Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Miami, FL
Issued by NWS Miami, FL
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600 FXUS62 KMFL 032245 AFDMFL Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Miami FL 645 PM EDT Thu Sep 3 2026 ...New AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... Updated at 640 PM EDT Thu Sep 3 2026 - An active weather pattern remains in place through the end of the week and into the upcoming weekend as scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms will develop each day. The strongest storms could contain gusty winds and frequent lightning. - Heavy downpours with high rainfall rates combined with slow moving storms will continue to create the potential for localized flooding especially over the urban and poor drainage areas. - High temperatures will generally rise into the lower 90s across most of South Florida through the end of the week and into the upcoming weekend. && .SHORT TERM... (Rest of today through Friday) Issued at 335 PM EDT Thu Sep 3 2026 Mesoanalysis this afternoon indicates a rather humdrum convective environment across South Florida with brief instances of sufficient localized ascent, maximized primarily along collision points/convergence of mesoscale boundaries. While several synoptic features exist on the far periphery of our area (upper level ridge axis across the southwestern Atlantic waters, upper level low just to the north of the Yucatan), overall synoptic influence remains rather meager directly overhead of South Florida. 500MB temperatures (based on the 18z MFL upper air sounding and ACARS data) have warmed to around -5C which is near the 90th percentile for today`s date. Warmer air aloft has resulted in a continuation of lackluster low and mid level lapse rates which will limit any rapid upward convective development growth and the threat of seeing more robust convective cores across our area. Upper level flow between the upper level ridge axis well to our northeast and upper level low near the Yucatan to the southwest remains out of an southeasterly direction which has resulted in anvil debris being briskly carried off to the northwest. Even with anvil blow off tempering diurnal heating across the region, a classic high instability, low shear environment remains in play across South Florida this afternoon and evening. Ongoing scattered showers and storms are likely to congeal into outflow dominant multicellular clusters that propagate along sprawling boundaries. While the 18z upper air sounding from MFL and RAP mesoanalysis shows some residual dry air in the vertical column, meager low level lapse rates will prevent any threat of strong to marginally severe wind gusts with multicellular clusters today. In this type of weather regime, the main concern for impacts will be frequent lightning activity and heavy rainfall. Where pinned boundary collisions occur, convection may persist slightly longer which could result in pockets of 2-3" of rainfall in a short period of time. The HREF and REFS both depict a corridor of higher QPF across inland southeastern Florida over the next several hours, primarily focused just inland of the east coast metro. Model guidance can be fickle in the exact placement of these higher pockets of QPF, so some potential remains for east coast metro areas to see heavy rainfall and pockets of localized flooding, although the threat will remain fairly marginal in nature. Overnight convective activity is forecast to favor the nearshore waters of South Florida as a land breeze and greater instability provide the best dynamics there. A slight enhancement of background southeasterly surface flow on Friday will result in the foci of activity shifting westward across interior southwestern Florida on Friday afternoon. Once again, overall convective parameters will be fairly run of the mill for this time of year with the main threat with convective activity once again being lightning and pockets of heavy rainfall. Forecast model soundings depict 500mb temperatures in the -5C to -6C range and meager low and mid level lapse rates on Friday which will keep diurnal convection fairly benign in nature. The HREF and REFS once again depict a corridor of higher QPF (2-3"), shifted further west across inland southeastern Florida. Given ongoing dry antecedent conditions, this rainfall will help to continue to alleviate the moderate to severe drought across most of inland South Florida at this time. High temperatures outside of shower and thunderstorm activity (and any resultant cloud cover), will reach the low to mid 90s across the region on Friday afternoon. && .LONG TERM... (Friday night through next Wednesday) Issued at 335 PM EDT Thu Sep 3 2026 Model guidance is fairly consistent that moisture levels will remain elevated and above climatological norms with PWATs staying above 2" across South Florida going into the upcoming holiday weekend and into early next week. The subtropical surface ridge axis located just offshore