the passing energy Wednesday night...and the shortwave will be off into the western Atlantic by Thursday morning. So...the public forecast will simply show dry conditions and moderating temperatures...both in terms of overnight lows and daytime highs...during the next couple days. Unlike today`s crystal clear skies...Wednesday is likely to see a few bands of high level cirrus overspread our skies ahead of the approaching shortwave. A bit of low level Atlantic moisture arriving with the easterly flow and trapped beneath the subsidence inversion around 850mb should also support a shallow few-sct cumulus field during Wednesday afternoon. Therefore...the change in forecast from Tuesday to Wednesday will be slightly warmer and partly sunny as opposed to sunny. Thanksgiving will see temperatures up another degree or two. Many area are likely to see high temps approach 80 degrees north of the I-4 corridor...and into the lower 80s further south. A weak onshore component to the winds developing during the afternoon will keep temps in the 70s along the immediate coast. Dry and seasonably warm conditions make an appearance in the forecast once again for Friday. Looking ahead to the weekend...expecting another push of cooler and drier air to arrive later Saturday or Saturday night...but nothing that is going to ruin any outdoor plans for the second half of your holiday weekend. Enjoy the continued stretch of dry and warming weather. The National Weather Service in Ruskin would like to wish everyone a fun and safe Thanksgiving holiday weekend! Gobble Gobble... && .Aviation (23/00Z through 24/00Z)... VFR conditions prevail for all terminals through the remaining evening hours with light NE/E flow. Some patchy and shallow MVFR ground fog is possible between 09-13Z for KLAL and perhaps KPGD...but no significant or lengthy restrictions expected. VFR conditions prevail for the duration of the daylight hours Wednesday across west-central and southwest Florida under a few- sct cirrus shield and a few-sct shallow cumulus fields (bases between 4-5KFT) during the afternoon. && .Marine... High pressure currently centered to the north of the coastal waters will slowly weaken and settle southward over the next several days...keeping winds and seas generally low. A brief period of winds near 15 knots is possible away from the coast tonight...but will quickly diminish Wednesday morning. A weak sea breeze component turning winds onshore is possible along the immediate coast each afternoon through Friday. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... TPA 56 77 63 81 / 0 10 0 0 FMY 55 80 63 83 / 0 10 0 10 GIF 55 77 61 82 / 10 10 10 10 SRQ 56 77 61 82 / 0 0 0 0 BKV 48 77 54 81 / 0 10 10 0 SPG 60 75 64 80 / 0 0 0 0 && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...Beach Hazards Statement through Wednesday evening for Coastal Sarasota. Gulf waters...None. && $$ UPDATE/AVIATION/MARINE...14/Mroczka
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Billings MT
304 AM MST Wed Nov 23 2016 .SHORT TERM...valid for Tdy and Thu... Patchy dense fog and stratus moved into Fallon County last evening, occasionally reducing visibility to a quarter of a mile in KBHK. Visibility has not been consistently very low so have held off on a Dense Fog Advisory. Will continue to monitor for this possibility as HRRR has been showing dense fog through 16Z today. Will otherwise issue an SPS as needed. Water-vapor imagery showed a baroclinic leaf developing in an area of upper difluence ahead of an elongated Pacific trough moving onto the coast. The trough will approach the region today bringing increasing q-vector convergence to the central and western zones. Moisture will increase over the W this afternoon, bringing a chance of rain and snow showers to the area, especially over the mountains. Raised wind speeds in the gap areas today as winds in KLVM were gusting above 30 mph and the Stillwater Mine had gusts to around 50 mph. The gap effect will cease when daytime mixing kicks in later this morning. High temperatures were on track to be in the 40s. Northern branch of the splitting trough will move over the area tonight with strong q-vector convergence moving quickly through the area through Thu. morning. Jet divergence from the left-front quadrant of a jet passing S of the area will also bring lift to the region. A weak pacific cold front will cross the area as well. Time-heights showed that the strongest vertical motion will be over the mountains and foothills, with decent dendritic growth in these areas. Otherwise, the lift looked weak and short-lived. The system continued to show steep lapse rates. Went with WPC QPF amounts and blended snow ratios. The snow will taper off over the E on Thu. morning. Expect close to an inch W and S of KBIL with 1-2 inches over the foothills. Westerly winds will not favor upslope for the foothills. Had 3-5 inches over the mountains. Given the expected low snow amounts, will pull the mention of the system from the HWO, but continue with a Weather Story. Impacts will be slick roads in places and short reductions in visibility. Upper ridging will build over the area behind the trough on Thursday. Lee troughing will support 50 mph wind gusts in the gap-flow areas. The lee trough will strengthen during Thu. night, bringing possible 60 mph gusts later in the night. Will continue the HWO/graphic for the winds. Arthur .LONG TERM...valid for Fri...Sat...Sun...Mon...Tue... Broad ridging builds into the area for Friday and Saturday for warmer and dry conditions. Western foothills areas look to be windy with gap wind areas around Livingston and Nye seeing occasional strong gusts over 50 mph. Pattern begins to change with a cold front Saturday night into Sunday bringing below normal temperatures and a chance for snow showers into the middle of next week. Models still having a difficult time pinning down specifics with this pattern change over our area. They do seem to be agreeing on a strong storm to impact the Upper Great Plains into the Great Lakes Tuesday into Thursday. Will have to see if this system shifts track west at all which could impact eastern zones. Arctic air that was forecast a few days ago for the later extended continues to moderate with time, and latest runs while below average don`t look too bad with highs in the lower 30s and lows in the teens to lower 20s. Chambers && .AVIATION... IFR or lower flight conditions will persist late morning along and north of a Miles City to Alzada line as area of stratus and fog has built in. KMLS taf site is right on the edge of this stratus deck and will likely be in and out of it several times through late morning. KBHK will see periods of visibility around 1/4sm. The rest of the area will be VFR today. A quick moving system will bring increasing shower activity