Forecast Discussions mentioning any of "ACARS" "MDCRS" "AIRCRAFT" "TAMDAR" "AMDAR" "WVSS" received at GSD on 07/08/22


Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service North Platte NE
628 PM CDT Thu Jul 7 2022 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Friday night) Issued at 428 PM CDT Thu Jul 7 2022 The primary forecast concerns to round out the week revolve around precipitation chances/amounts, fog, and rebounding temperatures. The stagnant, soupy air mass that has resulted in localized torrential rainfall slowly gives way to a powerful upper ridge the next couple days. Thunderstorm chances continue tonight and somewhat tomorrow, then the heat really gets turned up over the weekend. Meanwhile, will be monitoring for fog development tonight into the morning. This evening and tonight... The quasi-zonal upper pattern begins its transition to northwest flow tonight with the building Rocky Mtn ridge, but nearly stationary surface fronts straddle the northern and southern edges of the forecast area. As with any weakly forced environment, CAMS have had trouble latching on to any one outcome. Solutions range from widespread activity lasting for hours to virtually no precipitation at all. The precip forecast generally follows current trajectory of a couple distinct waves of iso/sct thunder across the northern and eastern Sandhills. Also included schc PoP in the panhandle and southwest to account for potential overspreading from activity over the higher terrain. Main concern with any thunder will continue to be locally very heavy rain, given slow storm motion (<10 kts), near record PWAT (1.8 in.), weak flow in the mid levels to limit high winds, and water loading to limit large hail production. With that said, will forgo any flood headlines as most impacts have been very isolated due to soil conditions in the Sandhills and the current drought status. Thinking any activity overnight should be isolated at most and likely dissipating as forcing weakens further and elevated instability wanes. As for fog production, guidance suggests a rather wide swath across the Sandhills where surface winds stay very light out of the east. Considering pockets of recent very heavy precip, some moisture trapping is also likely. No official mention in the forecast package was made where and when fog will affect due to the conditional nature and whether stratus will be favored instead. Trends will definitely need monitored this evening and tonight for potential inclusion to the forecast. Little change was made in min temps, which generally follow the lower and mid 60s. These values lined up with the narrow NBM envelope as well as MOS guidance. Friday... The northern boundary drifts south and should ultimately fall apart over the Sandhills. Nonetheless, a front draped along the lee of the Rockies may be enough to spur some thunder that meanders into the panhandle or far southwest Neb later into the evening. Left schc PoP for areas along/west of Hwy 61. Whatever shower or storm that works into the area may produce gusty winds as soundings show somewhat drier low/mid levels compared to those as of late. Otherwise, conditions begin the transition to full-fledged summertime weather as highs break the 90 degree mark again in the west and upper 80s east. Near surface winds remain out of the southeast, which keeps the humidity factor alive. .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Thursday) Issued at 428 PM CDT Thu Jul 7 2022 The main story over the weekend and early next week revolves around the anomalous upper ridge and the attendant heat wave. Forecast h5 heights near 600dm correlate to 99%ile of climo over the central Plains. A surface warm front is also progged to cross the central/northern Plains, when combined with strengthening southerly flow at H85, will produce strong WAA. Temps at H85 should surpass 27C on Saturday and 30C on Sunday. With generally fair conditions overhead, these values should translate to widespread highs in the mid/upper 90s and lower 100s respectively. Will need to watch for heat headlines on Sunday as prelim heat index values meet the guidelines for the eastern half of the CWA. Toward midweek, the ridge retreats to the Great Basin and Four Corners region as a surface cool front swings through the central Plains. The front not only brings some relief to the possible extreme heat, but also increases the precip potential. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Friday evening) Issued at 625 PM CDT Thu Jul 7 2022 Currently VFR conditions at TAF sites but radar shows some clusters of thunderstorms off to the west, particularly one cluster near Pine Ridge that has good indications for winds exceeding 50kt. The environment becomes less favorable to support these storms as they make eastward progress so will not include any mention in TAFs at issuance and will amend as radar trends indicate. Any storms will dissipate early tonight with light winds and generally clear skies.However the boundary layer is quite moist and expect patchy fog will develop toward daybreak with a plume of stratus pushing in from the east. Expect MVFR vsbys at KLBF but no CIG, while expect MVFR/IFR VSBYs and CIGs at KVTN. Any fog/stratus will dissipate Friday morning with VFR conditions expected through the end of the valid period. Outside of thunderstorms, winds will be light through the valid period with little impact to aircraft operations. && .LBF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Snively LONG TERM...Snively AVIATION...MBS