of the Mid-Atlantic United States will continue to be displaced to the southeast into the open southwest Atlantic waters as we head into Friday and the weekend. Meanwhile in the upper levels, an expansive ridge that had been dominating the eastern section of the United States and keeping any and all significant weather features well to our north will finally start to erode. Looking further north, a large upper trough located over Atlantic Canada/New England will swing south and eastward during the latter part of the weekend and into early next week. An associated surface low pressure system and cold front will respond accordingly by dropping into the southeastern United States and becoming quasi- stationary thereafter over the Florida peninsula. At the same time, associated shortwave troughing will also look to drop southward in tandem with our surface cold front on the southwestern flank of the aforementioned upper trough, though the orientation of this vort max and the most robust dynamics will remain to the north of South Florida. ALl in all, the presence of enhanced moisture will keep scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms in the forecast through Labor Day weekend and into the early part of next week. Our subtropical ridge, as it undergoes a slight westward expansion, will help induce a more established southeasterly flow through the first half of the weekend, thus allowing daytime convection to primarily favor the interior portions of South Florida as the Gulf sea breeze also pushes inland each afternoon. We will look to lose the influence of our subtropical ridge during the second half of the weekend and into the Labor Day holiday as we see it retreat into the southwest Atlantic and be gradually replaced by a southward-advancing cold front. As a result, we will notice a wind shift from southeasterly to more southwesterly across much of the peninsula, leading to favored shower and thunderstorm chances across our eastern metros. As with any pattern that has convection pinned to the east coast, localized flooding will be a legitimate concern in low-lying/poor drainage areas. The overall severe threat will be low throughout this long- term period as we expect mid-level temperatures to remain warmer than average (falling within the 50th and 90th percentiles), shear to stay relatively light, and no significant dry air intrusions to promote microburst potential. The cold front, which will stay draped north of our region, will slowly dissipate after Labor Day through mid-week, allowing high pressure to build behind it and thus reintroducing an easterly flow regime to the peninsula. In addition to the heavy rainfall threat, cloud-to-ground lightning will perhaps be our most pressing convective hazard this weekend with many of us likely spending extended periods of time outdoors in our festivities. Always remember, when thunder roars, go indoors. Remain sheltered for at least 30 min after you have heard the last clap of thunder. Highs are forecast to remain in the low to mid 90s with maximum apparent temperatures reaching the 100-105 degree range each afternoon preceding the initiation of daily convection. Widespread moderate to locally major HeatRisk is expected to govern both of our coastal metros. && .AVIATION... (00Z TAFS) Issued at 640 PM EDT Thu Sep 3 2026 L/V winds are forecast overnight at all terminals with a continued decrease of SHRA/TSRA in the near term, remaining away from terminals. Between 06-12z, SHRA/TSRA may increase in coverage across the nearshore waters along both the Atlantic and Gulf coast. Confidence remains low for any impacts to terminals during this time frame but have maintained the previous timing of VCSH/VCTS at this time. SErly at east coast terminals and SWrly flow at KAPF will kick in between 15-17z on Friday with increasing SHRA/TSRA. && .MARINE... Issued at 455 PM EDT Thu Sep 3 2026 Light southerly winds will prevail across the nearshore waters through the remainder of the week into the upcoming weekend. Seas across the Atlantic and Gulf waters will remain at 2 feet or less through the end of the work week. Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are forecast to develop each day through the rest of the week into the upcoming weekend. Gusty and erratic winds, elevated waves, as well as the occasional waterspout will be possible in and around thunderstorm activity. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Miami 80 90 80 90 / 40 50 40 80 West Kendall 78 90 78 90 / 30 50 40 90 Opa-Locka 80 91 79 91 / 30 50 30 90 Homestead 79 91 80 91 / 40 50 40 80 Fort Lauderdale 81 90 81 90 / 40 40 30 80 N Ft Lauderdale 80 91 80 90 / 40 40 30 90 Pembroke Pines 81 90 80 90 / 30 50 30 90 West Palm Beach 79 91 79 91 / 40 40 30 90 Boca Raton 80 90 80 90 / 40 40 30 80 Naples 78 91 77 90 / 30 50 30 80 && .MFL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. AM...None. GM...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Hadi LONG TERM....AD AVIATION...Hadi