to western areas by late afternoon and early evening, tracking east through the area tonight. MVFR to local IFR conditions can be expected as this system moves through along with increasing mountain obscuration. Chambers && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS... Tdy Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue ------------------------------------------------------- BIL 046 030/044 028/046 030/048 030/039 026/035 024/034 1/B 80/U 00/B 00/B 01/B 21/B 33/J LVM 047 026/041 028/047 029/047 025/039 023/035 021/033 3/W 90/N 10/N 01/N 02/J 22/J 53/J HDN 047 028/045 023/048 024/049 025/040 023/036 021/036 1/B 70/U 00/B 00/B 01/B 21/B 33/J MLS 047 028/048 025/050 025/051 026/042 024/039 022/038 0/B 41/B 00/B 00/U 01/B 21/B 33/J 4BQ 048 028/045 023/050 024/052 026/041 022/036 020/035 0/B 73/J 00/U 00/U 01/B 21/B 33/J BHK 042 024/044 021/050 021/052 023/040 019/034 017/035 0/F 33/J 00/U 00/U 01/B 21/E 43/J SHR 042 023/040 018/047 023/048 021/037 018/031 014/028 0/B 71/N 00/U 00/B 01/B 21/B 43/J && .BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MT...None. WY...None. && $$ weather.gov/billings
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service North Platte NE
323 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) Issued at 304 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 Today and Tonight...a dirty arctic ridge producing stratus across the Dakotas and ern MT is forecast to sag into ncntl Neb this morning and then move east this afternoon and tonight as low pressure deepens across the cntl high plains. The risk to the forecast is temperatures along and east of a line from KVTN-KBBW will remain in the 30s behind the arctic front today while areas south and west rise into the 40s to near 50. The forecast leans on the cooler RAP and HRRR models plus bias correction. This holds highs in the 30s around KONL but rise to lower 40s at KVTN and mid 40s at KBBW. A blend of bias corrected guidance produces lows in the upper 20s to 30 with south winds and mixing. Low pressure will deepen west of Rapid City and then drop into nwrn Neb by morning. The model consensus suggests a return of stratus along or east of highway 83 as the arctic air and moisture is pulled back west. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Tuesday) Issued at 304 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 For Thanksgiving...most locations will see dry conditions. The exception will be across the Nebraska/South Dakota border where a quick moving short wave will track eastward. Precipitation will start off as snow across the northwest before quickly transitioning over to all rain. The snow across mainly Sheridan county early Thursday will be light with little to no accumulations expected. While there`s still some uncertainty in the track and intensity of this system, most models are indicating a warmer boundary layer throughout Thursday keeping precipitation in an all liquid form as the system moves eastward throughout the day. Have increased winds behind the system on Thursday afternoon from the previous forecast. Gusts could increase to near 40 mph for locations west of highway 83. Winds diminish after 6pm. The system moves into Iowa by Thursday night as high pressure builds back into western Nebraska. Upper level ridging and surface high pressure remain over the region through the first half of the weekend. The next weather system arrives on Sunday night bringing the potential of some wintry precipitation to central Nebraska. Due to uncertainty in the track of this system, details about precipitation type is hard to determine at this time. For now, precipitation will likely start off as rain on Sunday afternoon, before switching over to snow after sunset and temperatures begin to drop. Snow will continue across the eastern half of the forecast area through Sunday night. These locations (areas east of highway 83) will see the highest snow accumulations. For now, will keep snow totals on the modest side, only accumulating near an inch. The low pressure system moves north and east of the area by Monday night allowing another weak high pressure system to build northward into the central Plains for the middle of next week. Temperature wise... after highs on Thursday in the low to upper 40s, we will have a brief warm up for the weekend. Highs rise into the 50s for Friday and Saturday, before cooling down again Sunday. High temperatures remain below 40 degrees through middle of next week. Low temperatures remain fairly steady in the low to mid 20s through the beginning of next week. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Wednesday night) Issued at 1130 PM CST Tue Nov 22 2016 Will see general improvement to ceilings across western NEB rest of tonight as sky cover erodes from the NEB Panhandle eastward. Latest satellite imagery shows clearing working into the eastern NEB Pandhandle and far western NEB Sandhills. Elsewhere, there are areas of sub-VFR ceilings in portions of north central NEB. Uncertainty remains in whether or not low stratus will build through north central NEB and impact the KVTN terminal. Current thinking is that low stratus will build gradually westward as clearing moves into central and eastern NEB Sandhills. Will need to monitor this overnight. Furthermore, don`t think stratus will impact KLBF as it builds west at this time. Ceilings across north central NEB should then improve mid morning to early afternoon tomorrow. Otherwise, winds will remain elevated between 6-12 kts rest of tonight. Tomorrow, lighter winds can be expected and winds will shift from northwesterly in the morning to southerly by the afternoon. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...CDC LONG TERM...Kulik AVIATION...ET
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service State College PA
