Forecast Discussions mentioning any of "ACARS" "MDCRS" "AIRCRAFT" "TAMDAR" "AMDAR" "WVSS" received at GSD on 07/12/22


Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Indianapolis IN
1159 PM EDT Mon Jul 11 2022 ...Updated Aviation Discussion... .Mesoscale Update... Issued at 1158 PM EDT Mon Jul 11 2022 Storms continue to struggle to maintain themselves in the unfavorable low level thermodynamic environment. Latest ACARs soundings over IND show a persistent cap with MLCIN numbers over 500 J/kg. Above this cap though, favorable lapse rates and modest instability are allowing for storms to initiate along the front where forcing is pushing parcels through the cap. The more robust CAPE is over into central Illinois where storms have been able to maintain themselves more effectively. Overall don`t expect too much to occur over the next few hours as the front continues to push into the area, but if storms are able to build and tap into the instability, moderate shear in the low to mid levels may allow for briefly stronger storms. Damaging winds aloft should struggle to reach the ground with the poor lapse rates near the surface and high LCLs will limit any tornadic threat even though shear from 0-1km is around 20kts. && .Forecast Update... Issued at 1030 PM EDT Mon Jul 11 2022 Surface observations show that winds have started to shift in the far NW corner of the forecast area where the weak cold front lies. As of writing this, no precipitation has formed along the boundary within or around central Indiana. CAMs are still showing showers and thunderstorms forming as the front progresses through the area so could see storms forming over the next hour or so. Forecast was in good shape, the main updates made were minor adjustment to PoPs, lowering them for the first few hours but keeping scattered mentioned through the overnight hours before ending around the morning rush hour. && .Short Term...(This evening through Tuesday night) Issued at 248 PM EDT Mon Jul 11 2022 * Showers and thunderstorms possible tonight, a few of which could be strong to severe. * Quiet and slightly milder weather remainder of the short term. A weak cold front will sag through the area tonight. Guidance indicates showers and thunderstorms should form along this boundary late this evening as it moves into the area, but uncertainty remains with respect to coverage and intensity, particularly with southward extent. Ample moisture is present ahead of the boundary, with model precipitable water values in excess of the 90th percentile of climatology, however combination of at least modest storm motions and the southward motion of the boundary should combine to limit precipitation time in any one location. Marginal day one excessive rainfall outlook is reasonable given the deep moisture. Shear is also fairly modest at best and mostly unidirectional, which along with unfavorable diurnal timing of frontal passage should limit the extent of the severe threat. There will be at least moderate instability, but gradually stabilizing low levels will work against more widespread damaging wind threat. Marginal/slight day one severe outlook is reasonable. Convection should be weakening with time as it sags along the boundary to the south/southeast, and most guidance indicates activity should be coming to an end by daybreak Tuesday - so will go with a dry forecast tomorrow into tomorrow night. A weak shortwave does skirt the area Tuesday night but given forecast profiles will likely only result in a slight increase in cloud cover. Temperatures tonight will likely bottom out in the upper 60s to low 70s given increasing cloud cover and high dewpoints ahead of the front. This is roughly in line with blended guidance. Tuesday highs were nudged up a bit as ample sunshine and drier air in the low levels will likely allow temps to easily rise into the mid 80s across the area. Lows Tuesday night will be a bit cooler, again given the drier low levels and decent radiational cooling conditions. && .Long Term...(Wednesday through Monday) Issued at 248 PM EDT Mon Jul 11 2022 Tuesday night through Friday night A 500mb ridge will continue to sit over the western portion of the United States, slowly creeping eastward towards our CWA. Winds will shift northerly on Wednesday following the passing of a cold front earlier this week. This northerly flow will drop dew points to the mid to upper 50s on Wednesday and Thursday night, about 10 degrees below average. High temperatures will remain seasonable through Friday, as dry air advected from the Upper Great Plains drops dew points into the mid to upper 50s. Ahead of the next low pressure system, winds will shift westerly and remain light Saturday through Monday A shortwave trough will develop along the upper level ridge and march towards the Eastern Great Lakes during the weekend. Models are hinting that this shortwave trough will be a weak 500mb closed low. With CIN being weaker along