Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Quad Cities, IA IL
Issued by NWS Quad Cities, IA IL
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488 FXUS63 KDVN 192006 AFDDVN Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL 206 PM CST Wed Nov 19 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Low clouds continue to linger across the area into Thursday, moderating temperatures and keeping conditions quite dreary. - Precipitation chances return to part of the area on Thursday/Friday, but confidence remains low. If we do see precipitation move in, it should remain light and largely in our south. - A quiet weekend under northwest flow will lead us into another split flow regime next week, leading to forecast uncertainty in precipitation chances beyond the weekend. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY/... Issued at 151 PM CST Wed Nov 19 2025 Low clouds are forecast to continue across the area into at least tonight. The 00 UTC and 18 UTC RAOBs for the 19th show a strong inversion in place between the surface and 850 MB at KDVN and no airmass change in the forecast to remove it. So I decided to leave the low clouds in place into at least Thursday. This is also supported by the 12 UTC HREF and low level model RH. Patchy drizzle is also possible once again for tonight as ceilings lower after 00 UTC. Kept overnight temperatures similar to yesterday with widespread temperatures around 40 to the lower 40s. On Thursday, a shortwave is forecast to pass to our north and bring a cool front across the area during the day. Models show stratus spreading back into the area as another shortwave approaches the area from the southwest. Models do not show deep saturation across the area through the day on Thursday or strong lift for precipitation and decided to remove low chances of rain across far southeast Iowa, west central Illinois, and far northeast Missouri. Due to lingering clouds, decided to lower high temperatures on Thursday with the cloud cover and now have widespread lower to mid 50s across the area with temperatures around 60 degrees in far northeast Illinois and west central Illinois. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... Issued at 151 PM CST Wed Nov 19 2025 Very few overall changes in the forecast for the long term period from the previous issuance. Please see the previous discussion below with some edits. The end of the work week will features a split flow regime. We will see quite a deep wave develop/deepen over the Rockies going into Thursday, then eject off and try to trek northeast Thursday night into Friday. Heading into Friday, the aforementioned deeper wave ejects off of the Rockies, starting its trek northeast. As has been discussed in previous forecast packages, we expect the northern jet stream to shunt the northerly progression of the wave, limiting the northerly extent of precipitation chances with the latest model guidance delaying precipitation until early Friday morning in far northeast Missouri, west central Illinois and far northeast Iowa. The GFS suite continues to be the most aggressive, allowing the wave to push farther north especially into the day on Friday, bringing precipitation as far north as the Interstate 80 corridor. The remainder of guidance keeps this shunted south of the Interstate 80, keeping best precipitation chances along or south of Highway 34. Thus, we have quite the difference in precipitation chances across the board. We will continue to largely stick with NBM PoPs (with slight southerly adjustment), introducing Slight-Chance PoPs as far north as the Interstate 80 corridor, but having the highest PoPs south. Overall, rainfall amounts will be low, with guidance favoring <0.25". NBM rainfall amount probability keep measurable rain to along and south of the Iowa/Missouri border. In fact, the NBM has the best probabilities of at least a quarter of an inch of rain south of a Fairfield to Galesburg line. The 12 UTC suite of models have precipitation exiting the area prior to 06 UTC Saturday. Heading into the weekend, this messy pattern will come to a close as the northern jet stream takes over again and pushes the decaying wave out of the Midwest. Thus, we will be left under upper level northwesterly flow through at least the weekend. Although, we will see some low level southwesterly flow through the weekend as well, as weak perturbations in the flow pass through. This should allow temperatures to be above normal once again this weekend. Currently, we are looking at temperatures in the mid 50s on Saturday, trending warmer on Sunday due to weak ridging over the area. These have trended upwards over the last forecast package. As we are in this transitional/quiet pattern over the weekend, we do see another deep wave develop and closed 500 MB low developing in the Desert Southwest. This may be our next weather-maker, but our confidence in this remains low and closed upper level lows tend to eject slower than models forecast at this time range. Guidance has since trended towards the dryer side of things for the start of next week, indicating that the wave remains shunted south of the area for the most part. Although, once again it will come close enough to the area that low end PoPs are necessary for the time being. Opted to hold onto the Slight PoPs that the NBM output indicated. This would also keep temperatures quite similar to the weekend, but a little cooler on the backside of the system. Thus, we are looking to start the week in the mid 50s, and then trending a little cooler as we continue further into the new work week. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 1122 AM CST Wed Nov 19 2025 Low stratus is forecast to continue to linger across eastern Iowa TAF sites today as low level easterly flow and a strong inversion remain in place across the area. Ceilings are forecast to continue in a 500 to 1000 FT layer through tonight before some improvement occurs after 12 UTC Tuesday with a potential improvement from current IFR to MVFR ceilings as a storm system passes to the south of the area. Winds are forecast to be light through the period but as winds turn to the south after 12 UTC winds they are expected to increase above 5 knots. && .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...None. IL...None. MO...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Cousins LONG TERM...Cousins/Gunkel AVIATION...Cousins