1046 AM EST Wed Nov 23 2016 .SYNOPSIS... A ridge of high pressure will slide east across Pennsylvania today. Weakening low pressure will track just north of Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving. Another cold front will cross the commonwealth Friday night and Saturday, delivering another brief punch of cold air, a gusty northwest wind and scattered Lake Effect snow showers. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 PM THIS EVENING/... Skies are clear to scattered as of mid morning, and temperatures are rising quickly with a light wind. A nearly north-south 1028mb sfc high pressure ridge will slide gradually east today bringing abundant sunshine followed by increasing/thickening afternoon and evening clouds. High pressure and increasing cloud cover will likely result in limiting mixing/warming keeping highs generally in the 40s. && .SHORT TERM /6 PM THIS EVENING THROUGH 6 PM THURSDAY/... An advisory for a light wintry mix has been issued for the overnight hours through sunrise Thursday. Timing of the areas of light precipitation ahead of the next system still looks on track to develop this evening (west) into the late night/morning hours of Thanksgiving elsewhere. The onset of some light rain/wet snow looks to be 01-02Z across the NW mtns from KFIG and KDUJ north, and 02-04Z from KUNV to KIPT. The exact precipitation type continues to be a concern over the northern 1/3 or so of the forecast area as the precip moves into marginally cold air in place over that region. Latest 03Z SREF and 09Z HRRR guidance and other blended model guidance suggests a low probability for either light snow...ice pellets or some light freezing rain for a few to svrl hour period tonight and early Thanksgiving Day. Considering the increasing travel volume for the holidays, any kind of wintry mix could cause big headaches early in the day. Coordinated with KBGM and KBUF to hold off the issuance of a Winter Weather Advisory for the north, and await better guidance revealing whether it will be a nuisance snow/sleet event, or a higher impact widespread light freezing rain event. Overall QPF (in the form of mainly areas of light rain Thursday) appears to be quite light with most locations probably seeing a tenth of an inch or less. The GFS/ECMWF both weaken the cold/occluded front as it enters the state Thanksgiving Day in favor of a new, albeit weak secondary low along or just off the Delmarva coast. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... The weak sfc low should scoot harmlessly off to the east as the amplifying upper trough slides into the region for later Friday and Saturday. Enough cold air could move in to change the rain showers to snow showers by Saturday morning. Unsettled conditions with a gusty NW wind Saturday will transition to drier brighter weather for the second half of the weekend. There is consensus among the medium range models that a pretty hefty front will be approaching by Tuesday, which if it could bring widespread rainfall would be very beneficial given how dry we have been this fall. && .AVIATION /16Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Widespread VFR will continue into the evening before unsettled weather returns starting tonight and persists into Sat. A period of light snow or freezing rain (with potential for icing) will occur tonight into early Thursday generally along and north of I-80. Conditions will deteriorate a bit with areas of MVFR likely over the north as the precipitation moves through. Thanksgiving day will bring occasional very light rain, and create restrictions for the northern half of CWA which will persist through Friday. Outlook... Fri...Restrictions likely northwest and central mtns with scattered rain showers. Sat...Restrictions possible N/W half in likely snow showers. Sun...Restrictions possible N/W in scattered snow showers. && .CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory from 1 AM to 9 AM EST Thursday for PAZ005-006-010>012-037-041-042. && $$ SYNOPSIS...La Corte/Lambert NEAR TERM...La Corte/Lambert SHORT TERM...Lambert LONG TERM...La Corte/Lambert AVIATION...La Corte/RXR
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Lincoln IL
532 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) ISSUED AT 317 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 08z/2am surface map shows a 1008mb low over northwest Missouri, with a warm front arcing southeastward into far southern Illinois. Ahead of this system, light to moderate rain has been occurring across the KILX CWA since last evening. Latest radar imagery shows the steadiest rain now focused along/east of I-57...with patchy drizzle or very light showers further west across the remainder of the area. As the low tracks slowly northeastward to near Rockford by late afternoon, the most persistent showers will continue to occur across the E/SE CWA where categorical PoPs are warranted. Elsewhere, will only feature chance PoPs for scattered light showers. Southeast winds will initially gust to between 15 and 20mph early this morning, but will diminish toward midday as the pressure gradient relaxes upon approach of the low. Given decreasing winds and ample boundary layer moisture from the recent rain, areas of fog will likely develop by late morning then persist into the evening hours. Once the low tracks into the Great Lakes, westerly winds behind a passing cold front will put an end to the scattered showers and help scour out the fog from west to east this evening. High temperatures today will reach the upper 40s and lower 50s, while lows tonight drop into the middle to upper 30s. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Tuesday) ISSUED AT 317 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 High pressure will build into the region behind the departing front for Thanksgiving Day: however, forecast soundings are showing a good deal of low-level moisture trapped beneath the strengthening subsidence inversion. The NAM is quite pessimistic, showing overcast conditions persisting through the entire day into the evening. Meanwhile, the GFS is a bit faster with some partial clearing during the afternoon. Based on the amount of boundary layer moisture in the wake of the current system and the time of the year, prefer a more pessimistic solution for clearing. As a result, will go with a dry, but mostly cloudy forecast for Thanksgiving with highs in the middle to upper 40s. A fast-moving short-wave currently coming onshore across northern California will track across the country and skirt central Illinois to the north Thursday night into Friday. Any precip with this feature will remain across Wisconsin/far northern Illinois, so will continue with a dry forecast through Friday and Saturday. The next significant system progged to impact the Midwest is still slated for late in the weekend, with the 00z Nov 23 models predictably slowing its arrival. GFS spreads light rain across much of central Illinois by Sunday afternoon, while the ECMWF holds off the precip until Sunday night. Will carry chance PoPs for a few light showers along/west of I-55 Sunday afternoon, but these will likely be dropped by later shifts once GFS catches on to the slowing trend. Once the system arrives Sunday night into Monday, minor differences in the location of the 500mb low lead to major differences in QPF fields. While both models show a closed low lifting into the Upper Midwest and deep-layer southwesterly flow developing from the Southern Plains into the Ohio River Valley, the ECMWF is slightly further east. As a result, its swath of heaviest rain is mainly focused from the Ozarks northeastward into southern Indiana...while the GFS spreads its rainfall max into central Illinois. Its still too early to determine which model (if either) is correct, but have trended toward the ECMWF due to its correct timing issues initially. As a result, will carry rain chances across the board Sunday night through Monday night, but will focus likely to categorical PoPs along/east of I-57. A secondary surface wave moving along the slow-moving boundary may keep rain chances alive into Tuesday...mainly across the E/SE CWA. After that, cooler and drier weather will return for the middle of next week. