


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Des Moines, IA
Issued by NWS Des Moines, IA
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977 FXUS63 KDMX 090353 AFDDMX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Des Moines IA 1053 PM CDT Fri Aug 8 2025 ...Updated for the 06z Aviation Discussion... .KEY MESSAGES... - Active period this weekend with heavy rain and severe weather potential. - Flash Flood Watch for very heavy rain potential Saturday afternoon through Monday morning. The primary periods are Saturday night and Sunday night. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 309 PM CDT Fri Aug 8 2025 A very active forecast remains for this weekend and into early next week. Surface low pressure over Nebraska with a boundary extending northward into northern Minnesota where another weak low pressure is located. That boundary will settle into northwest Iowa overnight and will eventually stall over Iowa as the upper level flow becomes southwesterly, hanging up the parallel boundary below it. Deciphering the potential for thunderstorms late tonight into Saturday morning still isn`t straight forward as the elevated mixed layer (EML) may hold much of the night but there are a couple signs that convection may occur above the EML late tonight. The 700 mb temperatures of 13-15C will certainly hold surface based convection at bay but those temperatures do cool overnight. May get some weak elevated convection with the low level jet and surges of theta-e advection passing across the state. The EML will begin to erode late tonight and the instability axis will move into the state and that may lead to thunderstorm development late tonight into Saturday. While locally heavy rain and a strong storm may occur with this early activity, the overall threat is lower compared to other periods this weekend. A greater potential for thunderstorm development in vicinity of the boundary over central Iowa is expected sometime from late Saturday afternoon and into the evening hours. Again a few strong to severe storms will be possible but the highest threat is the potential for heavy to very heavy rainfall with storm motions nearly parallel to the boundary leading to the potential for training of storms. Low and mid level moisture advection will maximize Saturday night into central and south central Iowa while warm cloud depths increase to near 15 kft. Rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour may occur. Backbuilding of storms is possible as well which would further the training potential. For this reason, in collaboration with WPC, a moderate risk for Excessive Rainfall has been issued for Saturday/Saturday night in addition to Sunday/Sunday night. The Sunday period inclusion is due to the potential for a repeat performance though due to potential outflow influences, the boundary may settle a bit more south than where the heavy rain axis sets up the previous period. Will continue to monitor this period for severe weather potential also, but again, the primary threat appears to by the heavy rain potential and the greatest concern periods are during the nocturnal hours. Storm potential persists into early next week as the southwest flow into Iowa will persist until the primary upper level short wave arrives late Tuesday into Wednesday. The exact location of the surface boundary is more uncertain as guidance is trending southward, which makes sense given the aforementioned impacts on the boundary by storms and outflow above. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SUNDAY/... Issued at 1053 PM CDT Fri Aug 8 2025 VFR conditions are expected to remain this evening and for much of the period. Still expecting to see the development of showers and storms after 06z, mainly impacting the northern terminals through 12z and gradually reaching KDSM and KOTM by mid to late morning. Uncertainties remain on exact timing and coverage, with only slight timing adjustments on the PROB30 mentions. More widespread shower and storm activity is expected later in the day but will depend on how the morning to afternoon shower/storms play out, so will be closely monitoring conditions throughout the next several hours. Winds otherwise will become more variable given the boundary passage during the day. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch from Saturday afternoon through Monday afternoon for IAZ037>039-048>050-059>062-072>075-082>086-093>097. && $$ DISCUSSION...Donavon AVIATION...Bury