


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Green Bay, WI
Issued by NWS Green Bay, WI
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442 FXUS63 KGRB 141557 AAA AFDGRB Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Green Bay WI Issued by National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 1057 AM CDT Wed May 14 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Marine Dense Fog Advisory for the nearshore areas of Lake Michigan through Thursday. - There is a chance (25-40%) for thunderstorms this afternoon for central WI with small hail possible. - Showers and storms are most likely (50-80% chance) Thursday afternoon and evening. Some severe storms are likely with the passage of a cold front. All hazards possible over central WI and large hail possible over eastern WI. && .DISCUSSION... UPDATE...Issued at 1057 AM CDT Wed May 14 2025 The fog quickly dissipated this morning and there is now a large area of clear skies. The clouds are bubbling over central WI where there is a little bit of mid level vorticity. The northwest half of WI is in a more favorable position for diurnally driven thunderstorms this afternoon due to that weak vorticity, which includes the western fringe of our forecast area (Eagle River to Stevens Point and west). The shear is very weak, so it only looks like a small hail threat. However, most of the area west of the Fox Valley should become fairly unstable due to the sunshine, so showers (lower chance for thunder due to no shear) are possible for most areas this afternoon. Expecting another round of dense fog tonight, although it should remain more confined to lakeshore counties and the Fox Valley rather than surging all the way into central WI. Cronce Issued at 418 AM CDT Wed May 14 2025 Dense fog of 1/2 mile visibility or less has pushed inland from Lake Michigan but has also begun to develop inland as well. Dense fog was originally tracked from the lake but has begin to develop elsewhere further inland than originally expected. A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect for Marinette, Oconto, Menominee, Shawano, Waupaca, Winnebago Counties and east through 10 AM CDT Wednesday. The visibilities have largely started to fall across the CWA with low ceilings mixing in as well. There has not been much signal for how this will play out early this morning but given the worsening conditions I have continued to spread the Dense Fog Advisory further west as obs continue to show lower visibilities. It does seem to have a patchy nature to it as some locations are showing up and down visibilities. However, later this morning as the sun rises we will start to see the fog and low clouds dissipate as we warm up. Advisory is slated to end at 15z be may be able to be ended earlier depending on how quickly this dissipates. Another round of pop-up showers and storms is possible this afternoon, primarily toward central WI away from the lake due to more stable air. Surface based CAPE increases to 500 to 1000 J/kg from central to north- central WI but with basically no deep layer shear any storms will remain unorganized. There is not much out there to force storms at all either outside of just your typical diurnal heating and maybe a some weak PVA aloft but if we can get a few storms the outflows from dying storms may be enough to bring more scattered storm activity. Once the sun goes down activity will likely dissipate fairly quickly Into Thursday we may see a fairly significant severe weather setup for the region as an EML will be building into Wisconsin starting Thursday morning, as a warm front surges north across the region. This will keep us capped in the morning hours but will feature steep 700-500mb lapse rates around 7.5-8.5 deg C/km. The cap will be located around 800-700mb and will be fairly significant at first. A few showers/storms may be ongoing along the leading edge of the EML early Thursday, mainly across the northern portions of the state, but for the most part the strong cap should limit shower/thunderstorm activity through at least early afternoon. The latest CAMs generally show little to no activity Thursday morning, which will mean plenty of sun to warm things up ahead into the afternoon. At the surface, southeast winds will allow for warmer temps away from the lake, with upper 70s to low 80s over the central and northern portions of the state. Expect cooler temperatures closer to the lake. Surface dewpoints are expected to rise into the upper 50s to mid 60s, highest further south. This is expected to result in a large band of 2000+ J/KG of MLCAPE across much of the state by early afternoon, gradually sliding eastward. An upper low centered over South Dakota will swing a band of PVA into western WI into the afternoon hours. In addition, a cold front at the surface will be swinging through as well. Thus, the forcing is expected to be plentiful and will help with overcoming the capping inversion from the EML. We will also start to see increasing flow aloft overspreading the area from the west, resulting in 40-50 kt of deep layer shear across the region. The greatest uncertainty with the forecast remains the dry midlevel air due to the EML. Most models have storms at this point especially across northern WI with the capping inversion largely eroded by the mid afternoon. Even if we do not fully erode the cap the forcing is still enough to bring some elevated supercells