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Thursday morning) Issued at 525 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 Low pressure over north central Missouri this morning is forecast to track into north central Illinois this afternoon bringing areas of rain and drizzle along with deteriorating cigs/vsbys. Southeast winds continue to gust in a few locations this morning with the latest ILX 12z sounding showing a veering wind profile just off the surface with wind gusts to 35-40 kts in the 1500-2000 foot level. Latest short term forecast suggest a decrease in winds just off the surface as the low pressure area approaches from the west today so will hold off any mention of LLWS for a few hours this morning. The next problem will be this afternoon as the surface wave approaches. The surface winds will really drop off to light south to southwest winds with the last several runs of the HRRR model suggesting vsbys will low to IFR or even lower in the 21z-01z time frame. Will handle that possibility with a tempo group for later today. Once the front shifts across the area this evening, look for southeast to south winds to become westerly at around 10 kts and that should help scour out any low vsbys and cigs, at least into low MVFR category later this evening and during the overnight hours. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ SHORT TERM...Barnes LONG TERM...Barnes AVIATION...Smith
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service North Platte NE
523 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) Issued at 304 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 Today and Tonight...a dirty arctic ridge producing stratus across the Dakotas and ern MT is forecast to sag into ncntl Neb this morning and then move east this afternoon and tonight as low pressure deepens across the cntl high plains. The risk to the forecast is temperatures along and east of a line from KVTN-KBBW will remain in the 30s behind the arctic front today while areas south and west rise into the 40s to near 50. The forecast leans on the cooler RAP and HRRR models plus bias correction. This holds highs in the 30s around KONL but rise to lower 40s at KVTN and mid 40s at KBBW. A blend of bias corrected guidance produces lows in the upper 20s to 30 with south winds and mixing. Low pressure will deepen west of Rapid City and then drop into nwrn Neb by morning. The model consensus suggests a return of stratus along or east of highway 83 as the arctic air and moisture is pulled back west. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Tuesday) Issued at 304 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 For Thanksgiving...most locations will see dry conditions. The exception will be across the Nebraska/South Dakota border where a quick moving short wave will track eastward. Precipitation will start off as snow across the northwest before quickly transitioning over to all rain. The snow across mainly Sheridan county early Thursday will be light with little to no accumulations expected. While there`s still some uncertainty in the track and intensity of this system, most models are indicating a warmer boundary layer throughout Thursday keeping precipitation in an all liquid form as the system moves eastward throughout the day. Have increased winds behind the system on Thursday afternoon from the previous forecast. Gusts could increase to near 40 mph for locations west of highway 83. Winds diminish after 6pm. The system moves into Iowa by Thursday night as high pressure builds back into western Nebraska. Upper level ridging and surface high pressure remain over the region through the first half of the weekend. The next weather system arrives on Sunday night bringing the potential of some wintry precipitation to central Nebraska. Due to uncertainty in the track of this system, details about precipitation type is hard to determine at this time. For now, precipitation will likely start off as rain on Sunday afternoon, before switching over to snow after sunset and temperatures begin to drop. Snow will continue across the eastern half of the forecast area through Sunday night. These locations (areas east of highway 83) will see the highest snow accumulations. For now, will keep snow totals on the modest side, only accumulating near an inch. The low pressure system moves north and east of the area by Monday night allowing another weak high pressure system to build northward into the central Plains for the middle of next week. Temperature wise... after highs on Thursday in the low to upper 40s, we will have a brief warm up for the weekend. Highs rise into the 50s for Friday and Saturday, before cooling down again Sunday. High temperatures remain below 40 degrees through middle of next week. Low temperatures remain fairly steady in the low to mid 20s through the beginning of next week. && .AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Thursday morning) Issued at 523 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 IFR/LOCAL LIFR is underway along an arctic front draped across ncntl Neb this morning. The LIFR appears to be developing on the western edge of the front and associated cloud cover. The front is expected to retreat east this afternoon and be drawn back westward tonight as a result of sfc low pressure forming across the cntl high plains. The SREF and other models suggest IFR/LIFR in low CIGS and fog east of highway 83 tonight. This suggests VFR will prevail at KLBF and KVTN. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...CDC LONG TERM...Kulik AVIATION...CDC
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service Mobile AL