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville, IL
634 PM CDT Thu Jul 7 2022 .SHORT TERM... Issued at 315 PM CDT Thu Jul 7 2022 Through Friday night... The primary forecast concern centers around the threat of excessive rainfall amounts with any showers and thunderstorms tonight into Friday morning. We are currently watching a remnant MCV apparent in the satellite imagery shifting eastward across the Mississippi river just south of KDVN. An extensive cloud shield, and areas of showers extends southeastward from this feature over much of my southern counties. Conditions are thus a few degrees cooler and a bit more stable in these areas. Conversely, partly sunny skies along and north of I-88 have helped temperatures rise into the low to mid 80s amidst lower 70 degree dewpoints. While mid-level lapse rates are poor across this area, recent modified AMDAR soundings from MDW suggest that these slightly warmer and very moist surface conditions is sufficient to support near surface based instability. For this reason, we will need to monitor far northern IL (along and north of I-80) for some scattered shower and storm development late this afternoon into this evening as the remnant MCV shifts eastward along the I-80 corridor over the next few hours. While severe weather is not expected with any storms that develop, very heavy rainfall would be likely given the tropical airmass overhead, that features precipitable water values around, or even a bit above 2". Additional showers and thunderstorms will be probable across portions of our area late tonight into Friday morning as another disturbance shifts into the Corn Belt. While uncertainty remains with the actual evolution of this overnight activity, it appears that areas near and south of I-80 could be in target area for some periods of heavy rain producing showers and thunderstorms after midnight tonight through early Friday morning. As mentioned above, the atmosphere will remain primed (with tropical precipitable water values in excess of 2") to support very heavy rainfall rates. This is concerning as any slow moving storms that move over the same areas could produce some areas of excessive rainfall and possible flash flooding. In spite of this possibility, we have opted to hold off on issuing a flood watch mainly due to continued uncertainty on the exact placement of this heavy rain. We will therefore allow the evening shift to get a handle on observational trends into this evening to assess whether a watch will be needed for southern parts of the area. The rain threat will end from northwest to southeast across the area into Friday afternoon. Thereafter, expect cooler weather with breezy northeasterly winds off of Lake Michigan. The only negative to these winds, will be the increased threat of rip currents due to large waves for any beach goers late Friday afternoon into Saturday morning. KJB && .LONG TERM... Issued at 315 PM CDT Thu Jul 7 2022 Saturday through Thursday... After Friday`s shower activity clears the area, high pressure will settle in over the region and lead to a rather pleasant weekend with mostly clear skies and high temperatures topping out in the 70s to low 80s on both Saturday and Sunday. Onshore flow is expected to prevail throughout the day on Saturday, and accordingly, the coolest temperatures (low 70s) will be found in the vicinity of the Illinois and Indiana lakeshore. Return flow on the back side of the surface high will turn surface winds southeasterly and eventually southerly on Sunday, but the prevailing synoptic winds should still be weak enough for a lake breeze to develop and push inland a bit from the Illinois lakeshore, which is where Sunday`s coolest high temperatures should occur. Monday certainly appears to be the most interesting day forecast- wise in the extended forecast period as an upper shortwave swings through the Upper Midwest while a cold front at the surface makes a push southeastward into our forecast area. There may ultimately end up being two chances to see showers and storms in our forecast area on Monday, but both of these chances appear to be highly conditional. The first of these chances would come during the morning and early afternoon and would be tied to whatever emerges out of Sunday night`s convective activity in Minnesota. If an organized MCC develops in a location where it could conceivably track towards our CWA overnight Sunday into Monday morning, then it`s possible that some decaying convection could sneak into the northern third or so of our CWA sometime Monday morning. However, most guidance that is currently available suggests that this activity would either remain north of our CWA and/or outpace the southeastward-sagging MUCAPE reservoir and dissipate before it got to our doorstep, so think that any chances to see rain Monday morning or early Monday afternoon appear to be rather minimal at this time. Assuming that the earlier convective activity doesn`t pan out, or at the very least, doesn`t muddle the forecast picture too much for later in the day, the better chances for us to get in on any showers or storms should come towards the late afternoon and evening on Monday as the aforementioned cold front passes through the area. Prior to the arrival of the front, Monday afternoon should be warm and fairly humid with temperatures favored to reach the upper 80s