with large hail. But if we can become surface based the concern for all hazards increases. The question then turns to what the mode will be. Initially discrete supercells may be likely and while it could get a bit messy (less-discrete) fairly quickly you could easily see this remain mostly individual cells. The NAM 3km is very much a model that trends toward producing a line of storms but even this model keeps things rather discrete and cellular in nature. Eventually it may become more linear later on but this is definitely something to note. Any individual cells will have access to great low level helicity profiles with very large hail and even some tornadoes (possibly strong) will be possible. One thing to note is that further north cells become less fully discrete which could cause storms to injest rain-cooled air around it but this also could be a positive if it helps lower the LCLs which may be somewhat high with this event. Since frontal and upper level forcing will be stronger across the northern half of the state it remains likely that at some point these storms will become more linear in mode. The risk for straight line winds will increase with any linear segments, along with a continued hail and a QLCS tornado risk. As this pushes east the lake will come into play again with southeast flow and lake breeze circulation potentially causing storms to go elevated. Storms are likely to move quicker than expected with most of the severe risk out of the area by the early to mid evening hours. Friday through Wednesday: Upper level trough pivots across the western Great Lakes on Friday with another shortwave crossing during peak heating ahead of secondary cold front. The forcing and surge of CAPE over 500J/kg may result in another round of showers and some thunderstorms especially over east-central WI in the afternoon. Soundings show well mixed boundary layer with inverted-V profile, so there is a potential for strong and gusty winds with stronger storms. Really though, even besides possible convection, it will be a warm and breezy day as 850mb winds of 40-50 kts support peak gusts of 35-45 mph in the afternoon, strongest from the Fox Valley to the lakeshore. Highs will reach around 80 east-central and well into the 70s elsewhere. Cold front sweeps through Friday night as low pressure tracks across LakeSuperior. Cooler temps, arrive for Saturday as highs range from the mid 50s north, to around 60 in central WI and into the mid 60s for the Fox Valley to the lakeshore. Still could be scattered showers over northern WI in the cold air behind the low. High pressure then settles from Manitoba to Ontario later in the weekend bringing dry weather. Temps could drop into the mid 30s north Saturday night and/or Sunday night. NBM probabilities of min temps less than 35 are around 40 percent Saturday night over Vilas County, but increase and expand to 40-65 percent on Sunday night over much of northern Wisconsin. If winds become light, some frost could occur one or both of these nights. Broad troughing over the western CONUS late this weekend shifts east early next week, bringing the next chance of showers and storms to the area Monday night into Tuesday. Early, but machine learning progs do show at least a small chance (5-15%) that stronger storms could occur. Kuroski && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/... UPDATE... Issued at 1057 AM CDT Wed May 14 2025 The fog and low clouds cleared quickly this morning. Diurnal cumulus clouds are developing, with more agitated cu toward central WI. Centra WI has the better chance for scattered thunderstorms this afternoon, including the possibility for small hail. Other areas west of the Fox Valley have a chance for showers and lower chance for lightning. It looks like a rinse and repeat situation for fog and low clouds again tonight. Although the dense fog smay remain more confined to lakeshore areas rather than surging all the way into central WI. Cronce Issued at 626 AM CDT Wed May 14 2025 Fog remains scattered across northern WI with the denser fog more so patchy across the area. In addition this somewhat follows with the VLIFR CIGS. Gradually with the sun coming out we expect to see fog and even the low CIGS break up and eventually clear out later this morning across the area with some spots being quicker than others. VFR conditions later today though there will be chances for a few weak storms though they will mostly be located further west toward central WI. Into tonight we will again see chances for fog, possibly dense and low CIGS to push in from the lake. It looks likely to be less widespread than this morning but should at least impact areas closer to the Lake/Bay. Kuroski && .MARINE... Issued at 1057 AM CDT Wed May 14 2025 Given that the enviroment will continue to remain favorable (moist air over the cool open waters) for dense fog until this pattern breaks, we extended the Marine Dense Fog advisory until 7PM Thursday. We may be able to expire that a little earlier on Thursday as southerly winds kick in, so there is uncertainty in the end time. This includes the Bay area, although we may see less foggy conditions during the daylight hours there. Cronce && .GRB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...Dense Fog Advisory until noon CDT today for WIZ022. MARINE...Dense Fog Advisory until 7 PM CDT Thursday for LMZ521-522- 541>543. && $$ DISCUSSION... AVIATION... MARINE...