941 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 .DISCUSSION...See updated information for land areas below. && .UPDATE...Upper air map analysis this morning shows a sharp trof axis aligned from Iowa to the Texas/Louisiana border pivoting eastward at around 25 knots. Within the trof axis, a surface front was also positioned in the same areas mentioned above. A north to south zone of precipitable water values (above the mean) extends from the Upper Mid-West to the western Gulf. Within this zone, precipitable water values from 1.1 to 1.4 inches, moving into the Lower Mississippi River Valley, lies between 130 to 160% of normal. Satellite trends indicate that clouds will be on the increase and thicken through the course of the day and into tonight as the frontal zone approaches from the west. Although there is moisture available, a rapid movement of the better dynamics and a net reduction in frontal ascent suggests that coverage of showers will be isolated in the near term. This is advertised in latest gridded forecasts and is very close to the latest high resolution HRRR and 4KM NAM output. Precipitation amounts look light, mostly less than 5 hundredths of an inch. /10 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 538 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016/ DISCUSSION...Updated for latest aviation discussion below. AVIATION... 12Z issuance...VFR conditions through the next 24 hours. Scattered to broken high clouds with some lower cloud decks and isolated showers possible for primarily northern portions of the forecast area this afternoon into early Thursday. Light southeast winds this morning increasing and shifting to southerly this afternoon before decreasing again later tonight. /49 PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 420 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016/ NEAR TERM /Now Through Wednesday night/...A weak return of moisture to the area will accompany a shift from easterly to southerly flow this afternoon as high pressure over the southeastern U.S. begins to push east ahead of an advancing low pressure system currently located over the Great Plains. As the upper level trough advances east of the Mississippi River...dampening some along the way...the associated surface low lifts northeast into the Ohio Valley. The attendant frontal boundary...currently extending from roughly Kansas City south towards San Antonio...will push into the lower Mississippi River Valley by Wednesday afternoon. Models appear to be trending a little slower with the movement of this front before stalls and washes out over the area late Wednesday. Southerly return flow is expected to persist in the low levels between the high pressure to the east and weakening front to the west through Wednesday and overnight into early Thursday morning. Given the dampening upper level trough and northeast track of the surface low, currently expecting the best dynamics and therefore coverage of shower activity to remain to the west and north of the area. However...with low-level moisture increasing through Wednesday and weak cooling occurring aloft as the upper level low passes over, models still trending towards some isolated to scattered showers for the far northern and northwestern portions of the forecast area ahead of the trough this afternoon. A slight chance for a few showers will then persist across the forecast area overnight into Thursday as return flow continues to moisten the low levels and a second weak upper level trough and cold front approach the area from the northwest. High temperatures this afternoon are expected to range from mid to upper 70`s across the forecast area. Overnight lows tonight into early Thursday morning will range from low to mid 50`s well inland to around 60 near the coast. /49 SHORT TERM /Thursday Through Friday night/...A broad upper ridge will move over the eastern conus on Thursday while an upper shortwave passes over the northern and central plains. The upper ridge will shift east over the western Atlantic on Friday, with the shortwave following in its wake over the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley regions. The base of the upper shortwave is also expected dig further south over the southeast conus Friday night. A weak surface frontal boundary will be stalled across the forecast area on Thursday, followed by a reinforcing northerly wind on Friday as a 1030mb surface high pressure area builds from north Texas to the Ohio River valley. Lingering isolated rain showers will persist across the forecast area near the stalled boundary on Thursday, followed by dry conditions Thursday night due to loss of surface heating. A few pop- up showers will then re-emerge Friday morning southeast of I-65 ahead of the push of northerly winds, with dry conditions expected in the afternoon as drier air filters into the area. High temperatures Thursday will be about 6 to 10 degrees above normal, ranging from 73 to 80 degrees. Low temperatures Thursday night will range from 46 to 52 degrees inland areas, mid to upper 50s along the coastal sections, and near 60 degrees at the beaches. Highs on Friday will be a couple of degrees cooler compared to Thursday. /22 LONG TERM /Saturday Through Tuesday/...The dry weather pattern will persist over the weekend as high pressure both aloft and at the surface dominates the southeast. The overall weather pattern then gets interesting as a strong upper shortwave over the northern plains and southern Rockies moves east to the Mississippi River through Tuesday night. This upper system will be accompanied by a 120 to 150 knot upper level jet ahead of the trough from east Texas to the Great Lakes on Tuesday, putting our region in the favorable right entrance region for strong forcing. Both the ECMWF and GFS models have a powerful surface low across southeast South Dakota Monday morning with the central pressure nearing 980mb. This surface low is expected to lift northeast across the upper midwest through Tuesday, with a possible secondary surface low forming over the southern plains. A 60 knot 850mb jet is expected across the forecast area on Tuesday, and with temperatures climbing in the mid to upper 70s, expected MLCAPES to possibly range from 600 to 900 J/KG. Strong low level wind shear will be in place on Tuesday, with 0-1km SRH values possibly ranging from 300-400 m2/s2. Deep moisture will also be on the increase early next week ahead of the system, with precipitable water values approaching 2 inches. This should result in a severe weather threat for our area on Tuesday. We will continue to monitor this system and provide updates through early next week. Isolated to scattered showers and a few storms will precede the system on Monday and Monday night, with scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms set for Tuesday. /22 MARINE...High pressure at the surface will shift from the southeastern U.S. eastward over the western Atlantic through Wednesday night as a weakening front approaches the lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf Coast region. Light to moderate east to southeast flow overnight becomes more southerly to southwesterly this afternoon into Thursday. A weak cold front pushes through late Thursday with winds shifting to westerly then northerly behind the front and increasing in strength Friday night into Saturday morning. High pressure builds back into the SE US over the weekend, establishing lighter easterly flow Sunday before shifting once again to southerly and increasing in strength ahead of another, stronger looking front approaching the region early next week. /49 && .MOB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...None. FL...None. MS...None. GM...None. && $$ This product is also available on the web at: http://weather.gov/mob
