Prognostic Meteorological Discussion
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
277 FXUS02 KWBC 091859 PMDEPD Extended Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 159 PM EST Sat Nov 9 2024 Valid 12Z Tue Nov 12 2024 - 12Z Sat Nov 16 2024 ... Another atmospheric river to bring heavy rain and mountain snow threats to parts of the Northwest mid next week... ...Overview... A fairly progressive pattern is forecast next week. Upper troughing over the East to start the period Tuesday will push into the Atlantic into midweek while another trough tracks from the Intermountain West to the central U.S. Tuesday-Wednesday and into the East around Thursday, bringing some light to moderate much- needed precipitation for the Midwest to Mid-Atlantic/Northeast. Upper ridging is likely on either side of these troughs, promoting some warmer temperatures. Out West, an atmospheric river is forecast to impact parts of the Northwest around midweek bringing heavy rain and snow threats, with additional rounds of precipitation later in the week with trough reloading along the coast. ...Guidance/Predictability Assessment... Model guidance remains reasonably agreeable on the large scale progressive pattern, and exact timing and amplitude of the troughs and ridges are the most uncertain aspects of the forecast. The first trough shows okay agreement as it moves through the East, but as it tracks offshore there are model differences with an upper low perhaps closing off atop the western Atlantic by Wednesday or Thursday. Model differences with the next trough (the one that starts over the West Tuesday) may be more impactful for sensible weather. Namely, GFS and GEFS based guidance are quicker with the trough axis or at least farther east with its eastern side for Tuesday-Thursday, leading to QPF pushing eastward through the Midwest to Northeast more quickly than shown by the non-NCEP guidance. The WPC QPF made an attempt to slow down the NBM QPF that looked more like the GFS/GEFS, but may have ended up too light with amounts than will actually verify. The new 12Z GFS may be in slightly better alignment with the other guidance than its previous runs. Meanwhile the new 12Z CMC and ECMWF have the depth of the trough a little deeper into the South compared to previous runs, which also slows the trough down a bit, so will continue to monitor this possibility. Timing of the next trough moving through the West later week also shows some timing inconsistencies, and a couple of rounds of energy shaping the trough differ. Generally preferred a middle ground of the slower EC/EC mean and faster GFS/GEFS mean. The WPC forecast used a multi-model deterministic blend early in the forecast period, and then decreased amounts of the deterministic guidance (GFS and UKMET first, then CMC and ECMWF) as the period progressed in favor of the GEFS and EC ensemble means. ...Weather/Hazards Highlights... The main concern for weather hazards will be with a modest atmospheric river set to begin impacting the Pacific Northwest by Tuesday and may last a few days. Heavy Rainfall and mountain snows are expected, and with an AR expected in the short range period creating wetter antecedent conditions, excessive rainfall and flooding are possible. Marginal Risks remain in place for both Day 4/Tuesday and Day 5/Wednesday for parts of the Pacific Northwest and farther south into northern California as the AR slowly shifts southward midweek. Accumulated snow may become heavy in the Cascades as the week progresses, with modest snow amounts into the northern Rockies. The upper trough affecting the West early in the week will progress eastward and bring some areas of much needed but modest precipitation to the eastern half of the country during at least parts of the Tuesday-Thursday period. Continued model disagreements in the trough position/evolution do cause some spread for the positioning and amounts of precipitation on individual days, but on a broad scale, modest precipitation should affect parts of the Plains and Mississippi Valley Tuesday, spreading into the Midwest/Great Lakes and Ohio/Tennessee Valleys to Appalachians Wednesday, and toward the Eastern Seaboard Thursday. Most precipitation looks to fall as rain given the warmer than normal temperatures, until some ice and snow are possible in higher elevations of the Interior Northeast mid- to later week. Models are starting to show some potential for rain to focus near the central Gulf Coast on the southern side of the upper trough and front by Wednesday, but this is still uncertain. Winds may be gusty behind the associated low pressure and frontal system in the northern Rockies to northern Plains Tuesday-Wednesday. While system progression will provide some day-to-day variability, most of the lower 48 to the east of the Rockies should see above normal temperatures much of the week. Temperatures are forecast to moderate behind a cold front across the Great Lakes region Tuesday and over much of the Eastern Seaboard Wednesday, while the Plains and Mississippi Valley remain mild, with milder temperatures stretching into the east-central U.S. by late week under the trough. Meanwhile lingering snow cover in the central/southern Rockies will promote cooler than normal highs there. The West otherwise should generally near to a bit below normal, with increasing coverage of below normal temperatures (especially highs) by late week. Tate/Santorelli 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 $$