the peripheral of the ridge, the low will tap into instability associated with warm air over the surface of the Great Plains. The warm air will support significant mixing between the surface and mid levels. However, this low pressure system will not have a favorable structure for strengthening since the surface low will be vertically stacked with its parent low. WAA in the warm sector of the low pressure system will increase heat indices to the upper 80s and lower 90s going into the weekend. Modestly moist air from the Great Lakes will be advected into our CWA by a northerly flow aloft. During the passing of the cold front, models show CAPE in excess of 2,000 J/kg with minimal shear in both the upper and lower levels. The highest CAPE values and most favorable LI indices are trending towards southeastern-central Indiana, where severe weather would be most likely. The GFS is showing 1.50 inches of precipitable water as the front moves through, only about 0.30 inches above our climatological average for this time of year, so significant rainfall amounts are not likely. && .Aviation...(06Z TAF Issuance) Issued at 1158 PM EDT Mon Jul 11 2022 IMPACTS: * Winds veering tonight to become northwesterly by midmorning with wind speeds of 7 to 15 kts * Showers and a few thunderstorms overnight Discussion: VFR conditions should dominate through most of the period. A weak cold front will sag south through the area tonight, producing scattered showers and thunderstorms, a few of which may be strong. Isolated storms have started forming over the area but have been very pulsey thus far. The threat for storms have already ended at KLAF but will potentially impact the rest of the TAF sites through the early morning hours. Brief restrictions will be possible with shower/storm impacts, but VFR should predominate. Sustained winds will be around 5-10 kts tonight, and a few gusts are possible but should be sporadic enough to preclude a prevailing mention. Winds will be changing direction to northwesterly as the weak front passes. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ Mesoscale...White Update...KH Short Term...Nield/Marcus Long Term...AM/Monaghan Aviation...KH
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville, IL
909 PM CDT Mon Jul 11 2022 .UPDATE... Issued at 909 PM CDT Mon Jul 11 2022 Confidence continues to diminish in footprint of convective potential this evening, however ample conditional instability and deep layer shear combo would continue to suggest that any decent storms that manage to develop could present a damaging wind threat. At this time, it would appear the best potential for isolated to scattered thunderstorm development would be with an outflow boundary pushing south-southeastward from storms over southeast WI, or along/ahead of weak cold front roughly along/south of the I-80 corridor. At 845 pm, radar depicted an area of scattered thunderstorms over far southeast WI and parts of southern Lake Michigan, moving to the east over the lake. These storms were producing an outflow boundary, which was pushing to the south-southeast at around 20 kt however, which looks to move into far northeast IL around 930 pm. SPC mesoanalysis data estimates 1000-2000 J/kg of MLCAPE was in place across northeast IL ahead of this boundary, with an aircraft ascent sounding KMDW at 0045Z modified for current surface conditions yielding around 1300 J/kg though with weak capping between 900-800 mb. Convergence along the outflow boundary may be able to initiate isolated convective updrafts as it pushes south into northeast IL after 930 pm, though even this may not be able to overcome the weak low level lapse rates/capping. Thus confidence in convective initiation is low. If isolated storms are able to initiate however, either along the outflow boundary or the weak cold front along/south of the I-80 corridor, MUCAPEs of AOA 2000 J/kg and effective deep shear of 50-55 kts would support the potential for organization (supercell structure earlier with storm which passed across northern Cook county late this afternoon). Largely unidirectional shear and weak low level lapse rates would support mainly a damaging wind risk, though again would expect overall coverage to remain fairly limited. SPC has maintained a slight (level 2 of 5) risk with their 01Z update through the remainder of the evening hours across roughly the southeast half of the cwa for this possibility, though expect that any such threat would be very isolated. It`s entirely possible no storms develop at all. Isolated thunderstorm threat should end after midnight, as the weak cold front sags southeast of the forecast area. Ratzer && .SHORT TERM... Issued at 1209 PM CDT Mon Jul 11 2022 Through Tonight... Looking forward to this afternoon and evening, our main forcing mechanisms will approach from the north and west. A fairly anomalous upper trough over the upper Midwest will spread southeastward and steer a cold front