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
National Weather Service Des Moines IA
316 PM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 .SHORT TERM.../Tonight through Thursday/ Issued at 315 PM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 Satellite imagery and trends indicate that the large stratus shield covering the region is not breaking up at all this afternoon, and its back edge is only eroding very slowly over Nebraska. With impending sunset it is likely that the erosion will stall and the clouds will persist and thicken overnight. This is climatologically favored and also depicted by several of the high-resolution models such as the HRRR and RAP. Have increased cloud cover and bumped up low temperatures a bit overnight as a result. There is some question as to whether fog will develop late tonight, especially in the northeast where dewpoint depressions and ceilings will be lower, but given the light but organized winds and relative lack of radiational cooling, have held off on a mention for now. On Thanksgiving Day a surface ridge will cross Iowa bringing calm or variable winds and likely helping the clouds to persist for the most part. Late in the day the next storm system will approach from the west and spread light precipitation into our far west/northwest counties late in the afternoon. Forecast temperatures and soundings indicate light rain initially, changing over to light snow in the northwest by around sunset. Any impacts from this system will likely come on Thanksgiving night as discussed in the long term section below. .LONG TERM.../Thursday night through Wednesday/ Issued at 315 PM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 Will see relatively strong QG forcing across central and northern Iowa on Thursday night as shortwave crosses the state. Isentropic lift is also decent across northern Iowa where pressure deficits fall quickly during the evening. Anticipate precipitation to spread across the northern third/half of Iowa during the evening as max forcing crosses the state. May initially be a cold rain in many locations but should quickly transition to snow as sounding falls to freezing or below in the low levels. The precipitation will linger across the northeast for a few hours after midnight but precipitation should end rapidly in most areas during the early morning hours on Friday. Accumulating snowfall is expected along and north of Highway 20 with an inch or two north of state Highway 3. There is not much in the way of cold air on the backside of this small system and in fact, warm advection will quickly resume by Friday afternoon. This will persist into Saturday as upper ridging builds across the central United States. Next system approaches on Sunday with strong moisture advection into the state by Sunday afternoon. Showers are expected to push into Iowa by Sunday afternoon and persist into midday Monday as a strong system winds up across the northern Midwest. Conditions will be quite windy during this time with surface low central pressure dropping to around 980mb in western Minnesota. After the system passes, strong cold advection is expected by later Monday into the middle of next week with colder temperatures but not much in the way of precipitation as the airmass will be dry. && .AVIATION.../For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday afternoon/ Issued at 1140 AM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 Satellite imagery depicts a large field of low stratus clouds covering the entire region. Most prognostic models attempt to clear these clouds to the east tonight, but this appears unlikely. Ceiling heights should rise to MVFR across much of the area this afternoon, possibly even with a few transient holes, but then lower back to IFR for the most part overnight and into Thursday morning. No precipitation is expected, but there may be some light fog toward sunrise. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && $$ SHORT TERM...Lee LONG TERM...Cogil AVIATION...Lee
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Indianapolis IN
317 PM EST Wed Nov 23 2016 .UPDATE... The AVIATION Section has been updated below. && .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 157 PM EST Wed Nov 23 2016 A cold front is going to push past Indiana from the west overnight and Thanksgiving Day. High pressure behind it will take charge of our weather into the weekend. A warm front is forecast to pass Sunday, and another cold front should cross Tuesday. && .NEAR TERM (Tonight)... Issued at 157 PM EST Wed Nov 23 2016 The main issue is how fast rain will end. Everything agrees about precipitation decreasing from west to east as drier air moves in aloft. A combination of the HRRR and CONSShort models seems to capture well what is being observed. Timing could be off by several hours. The rain is likely to end slowly. It`s hard to say when it will switch from very light to nothing at all. The models concur on ample low level moisture for clouds and possibly fog. Different forms of temperature forecasting give similar results. This suggests the consensus forecast that will be used should be accurate within 2 degrees or so. && .SHORT TERM (Thursday through Saturday)... Issued at 157 PM EST Wed Nov 23 2016 The main issue is whether POPs are needed Friday. All the models have a disturbance passing then. The NAM has it strong enough to give a chance for showers. Other models don`t. Given consensus POPs stay below 15 percent, the forecast will be dry, but it is possible a slight chance will be added later for Friday. The period is going to begin with abundant boundary layer moisture from today`s rain. Between that and the disturbance Friday, we`ll likely see a lot of clouds into Friday night. There may be fog Thursday morning. Starting Friday night clouds should decrease as anticyclonic flow develops and drier air arrives. The underlying thermal fields are fairly close, supporting consensus for the temperature forecast. && .LONG TERM (Saturday night through Wednesday)... Issued at 157 PM EST Wed Nov 23 2016 The main models are in good agreement. The Central Region initialization can be used with high confidence. This means it is very probable there will be dry weather Sunday and rain Monday night and Tuesday. It is too early to be sure just when rain will start and stop between those times. Given the background model agreement, expect the temperature forecast to capture trends well. Individual forecasts may be off by 1-3 degrees depending on the details of what happens. && .AVIATION (Discussion for the 232100Z TAF update)... Issued at 318 PM EST Wed Nov 23 2016 Tuning was needed for the latest observations, but overall the earlier forecast is on track. Previous discussion follows. A combination of drier air moving in aloft and moisture persisting near the ground will cause widespread LIFR and local VLIFR ceilings to develop from this afternoon into this evening. Rain should end as ceilings drop. Ceilings will recover to IFR Thursday morning as surface dry air slowly moves in. Visibilities should not decrease to the same extent ceilings do. They may still be IFR in fog at some places overnight. Winds are forecast to gradually veer from southeast to northwest. Speeds should be mainly less than 10 knots. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ SYNOPSIS...JK NEAR TERM...JK SHORT TERM...JK LONG TERM....JK AVIATION...JK
