


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Aberdeen, SD
Issued by NWS Aberdeen, SD
Versions:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
232 FXUS63 KABR 040102 AAB AFDABR Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Aberdeen SD 802 PM CDT Thu Jul 3 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Heat and humidity will continue on Friday, however, heat indices are forecasted to stay below 100 degrees with cooler temperatures and dewpoints on Saturday. - A system will bring showers and thunderstorms over central South Dakota Friday afternoon with this activity moving across the eastern half of the state Friday evening through Saturday morning. The highest chances of rainfall (60 to 80%) run along and east of the Missouri River. - Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches is possible Friday afternoon through Saturday morning along and east of the Missouri River. Localized areas could exceed 2 inches, especially over portions of north central through northeastern SD into west central MN. - Weather pattern stays active into early next week with disturbances Saturday night/Sunday and again Monday night bringing opportunities for rainfall. && .UPDATE... Issued at 801 PM CDT Thu Jul 3 2025 Allowed the heat advisory to expire this evening. Heat indices will continue to fall as temperatures fall. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 304 PM CDT Thu Jul 3 2025 Main concern in the forecast period will be one more day of the heat and humidity along with showers and thunderstorms expected Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon and heavy rain potential. As of 230pm, the lingering MCV, bringing scattered clouds, continues to push eastward over northeastern SD into ND/MN. Light returns on radar have been noted here and there skirting across the ND/SD border through this morning indicating light showers at most. Temps range in the mid to upper 80s to the upper 90s, highest over south central SD with dewpoints as high as the mid 70s! Overall dry conditions expected tonight with the exception of far western Corson County where 15-20% pops are possible late on the leading edge of the surface trough. Most of the activity will stay to our north over ND through northwestern SD, however, cannot rule out an isolated chance of a severe storms in this area with quarter size hail and 60mph gusts. The axis of the ridge will continue to push eastward this evening through Friday with the Northern Plains in southwest flow aloft. Within this flow, a shortwave will move southwest to northeast and over the Northern Plains Friday afternoon and evening, where it will continue in more of an easterly direction into MN Saturday. With this setup aloft, the axis of the surface trough will hover over the lee side of the Rockies through the central Dakotas this evening, which lies south of a low that will move across Canada. Its cold front will drape southwest from this low through MT. By Friday morning the trough`s axis will extend through the central Dakotas into western NE/KS as this low in Canada tracks northeastward. By Friday evening, the cold front will have shifted a bit southeast and sprawled from Ontario and southwestward through ND/MT. The surface trough`s axis will extend from northeastern through central SD as it becomes positive tilted. Finally the cold front will be halfway through the state as it continues east and southeastward by Saturday morning before finally exiting the CWA by Saturday midday/afternoon Ahead of the cold front, all the CAMs/HREF ensemble paintballs are in agreement of isolated to scattered thunderstorms firing up over the central half of ND through NE Friday afternoon. There seems to be a wide range of storm modes expected as CAMs indicate cells/multicells to start and merging into some sort of line or several broken lines as it pushes over the eastern half of the state with additional formations of cells/mulitcells ahead and behind the line. There is a bit of a difference in exact timing between the models on the progression eastward with the convection. With this uncertainty, the NBM does a good job showing the potential with broadbrushed pops of 30-60% between 18Z-00Z, highest west of the James River and 50-90% pops east of the Mo River, with 80+ pops James River Valley and eastward between 00-12Z Saturday. The last of the precip looks to exit the far eastern CWA by Saturday afternoon. With the storms Friday afternoon into early Saturday morning, the main concern will be the potential for heavy rain. We have low level moisture in place already with dewpoints continuing in the upper 60s to lower 70s at the surface and dewpoints at 850mb around 11-12C during the day Friday, increasing to 16-17C James River and eastward by the afternoon and evening. NAM soundings over this area show a fairly moist to saturated column well through 500mb with the freezing level between 12-14K feet! So the depth of the warm cloud layer is quite large! NAEFs indicates mean specific humidity runs around 2 standard deviations above climo over the entire CWA from 700-850mb and James River eastward at 925mb Friday evening into Saturday morning with PWAT running around 2 standard deviations above climo as well, with values of 1.75" mainly James River and eastward. NBM probability of 1" or over is 40 to 60% in this area, highest over far northeastern SD into west central MN with a probability of 2" is 20-30%. WPC ERO has upgraded to a slight risk over portions of north central to northeastern SD/MN with the marginal risk still along and east of the Mo River due to this heavy rain threat. Higher rainfall amounts of over 2" are possible (especially in the slight risk) with any slower moving/stronger storms or training of storms over the same location. This could lead to a flash flooding and/or river flooding concerns, especially over northeastern SD which has already dealt with heavy rain/flooding recently. EC EFI is still holding onto values of 0.5 to 0.7 and a shift of tails of zero east of the Coteau, highest over Roberts County into MN. Even though we have the moisture, lift from the front/trough, and moderate CAPE, shear will be weak (less than 30kts). Also with the high freezing levels any hail that does fall will melt along the way or be smaller. The latest severe outlook per SPC has expanded the marginal risk(level 1/5) westward to now cover locations along and east of the Missouri River into MN. With the various storm modes expected, the main threat will be the winds, with gusts of 60 to even 70 mph if this convection can form into more organized line(s). The increased chances of wind and hail threat will luckily stay to our north where there is better instability. Temp wise for Friday, we will continue in southwest flow along and east of the Missouri River (ahead of the trough`s axis). 850mb temps will run between 20-22C with deterministic NBM surface temps ranging from the upper 80s to the mid 90s. 25th-75th spread is 3-7 degrees with the highest spread over far north central SD depending on timing of trough`s passage. Heat indices look to remain below 100 degrees, however, if we overachieve on highs/dewpoints we could be flirting with 100 heat indices especially over portions of central and northeastern SD. With the CWA behind the fropa Saturday, this will bring a relief to the heat and humidity as highs will range in the upper 70s to upper 80s, warmest across south central SD and dewpoints in the upper 50s to lower 60s. Split flow pattern continues with another shortwave moving in from MT Saturday night into Sunday, bringing the possibility of more showers and thunderstorms with pops of 40-65% over central SD. A large ridge builds over the western CONUS midweek or so and mid level high underneath this ridge over the Southwest. We will continue in an unsettled weather pattern and temps warming back up. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 637 PM CDT Thu Jul 3 2025 Terminals KABR,KATY,KPIR,KMBG VFR conditions are expected through Friday afternoon. && .ABR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...None. MN...None. && $$ UPDATE...20 DISCUSSION...MMM AVIATION...20