toward the upper Mississippi valley. Height falls ahead of the trough, right entrance of the jet core ahead of the trough and the front will all work to weaken a the cap -- and near term guidance suggest the first attempt at this will be closer to this forcing in northern/northeast Illinois and maybe more so into Wisconsin. The cap will take more time to erode in our south. Current uncertainty centers on this mid level cloud cover, but IR satellite indicates some decent warming aloft, and we have low level moisture increasing from the south and west, so there still appears to be a window over northeast Illinois for severe storms. We expect there will be convective attempts this afternoon, but the window may be fairly narrow. Both the RAP and HRRR suggests the cap erodes but differ as to the degree of instability at that point, and the HRRR window of weak capping is quite narrow, and even the RAP which was more aggressive in its earlier runs has backed away, likely a result of some latching on to the worked over environment. We may have to watch for some decaying storms that form in Wisconsin that drift southeast this evening. The instability axis gets shifted south of the I-80 corridor pretty quickly late this afternoon and evening ahead of the remnant boundary form this morning and any lingering differential heating boundary. With this in mind, the SPC Slight Risk (Level 2/5) area has been focused out ahead of these boundaries. This is the area that stands the best chance of a few scattered severe storms mainly in the evening hours once the upper forcing makes further southeastward progress. Damaging winds would be main hazard with a 2,000+ J/Kg of MLCAPE and some 40-50 kt of deep layer shear, but there still remains some uncertainty as to the best corridor of storm development. Drier air will filter in behind the front/trough later tonight and end of the storm threat. KMD && .LONG TERM... Issued at 258 PM CDT Mon Jul 11 2022 Tuesday through Monday... Following this evenings cold frontal passage and potential period of active weather breezy northwesterly winds on Tuesday will transport a drier and cooler air mass into the area. This cooler and drier airmass is likely to persist across the area through later in the week as as upper level troughing (cyclonic upper flow) sets up over the Great Lakes. This will generally result in pleasant weather continues each day, with inland highs generally in the lower 80s and lakeside highs in the 70s. Precipitation chances through the Friday looks rather low. However, a couple of minor weather disturbances, along with rather cool mid-level temperatures will support diurnal cumulus development both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, and possibly a few light widely scattered showers. The slightly better chance for these showers looks to be over far northern IL Tuesday afternoon and over inland areas of northern IL Wednesday afternoon. Surface high pressure is expected to settle over the Great Lakes on Thursday, before shifting to the east late Friday and on Saturday. While this will support pleasant and dry weather both days, temperature and humidity values will begin to increase into the weekend as the low level flow turns southerly following the eastward departure of the surface high. The weather pattern also may turn a bit more active and supportive for some clusters of thunderstorms for at least a portion of weekend. This as an upper level ridge over the west begins to build eastward into the Plains and accordingly places our area right within an active belt of northwesterly mid/upper level flow. Given the inherent uncertainties with timing and placement at this timescale, we continue to mention only low end chance POPs in the forecast through the weekend. KJB && .AVIATION... For the 00Z TAFs... The primary aviation weather concerns through the 00Z TAF period are as follows: - Isolated showers and thunderstorms across the Chicago metro through ~01Z Isolated showers and potentially an additional thunderstorm or two remain possible in the vicinity of the Chicagoland terminals through roughly 01Z this evening. There exists a small potential for additional rainfall moving over the area through as late as 03Z, though confidence and expected coverage is far too low to include in the TAF. Following the rain potential, skies should be mostly clear and gusty westerly winds will begin steadily subsiding. Through the night, winds should average at around or just over 10 kts. Another breezy day on Tuesday will feature gusts near 20 kts from the late morning through mid-evening while winds blow in from the WNW. Winds will then subside to under 10 kts for the last few hours of the extended TAF period. VFR conditions can be expected through the entirety of the period. Doom && .LOT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...None. IN...None. LM...None. && $$ 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