and possibly the lower 90s across the much of the area while dew points look to climb above the 70 degree mark across a sizable portion of our CWA. Plenty of moisture will be available to support the potential development of showers, and ample instability should become available by the late afternoon to support the development of thunderstorms too. However, it appears that convection could struggle to actually initiate along the front as it moves through the region as southwesterly to westerly surface winds immediately ahead of the front should serve to limit the amount of surface convergence along it. With the core of the forcing for ascent associated with the upper shortwave expected to remain to our north, there may not be much additional support for lift to augment the weak convergence along the front and assist surface-based parcels with reaching their level of free convection. Considering that there`s a fair likelihood of at least a modest amount of convective inhibition still hanging around by the late afternoon and into the evening, the overall lack of robust forcing could result in convection failing to initiate along the front, which would result in most or all of our area remaining dry on Monday. However, if something can get going either in our CWA or just upstream in Wisconsin prior to diurnal stabilization occurring after sunset, there will be plenty of deep layer shear for developing thunderstorms to work with, so forecast trends will bear watching over the coming days. At this time though still being four days out from Monday, there`s still too much uncertainty to say anything with much confidence. Left the blended slight chance and chance PoPs generated by the NBM untouched as they seem appropriate for now given the existing uncertainties. Beyond Monday, upper ridging will start to build across the southwestern CONUS. Temperatures look favored to end up at or just below normal towards the mid-late week with predominantly northerly to northwesterly flow through much of the atmospheric column not affording any opportunities for warmer temperatures to our west and south to advect into the region until beyond the end of the current extended forecast period. A backdoor cold front may also drop through the area sometime in the mid-late week time frame and provide a reinforcing shot of relatively cooler and drier into the region on either Wednesday or Thursday. It appears that there may also be a lower-end chance for some rain showers to be squeezed out along this front as it moves through the area, though the lack of quality moisture available during the time of the frontal passage suggests that getting rain from this may be hard to come by, and if it does occur, it probably won`t be very meaningful. Stuck with the default NBM PoPs for Wednesday and Thursday, which currently keep the mid-late week forecast void of any formal rain chance mentions. Ogorek && .AVIATION... For the 00Z TAFs... Aviation Forecast Concerns: * A few periods of showers from this evening through Friday midday. TSRA threat low but non-zero across terminals, especially early Friday morning. * Period of MVFR ceilings likely Friday from prior to sunrise through the afternoon. IFR ceilings also possible during the morning. * Light mainly easterly winds become north-northeast Friday, with some gusts around 20 kt possible in the afternoon. Early evening surface analysis indicates a west-east stationary frontal boundary from central MO through far southern IL/IN, while weak surface high pressure was over the Great Lakes. North of the stationary front, several small mid-level disturbances (remnant MCVs from Plains convection) were noted in radar imagery, with one such feature currently tracking across central IL and another along the IA/MO border. Each of these will produce areas of showers and a few isolated thunderstorms as they track into the region this evening. Greatest coverage is expected to remain generally south of the terminals, though scattered coverage across northern IL appears to warrant at least a VCSH mention into tonight. A more robust mid-level wave across the mid-Missouri Valley will approach the region late tonight, and should produce greater coverage of showers through midday Friday before moving east of the area later in the day. Thunder potential looks to be better south of the terminals across central IL/IN, though can`t rule out isolated thunder farther north especially early Friday morning as this deeper wave approaches. Guidance is in good agreement in development of MVFR ceilings with the better precipitation coverage Friday, with some models supporting a period of IFR ceilings during the morning. Increasing northeast winds Friday afternoon/evening should eventually pull in some drier air and allow for mixing/lifting ceilings later in the day and evening for the Chicago terminals. Ratzer && .LOT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...Beach Hazards Statement...ILZ006-ILZ103-ILZ104...4 PM Friday to 1 PM Saturday. IN...Beach Hazards Statement...INZ001-INZ002...10 PM Friday to 10 AM Saturday. LM...Small Craft Advisory...LMZ740-LMZ741-LMZ742...4 PM Friday to 10 AM Saturday. Small Craft Advisory...LMZ743-LMZ744-LMZ745...10 PM Friday to 10 AM Saturday. && $$ Visit us at weather.gov/chicago Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube at: www.facebook.com/NWSChicago www.twitter.com/NWSChicago www.youtube.com/NWSChicago
