552
FXUS62 KGSP 011152
AFDGSP

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Greenville-Spartanburg SC
652 AM EST Mon Dec 1 2025

.SYNOPSIS...
Drier conditions briefly return to the area today before widespread
precipitation returns tonight into Tuesday. Behind the system, high
pressure will result in chilly and dry conditions Wednesday and
Thursday. Unseasonably cold and unsettled weather is expected Friday
as another system brings more precipitation to the area.

&&

.NEAR TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY/...
As of 628 AM EST Monday...

Key Messages:

1) Isolated dense fog may persist for another hour or so across
parts of the Upstate and Piedmont.

2) Quiet but chilly conditions today as high pressure passes by.

3) Another round of rain picks up tonight, with potential for more
freezing rain across the northern NC mountains.  Winter Weather
Advisory has been issued for the northern Blue Ridge from 7 PM
Monday through 10 AM Tuesday.

Dense fog has mostly cleared out this morning as rush hour begins,
but more than likely some isolated areas of patchy dense fog
remain in place, and won`t truly scour out for another hour or so.
The SPS for Dense Fog will expire at the top of the hour, and this
seems reasonable based on current trends.

Mostly quiet conditions still expected today, as surface high
pressure currently analyzed over central Illinois and Indiana
migrates into the Ohio Valley this afternoon and eventually off
the Mid-Atlantic coast by tonight.  Should see a definite period
of dry, quiet weather, but hi-res guidance suggests we`ll never
quite get rid of upper-level cloud cover, so at least thick cirrus
should stick around most of the day.  This will once again limit
solar insolation, and so highs today will only make it into the
mid-40s once again.

Active weather will once again pick up tonight as the axis of
a stronger z500 trough dips down out of the Great Lakes region,
resulting in an uptick in synoptic-scale forcing across the area
after sunset.  As noted by the previous forecaster, the NBM has
consistently depicted onset of rainfall earlier than nearly all
the other guidance...especially the CAMs, which suggest only light
rain before 03z or so, with onset of more consistent, heavier,
and widespread rain holding off until closer to 06z for most
of the area.  The setup for Monday night/Tuesday looks eerily
similar to that of last Saturday night/Sunday, with low-level WAA
and moisture advection resulting in a rapid increase in moisture as
well as the development of a deep warm nose across most of the area.
One of the main differences looks to be surface temperatures, which
are forecast to be a little warmer Tuesday morning than they were
Sunday morning; as a result, accumulating wintry precipitation
looks to remain more confined to the northern Blue Ridge...where
a few hundredths of an inch of ice are expected.  Once again, the
NBM depicted disturbingly high ice accums across Avery, Mitchell,
and Yancey County...so had to tamp these down at higher elevations
which are likely going to be inside the warm nose.  Rather,
expect the bulk of accumulations to occur on mid-level slopes,
where at least light freezing rain will continue through much of
Monday night.  As a result, a Winter Weather Advisory has been
issued for the Appalachians north of the French Broad Valley,
beginning 7 PM Monday and ending 10 AM Tuesday.  It currently
appears unlikely that upgrades/expansions will be unnecessary,
but should they become necessary, they`ll be handled with the next
forecast package on Monday.

&&

.SHORT TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/...
As of midnight Monday morning:

Key message 1: Precip will change to snow or rime ice along the TN
border Tuesday afternoon as northwest flow develops behind the
departing system.

As colder air reaches the high elevations along the TN border Tuesday
afternoon, profiles cool and wintry precip again will become
possible. NW flow implies mainly snow or rime ice, though prog
soundings cool at differing rates with altitude, and brief freezing
rain or sleet may occur in transition to snow/rime. Precip looks to
taper to flurries by around sunset. Min temps Tue night will fall
into the lower 20s and upper teens across much of the NC mountains,
with mid to upper 20s otherwise.

Key message 2: Dry weather Wed and Thu. Temperatures trend
slightly cooler Wednesday but warmer Thursday.

Weak sfc high pressure will migrate across the Southeast beneath a
very low amplitude ridge between the departing low and the next
trough, comprised of loosely phased northern and southern stream
shortwaves. On Wednesday, despite sunny skies temps now look to end
up a little cooler than Tuesday owing to the freshly arrived
continental airmass, with highs mainly in the upper 40s to around 50.