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Mobile AL
413 PM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 .NEAR TERM /Now Through Thursday/...Upper air map analysis shows a sharp trof axis moving eastward around 25 knots across the Mississippi River Valley. Within the trof axis, a surface front was also positioned in the same areas mentioned above. A north to south zone of precipitable water values (above the mean) extends from the Upper Mid-West to the western Gulf. Within this zone, precipitable water values from 1.1 to 1.4 inches, moving into the Lower Mississippi River Valley, lies between 130 to 160% of normal. Satellite trends indicate that clouds will be on the increase and thicken in the near term as the frontal zone approaches from the west. Although there is moisture available, a rapid movement of the better dynamics across the local area and the high level energy dampening a bit, frontal ascent weakens through Thursday suggesting showers will be lowering to isolated coverages at best in the near term. This is already being observed in radar with returns moving eastward across southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana. These trends also noted in high resolution HRRR and 4KM NAM output. Precipitation amounts look light, mostly less than 5 hundredths of an inch. There is also a signal in the high resolution NAM12 and the SREF of showing increased probabilities of developing late night fog. Visibility could be reduced to less than a mile at times. Overnight lows in the mid 50s interior to lower 60s coast. Daytime highs on Thanksgiving Day mostly in the mid ranges of the 70s. /10 .SHORT TERM /Thursday night Through Saturday night/...An upper level ridge of high pressure will gradually shift eastward over the southeastern U.S. and western Atlantic Ocean Thursday night into Friday as a weak shortwave trough translates toward the Ohio and Tennessee River Valley region. An associated weak cold front will push southeastward into our forecast area during the day Friday. Moisture and lift ahead of this boundary will be very limited, but there may be just enough available to aid in the development of a few isolated light rain showers early Friday morning. Lows Thursday night should range from the upper 40s to mid 50s over most interior areas, with upper 50s to lower 60s expected near the immediate coast. Highs Friday should warm into the 70s area wide. Surface high pressure will build from the Southern Plains to the Mississippi and Tennessee Valley region Friday night into Saturday, then across the southeastern states Saturday night. No precipitation is expected during this time frame as a deeply dry airmass settles into the region. Clearing skies and cooler temperatures are expected Friday night through Saturday night. Lows Friday night should range from the lower to mid 40s inland to the lower to mid 50s coast. Highs Saturday should range from the mid 60s to around 70. Lows Saturday night trend a little cooler in the mid 30s to around 40 over the interior to the mid 40s to around 50 near the immediate coast and beaches. /21 .LONG TERM /Sunday Through Wednesday/...The operational 12Z runs of the GFS and ECMWF have come into fairly decent agreement in their solutions with the evolution of the upper air pattern late this weekend into early next week. Dry weather is expected to continue across the forecast area Sunday as shortwave ridging aloft builds from the western Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. Upper ridging is then forecast to shift eastward over the southeastern U.S. and into the western Atlantic Ocean early next week as a broad longwave trough deepens over much of the central CONUS Monday and Tuesday. Surface high pressure will also subsequently shift from the eastern U.S. into the western Atlantic early next week as surface low pressure deepens and lifts northeastward across the northern Plains and Great Lakes region. A surface cold front should subsequently advance eastward toward the Mississippi Valley and Gulf Coast states Monday into Tuesday. The GFS and ECMWF both show an organized area of convection advancing eastward toward our forecast area along and ahead of the cold front sometime during the Tuesday-Tuesday night time frame as a fairly potent shortwave trough advances eastward toward the Mississippi and Tennessee Valley region. A low CAPE/high shear environment will likely be in place over our area ahead of these approaching features, with MLCAPE values between 250-500 J/KG per the latest GFS, a developing 45-60 kt low level jet, and increasing 0-1km helicity values between 200-400 m2/s2. It therefore looks like we will have to monitor for severe weather potential as convection rolls into the area Tuesday. Otherwise, this system is looking like it will bring the best chance of rain to our area in a good long while. We have POPs trending upward to 20-30% with potential for isolated to scattered warm advection showers Monday-Monday night, with 50-60% POPs on tap for Tuesday. Rain chances currently appear to decrease Tuesday night into Wednesday as the cold front moves east of the region. /21 && .MARINE...A weakening front approaches the lower Mississippi River Valley tonight and begins to slow across the central Gulf Coast region on Thursday. The front makes passage by Friday morning. A light onshore flow is forecast thru Thursday with winds shifting to westerly then northerly behind the front Friday. High pressure builds back into the Southeast US over the weekend, establishing a light return flow off the Gulf by later in the day Sunday. A more potent storm system moving across the plains on Monday, combined with high pressure over the southeast results in a strengthening onshore flow and building seas early next week. /10 && .CLIMATOLOGY...A lengthy period of abnormally dry conditions has resulted in worsening drought conditions over the