


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
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449 FXUS63 KDDC 291910 AFDDDC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 210 PM CDT Sun Jun 29 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Marginal risk for severe thunderstorms after 5 pm and continuing through tonight as a cold front crosses southwest Kansas. Main hazards will be strong damaging winds greater than 65 mph and locally heavy rainfall. - Cooler temperatures will start off the work week but a warming trend will return to southwest Kansas mid to late week. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 207 PM CDT Sun Jun 29 2025 Early this morning, an upper level trough was situated over the Northern Rockies. At the surface, a cold front stretched from southwest Minnesota into western Nebraska. South of this front, an outflow boundary was observed across northern Kansas, with a trough of low pressure extending south from this boundary across southwest Kansas. Additionally, residual outflow boundaries from earlier convection were also present across southwest Kansas. SBCIN across southwest Kansas based on SPC MESO Analysis has been slowly eroding over the past few hours. This trend should continue over the next few hours as as temperatures warm into the low to mid 90s through late day. Given the presence of multiple boundaries across the area and the potential for late day instability/little to no CIN, the chance for a few isolated afternoon thunderstorms exists across southwest and south central Kansas (15-20% chance). As of 18Z today, CAMs were struggling to identify where/if afternoon convection will occur. Current confidence on afternoon convection is not much better. It remains low (<20%) regarding the location and timing of these isolated afternoon storms, if they develop. As a result, thunderstorm chances for late this afternoon will remain very low, and we will closely monitor satellite and current conditions for possible development. At this time there is one area with a greater than 60% confidence for storms late today and early this evening and that is near and north of the I-70 corridor. This is where our surface cold front will be located, accompanied by better shear. Similar to yesterday, any storms that develop later this afternoon will be capable of producing gusts of 50 to 60 mph due to high storm bases, downdraft CAPE, and high precipitable water values. Locally heavy rainfall and isolated hail up to quarter size cannot be ruled out from the strongest storms. Thunderstorm coverage will increase later tonight along the cold front as it finally moves across southwest Kansas given the enhanced synoptic lift from an approaching upper level trough and improving low level forcing/frontogenesis. The environment ahead of this cold front will remain very moist with large downdraft CAPE, steep low level lapse rates, and high cloud bases. Strong gusty winds will continue to be the primary risk, with gusts potentially exceeding 65 mph. These storms will also be accompanied by widespread rain, heavy at times, which may lead to some localized water issues, especially in low lying areas. As the cold front passes late tonight, a cool dome of high pressure will begin to build into the area from the northwest. As this surface high crosses the Central Plains early in the workweek, temperatures in southwest Kansas will average around 10 degrees cooler than what was experienced over the weekend. Some locations on Monday may even be slightly cooler than this average, due to cloud cover from an area of low level moisture moving across western Kansas behind this cold front. The NBM spread in high temperatures for Monday and Tuesday is 5 degrees or less. On Monday, there is a 50% chance for highs to be less than 85 degrees west and south of the Dodge City area. In addition to the cloud cover Monday, the developing moist upslope flow located north of the cold front on Monday night, will also favor the chance for thunderstorms Monday night across portions of far southwest Kansas and along the Kansas/Oklahoma border as afternoon convection develops over the higher terrain of Colorado and then moves southeast towards the Panhandle of Oklahoma and Texas. If you have outdoor activities planned, early next week will be the ideal time to complete them. By mid week, an upper ridge over the western United States will expand eastward into the Rockies and then move out into the Plains late in the week. As this upper ridge builds eastward, it will bring another warming trend to western Kansas. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY/... Issued at 1215 PM CDT Sun Jun 29 2025 Wind speeds this afternoon will average less than 10 knots, with a variable wind direction. This variability is attributed to multiple weakening surface boundaries across southwest Kansas, remnants of overnight and early morning convection. Despite this variability, the prevailing wind direction based on the latest short term models will be south southeast. There is a slight chance (<20%) for thunderstorms between 21Z today and 03z Monday however given this low probability...no mention of thunderstorms will be included in the 18Z TAFs. The better chance for thunderstorms will accompany a cold front as it crosses southwest Kansas between 03Z and 09Z Monday. Thunderstorms tonight will be capable of producing strong gusty winds and locally heavy rainfall. Once these storms and the cold front pass, a gusty northwest wind will develop. Based on BUFR soundings the cloud bases today and tonight will range from 3500 to 9000 feet AGL. && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Burgert AVIATION...Burgert