


Prognostic Meteorological Discussion
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
810 FXUS02 KWBC 291754 PMDEPD Extended Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 154 PM EDT Tue Jul 29 2025 Valid 12Z Fri Aug 01 2025 - 12Z Tue Aug 05 2025 ...Heavy rain and flash flooding potential in the Carolinas/Southeast late week... ...Overview... A reasonably strong cold front for late July-early August is forecast to push into the Southeast at the leading edge of an upper trough late week into the weekend. Moisture and instability along and ahead of the front will promote heavy to excessive rainfall in thunderstorms that could cause localized flash flooding. The front and upper trough should also displace the upper ridging which is responsible for the heat wave in the short term, limiting the heat to Florida/southern Georgia Friday and gradually lessening in scope and magnitude by the weekend. The front will stretch westward into the south-central U.S. and bend northward across much of the Plains. Complexes of showers and storms are likely in the central U.S. back into the northern Rockies for multiple days due to the front as well as shortwaves moving through the flattening upper flow. Monsoonal moisture could continue to cause showers and storms in parts of the Southwest through late week with lessening rain chances by the weekend. ...Guidance/Predictability Assessment... Model guidance starts the medium range period in reasonably good agreement on the larger scale. A general southern U.S. upper ridge may be split by lower heights in the south-central U.S. at times, and into early next week the eastern side of the 594+ ridge over Florida and the Gulf should ease and leave the ridge more limited to the Southwest. There is some uncertainty with how much heights will lower in the Southeast by early next week though as some models deepen the trough more than others. Meanwhile ridging will pass across the north-central U.S. late week, with mean troughing in the Northwest. There is a general signal for the central U.S. ridge to become suppressed by shortwaves by early next week, but ample uncertainty in the details. Additionally, there remain model differences with timing and amplitude of troughing reaching the western U.S., as an upper low moves from the northeast Pacific eastward across Southeast Alaska and into western Canada with varied model solutions. Most of the 00Z/06Z guidance trended toward broader troughing to the western High Plains with the exception being the 00Z Canadian which showed a much stronger upper high over the Southern Plains. Preferred sticking with the larger/broader consensus through the period with an increased in ensemble mean weighting by day 6-7. ...Weather/Hazards Highlights... The cold front pushing through the Mid-Atlantic to Southeast will provide a focus for ample moisture and instability to pool while there should be increasing dynamical support in the form of the right entrance region of the upper jet. High rain rates in widespread thunderstorms should lead to a flash flooding risk -- a Slight Risk remains in place in the Day 4/Friday ERO for the Carolinas to southern Appalachians. By Friday the front is forecast to push a bit south, with the best focus for heavy rain and flash flooding generally in South Carolina and Georgia, where a Slight Risk is delineated for Day 5/Saturday. The front stalling there into early next week could lead to additional convection. The front stretching west across the Gulf Coast states in a moist and unstable environment could promote scattered diurnal thunderstorms there through late week into the weekend, and Marginal Risks are in place in the Day 4/5 EROs due to high rain rates that may overcome the high Flash Flood Guidance and/or fall atop urban areas. Farther west as the front bends back into the Plains, rounds of rain and thunderstorms are likely with possibly multiple MCSs. Some shortwave forcing and above normal moisture and instability should lead to high rain rates, and some areas could see repeating rounds of storms with the front stalling. Broad Marginal Risks cover much of the Plains on Days 4 and 5 and back into the northern Rockies/High Plains near the back end of the front as much higher than average instability (per the Extreme Forecast Index) lingers before lessening early next week. No Slight Risk areas are noted at this time due to uncertainties in rainfall placement and the localized/isolated nature of the thunderstorm complexes. Meanwhile some monsoonal moisture is forecast to linger especially in New Mexico on Friday, prompting a continued Marginal Risk there and stretching into Colorado as the moisture meets the frontal system. Moisture looks to become more limited to eastern New Mexico Saturday and lessen even more early next week, furthering the relatively dry monsoon season especially across Utah/Arizona. The cold front pushing through the Southeast will continue to lessen the scope of dangerous heat late week. On Friday, heat will be located across southern Georgia into Florida, where HeatRisk remains in the Major (level 3/4) and Extreme (level 4/4) categories, as temperatures reach well into the 90s with higher heat indices (nearing 110F), while morning lows well into the 70s and nearing 80 will not provide much relief. Florida may see hot conditions continuing into Saturday as the front stalls north of the state, but thunderstorm chances increase there over the weekend and early next week, which should limit extreme heat. Behind the front, cooler than average temperatures (especially highs) are likely. Into the weekend, highs of 5-10 degrees below normal are forecast in the East, while much of the Plains can expect highs of 10-15 degrees below average, with highs in the 70s as far south as Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. Temperatures should gradually warm across those areas into early next week. Meanwhile the Northwest can expect below normal temperatures as rounds of troughing move through. But farther south, the Southwest can expect seasonable heat (near to slightly above average), with the lower desert areas seeing temperatures 105-110+ degrees. Fracasso/Tate Additional 3-7 Day Hazard information can be found on the WPC medium range hazards outlook chart at: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/threats/threats.php WPC medium range 500mb heights, surface systems, weather grids, quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF), excessive rainfall outlook (ERO), winter weather outlook (WWO) probabilities, heat indices, and Key Messages can be accessed from: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst500_wbg.gif https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst_wbg_conus.gif https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/5km_grids/5km_gridsbody.html https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/day4-7.shtml https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ero https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/pwpf_d47/pwpf_medr.php?day=4 https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/heat_index.shtml https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ovw $$