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Phoenix AZ
408 PM MST Thu Jul 7 2022 .UPDATE...Updated 00z Aviation Discussion. && .SYNOPSIS... Unusually dry conditions will persist through the remainder of the week with only isolated showers and storms returning to eastern Arizona over the weekend. Temperatures will continue to increase with lower elevation communities breaching 110 degrees by Friday. These type of above normal readings should last through the middle of next week. As moisture seeps back into the region next week, mountain storms should become more expansive with impacts beginning to work back into lower elevations. && .DISCUSSION... Dry southwest flow continues with PWAT values at near 0.5" based on ACARS soundings. Surface dew points are also low, with values in the 30s for much of the area. The latest visible satellite imagery shows Arizona to be nearly cloud free. This very dry pattern will remain in place through Friday as deep southwesterly flow persists on the western periphery of a high pressure system retrograding from the southern plains. H5 heights will steadily increase closer to 595dm by Friday afternoon with forecast soundings suggesting a growing midtropospheric subsidence inversion. As a result, probabilities across lower elevations for 110F+ high temperatures Friday jumps into a 30-70% range. Further westward expansion and intensification of the subtropical anti-cyclone is strongly supported by all ensemble suites over the weekend with central H5 heights around 598dm becoming parked over the four corners. Although these H5 heights will be reaching toward the climatological 99th percentile, thermal profiles in the H8-H7 layer are not exhibiting a directly analogous trend peaking only around the 90th percentile and restricting forecast highs to several degrees below record territory. EFI values for surface temperatures are similarly elevated (but not particularly unusual) with values of 0.6 to 0.7 across the area. Nevertheless, it will still be hot (~5F above normal) and readings flirting with excessive heat criteria. Current official NBM forecasts align near the 75th percentile of the entire ensemble spread, so there is still some small opportunity readings could breach into excessive thresholds over the weekend. Weak east to southeast flow will allow for low level moisture to gradually increase over the weekend and into next week. Moisture levels (~8-10 g/kg in the boundary layer) should allow for a resumption to the low probability of afternoon/evening mountain convection and storms. Given this marginal moisture profile along with warming midlevel temperatures, the lower desert environment will remain hostile towards additional storm development through early next week. By the middle of next week ensemble guidance is in relatively good agreement that the upper level high will migrate slightly northward, which should result in marginally more favorable moisture and instability profiles as well as increased wind shear. If this slight pattern shift materializes it would open the door to storm activity in the lower deserts as well assuming gradually improving moisture profiles via outflows and advection. NBM precipitation probabilities during this period increase to 15-25%, which seems reasonable given the uncertainty and lead time. Some ensemble guidance is less optimistic with the movement of the upper level high, which would keep conditions hotter and drier than average, but at this range it is difficult to determine which solution will be more accurate. && .AVIATION...Updated at 2305Z. South-Central Arizona including KPHX, KIWA, KSDL, and KDVT: No aviation weather concerns expected through Friday. Westerly winds between 7-10 kts with a few occasional gusts between 15-20 kts will be common through this evening before diminishing in speed overnight. Winds will become easterly around 12z Friday morning with speeds aob 5 kts then switch to westerly between late morning and early afternoon with speeds generally between 7-10 kts. However, some occasional afternoon gusts between 15-20 kts will be possible. Skies will remain mostly clear through the period. Southeast California/Southwest Arizona including KIPL and KBLH: No aviation weather concerns expected through Friday. Winds will generally retain a southeasterly component at KIPL and southerly component at KBLH. At KBLH, some gusts of around 20 kts will persist into the evening before subsiding, with another around of breeziness expected once again Friday afternoon. Skies will remain mostly clear through the period. && .FIRE WEATHER... Isolated thunderstorm coverage will gradually return to far eastern districts this weekend, but dry conditions will persist until then. Even as storms return, wetting rainfall potential remains limited. Somewhat better thunderstorm and rainfall coverage may return to eastern areas next week, especially by Wednesday. Minimum afternoon humidity levels will fall into the teens, however higher terrain locations of eastern districts should see humidity values closer to a 20-30% range next week as moisture starts to return. Overnight recovery will be mostly poor to fair in a 20-50% range. Some enhanced upslope afternoon breeziness will be common, but gusts should generally not exceed 20-30 mph. && .PSR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AZ...None. CA...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Hodges/18 AVIATION...Lojero FIRE WEATHER...Hodges/Iniguez/18