The northern wave will be associated with a cold front, but dynamic
forcing is weak enough that its arrival Thursday should be dry and
airmass change does not actually occur. The incoming high remains
centered in the Ohio Valley thru the end of the day Thursday. Slight
downslope flow develops which should bring max temps a few degrees
warmer--almost back to normal for the Piedmont--despite increasing
high altitude cloud cover.

&&

.LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY/...
As of 100 AM Mon:

Key message 1: Wintry precip may return to some of the area late
Thursday night into Friday as a result of another cold-air damming
event.

Continental sfc high will migrate out of the Midwest and set up over
the Eastern Seaboard Thursday night, as the weak front settles around
the I-20 corridor. The southern shortwave mentioned in the short term
discussion will dig across the SW CONUS, itself shearing into a
transient wave inland and a deep almost cutoff component near Baja
California. The net height falls are shown to reactivate the front
Thursday night, with Miller-A cyclogenesis taking place again by late
Friday near the Carolina coast. Though the sfc high has trended
weaker in some solutions, in-situ CAD would appear to develop in our
CWA by Friday morning; models overall have come more in line in
depicting precip beginning around that time, with temperatures near
freezing over much of western NC and the northern tier of Upstate
zones.

Felt the NBM-derived temp and PoP trends Friday morning were
acceptable as-is; 00z GFS and 30/18z ECMWF prog soundings depict
moistening from the top down, and snow currently would appear to be
the main p-type for the areas that are sufficiently cold, likely
mixed with rain/sleet where temps are just above freezing. FZRA could
also occur early on in areas below freezing; once again the northern
mountains may see subfreezing temps lock in after the warm nose
strengthens and predominantly FZRA later in the day, with most other
areas all rain by early afternoon.  New 01/00z ECMWF coming in as of
this writing appears to have shifted back to a drier solution more
like it had shown 24 hours ago; the GFS solution has been consistent
in being wetter, fwiw. Friday is expected to be a very chilly day
even if the mixed p-types don`t materialize, with maxes in the lower
40s throughout the CWA, except for the colder mountain/foothill
locations.

Key message 2: Confidence remains low for next weekend`s forecast,
both for the occurrence of precip and the potential for winter
weather.

Major models continue to differ in their handling of the trough(s) in
the western CONUS, which leads to differences in how and when they
develop the next precip event. Assuming the Miller-A develops Friday,
it should be pulling away that night, and PoPs would decline
accordingly. As heights fall in the south central and/or western Gulf
regions, models appear in agreement that the coastal front again will
activate south of I-20, which could induce yet another upglide driven
precip event for our area Saturday. Then there`s the GFS like
solution that phases a northern Pacific shortwave with the southern
stream, induces a Midwest cyclone, and develops prefrontal precip for
our area by Sunday night. The result of these differences remains
PoPs declining very slowly Friday night and Saturday with more
chances returning late Sunday. Some freezing rain falls out of the
grids in the mountains as a result of PoPs lingering when temps cool
nocturnally and those models producing PoPs featuring shallow
upglide. This should be taken as a very low confidence forecast.
Daytime temps probably will trend back to within a few degrees of
normal for Sat-Sun, though CAD could continue if the wetter solutions
verify, and temps could remain locked into values closer to those
expected Friday.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/...
At KCLT and elsewhere: Dense fog has mostly cleared at this point,
with a few sites still seeing restrictions but the majority VFR.
Expect winds to pick up out of the NE at this time.  Some potential
for gusts overnight and into the first part of the morning,
especially at KAVL, before winds become lighter during the day
Monday.  VFR should persist through Monday, before the next round
of rainfall arrives Monday night, with -RA expanding from west
to east across the terminal forecast area, with associated flight
restrictions developing in short order.  Guidance indicates MVFR,
and eventually IFR, is to develop at all terminals by the end of
the 12z TAF period.  Once again, light FZRA is expected to develop
across the NC mountains before daybreak Tuesday, but likelihood
of impacting KAVL remains low, so no mention at this time.
Restrictions may begin to lift after 12z Tuesday, but improvement
will be slow, and a completely return to VFR isn`t expected til
after the end of the TAF period.

Outlook: VFR conditions return Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Another system may bring rain and associated flight restrictions
to the region on Friday and into the weekend.

&&

.GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GA...None.
NC...Winter Weather Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 10 AM EST
     Tuesday for NCZ033-049-050-501-503-505.
SC...None.

&&

$$

SYNOPSIS...AR
NEAR TERM...MPR
SHORT TERM...JCW
LONG TERM...JCW
AVIATION...MPR