central Gulf coast. Since September 27th, Mobile Regional Airport went through a bone-dry spell of 42 consecutive days with no measurable rain and 41 days at Pensacola before it finally rained again on November 8th. As it stands to this date since September 27th, 56 days at Evergreen straight, without measurable rain. Current annual rainfall deficits stand at between 6 and 9 inches below normal. Drought has worsened with severe to extreme drought conditions being experienced over the local area. A more potent storm system impacting the area early next week brings the most promising rain potential seen in quite some time, but this system looks to be progressing eastward rapidly enough as to do very little in placing a significant dent in the drought. Stay tuned. /10 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Mobile 59 77 53 76 / 20 10 10 10 Pensacola 61 77 59 77 / 10 10 10 20 Destin 63 76 62 76 / 10 10 10 20 Evergreen 55 78 53 76 / 20 20 10 20 Waynesboro 53 74 47 73 / 20 10 10 10 Camden 55 76 48 74 / 20 10 10 10 Crestview 55 80 53 78 / 10 10 10 20 && .MOB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...None. FL...None. MS...None. GM...None. && $$ This product is also available on the web at: http://weather.gov/mob
quandary in this forecast discussion centers around if there will
be any or enough breaks in cloud coverage to possibly enhance
diurnal atm instability enough to support not only strong, but possibly a few severe tstms here and there too. This system should push thru the mid state region on Wed with some lingering shwrs behind it. Temperatures should generally remain above seasonal normal values thru Fri afternoon. A dry frontal passage on Fri afternoon will eventually allow cooler air to work into the mid state, with temperatures closer to seasonal normal values over the weekend. A warming trend is expected into the first part of next week as the above mentioned stronger frontal system approaches. && .AVIATION... 18Z TAF DISCUSSION. Expect rainfall to gradually approach CKV and BNA early this afternoon and CSV later this evening. Radar trends indicate minimal impact to VIS and CIGS with the rain, but a transition to IFR CIGS overnight is expected at all three sites as surface obs upstream show OVC skies with about 1k foot CIGS. Once the front passes around daybreak expect light NW winds and VFR conditions. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Nashville 52 62 44 63 36 / 50 10 0 10 0 Clarksville 47 60 41 59 33 / 40 10 0 10 0 Crossville 50 60 41 60 34 / 50 20 0 10 0 Columbia 50 62 42 65 34 / 50 10 0 10 0 Lawrenceburg 50 63 42 65 36 / 50 10 0 10 0 Waverly 48 61 40 62 34 / 40 10 0 10 0 && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ DISCUSSION......31 AVIATION........05
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tulsa OK
224 PM CST Wed Nov 23 2016 .DISCUSSION... The main forecast challenges will be stratus and fog in the short term, and sensible weather early next week in a gradually evolving upper air pattern. Upper system and associated cold front has pushed well to the east and south of the region this afternoon. A large area of stratus has persisted over much of the lower Plains in its wake, and has been very stubborn to clear. The latest vis sat trends show a slow clearing from west to east and this should continue until evening before this trend comes to an end. For tonight into the holiday morning, I have elected to use the experimental HRRR as a guide. This model appears to be handling the stratus deck pretty well and it likely has a better idea on the fog potential as well. The overcast skies have kept temps down today, with cool and relatively moist conditions in the boundary layer (BL). The stratus should clear most areas except NW AR by early this evening. Radiational cooling of the cool and relatively moist BL will result in the development of at least patchy dense fog by morning except the far south by morning. Low temperatures may cool to near or just below freezing at the typical cold spots, however I`m not expecting any travel troubles from any potential freezing fog given very warm ground temperatures. As for NW AR, despite the fact that low clouds are not expected to clear there, IFR conditions are persisting and thus it will not take much for stratus to build down into fog as the HRRRX is suggesting. Once the fog burns off tomorrow, a sw wind and sunshine should lead to a nice above average day temp wise for holiday festivities. A progressive upper flow pattern is expected to persist thru the remainder of this week. Another fast moving wave will pass by to our north tomorrow evening, and will push another front thru our area and will knock temps back down for Friday. The next shortwave trough is expected to organize off the West Coast this weekend. Due to a merging of the polar and a strong subtropical jet, this system will undergo cyclogenesis as it lifts northeast into the Plains late in the weekend. Sunday and Sunday night will be quite windy and have thus increased winds from the typically underdone consensus grids. Our area will stay in the warm sector of the cyclone and thus attention then turns to moisture return and instability. Model data today seems to be more aggressive at digging tomorrow`s wave to our north a bit deeper into the Southeast CONUS this weekend. This should force surface ridging over much of the Gulf basin and thus only a modified return of moisture is expected ahead of the system, which will limit instability ahead of the associated cold front, and thus the severe potential as well. An ever strengthening polar jet punching into the Western CONUS from the NE Pacific will help to carve out deep cyclonic flow over the western 2/3rds of the nation early next week. Another fast moving wave will be right on the heels of the Sunday system, on the tail end of the propagating subtropical jet traveling in this cyclonic flow. This system is expected to interact with the stalling front from the Sunday system to produce a band of showers and storms from N TX up thru the ArkLaTex. The models have not been consistent from run to run regarding where this band will set up and thus pops for this forecast will not go any higher than middle ground. The longwave trough is expected to lift out by the middle to latter part of the week, and will lead to a warming trend and quiet weather to close out the work week. Lacy && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TUL 35 65 39 61 / 0 0 0 0 FSM 37 65 40 62 / 0 0 0 0 MLC 36 66 41 62 / 0 0 0 0 BVO 31 65 36 60 / 0 0 0 0 FYV 33 61 34 58 / 0 0 0 0 BYV 35 59 39 57 / 0 0 0 0 MKO 35 64 38 59 / 0 0 0 0 MIO 32 62 36 58 / 0 0 0 0 F10 36 65 39 60 / 0 0 0 0 HHW 39 66 42 63 / 0 0 0 0 && .TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OK...None. AR...None. && $$ LONG TERM....30