Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Raleigh/Durham, NC
Issued by NWS Raleigh/Durham, NC
Versions:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
905 FXUS62 KRAH 271139 AFDRAH Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Raleigh NC 659 AM EST Thu Nov 27 2025 .SYNOPSIS... Cold high pressure will build in from the Midwest through early Saturday. A cold front will approach from the west late in the weekend. A developing storm system is expected to approach the region late Monday through Tuesday. && .NEAR TERM /TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT/... As of 400 AM Thursday... .KEY MESSAGES... - Much colder and breezy today into tonight. - Highs today in the 40s NW ranging into the lower 50s SE. - Wind chill readings in the 30s this afternoon. - Very cold tonight with widespread 20s for lows. The cold front has shifted offshore with strong CAA behind the front. Winds were 10-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph from the WNW and temperatures were tumbling. It was currently clear with a few high clouds evident. The theme of the day will be the cold breeze. A secondary theme will be an increase in high clouds that will be thick enough from time to time to dim the sunshine. Highs should recover into the 45-55 range from NW to SE. Then, once the upper disturbance passes mid to late day, look for decreasing high clouds. Winds will become gusty again after the climatological lull in winds around daybreak as mixing of stronger winds aloft reach the surface around mid-morning. Gusts to 20-25 mph will be common. Winds may become light around dusk, but another increase in wind may arrive as another surface of drier air arrives later today and early tonight. Otherwise, mainly clear tonight with lows in the mid to upper 20s. && .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT/... As of 400 AM Thursday... .Key messages... - Continued very cold for late November. - Despited sunshine, highs only in the 40s. Wind chill readings in the 20s/30s AM/PM. - A hard freeze with lows in the 18-24 range N to SE Friday night. Arctic high pressure will continue to build in from the Midwest on Friday. CAA will continue with breezy WNW winds 10-20 mph. Resultant wind chills will keep apparent temperatures below 35 in most areas in the afternoon. The high settles overhead late Friday night and Saturday morning. This will be the coldest night of this cold episode. Lows in the upper teens to mid 20s. The only good news will be diminishing breezes in the evening and mainly calm late. && .LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... As of 300 AM Thursday... * Two main rounds of light to moderate stratiform rain becoming increasingly likely Sun into Tues night. * Rainfall amounts for the Tues system remain highly uncertain. Confidence continues to trend higher that there will likely be two main rounds of light to moderate stratiform rain; one Sun into Sun night and another early Tues into Tues evening. The first will likely be the lighter of the two events with basically neutral H5 tendencies, weakening H750 WAA, remaining moisture advecting into the region, and initial stages of weak low-level isentropic ascent atop a warm front lifting into the area. Predominantly p-type character will be a cold stratiform rain, but a brief period of very light freezing rain can`t be completely ruled out early Sun morning north of the I-85 corridor. Given the increasing and lowering cloud layer, surface temperatures will be on the rise after midnight, but surface wet-bulb temperatures will remain below freezing until after 12-15z. Partial thickness analysis from available deterministic guidance suggests temperatures aloft will be far too warm to support any maintenance of ice crystals. Although a brief period of sleet is possible at the onset, liquid hydrometeors are most probable by the time they reach the surface. A retreating surface high and poor diurnal timing will likely make the brief potential of freezing rain inconsequential for the NW Piedmont. An in-situ CAD regime Sun into Sun night will likely erode as another surge of cold/dry air filters into the region Sun night into Mon, priming the airmass over the Mid-Atlantic for a classic CAD on Tues. This second system will be driven by shortwave progged to be located over the Four Corners Region Mon morning ejecting eastward and traversing the Mid-Atlantic by Tues night. Associated with this feature, a classic Miller-A surface low track is expected with the low originating along the stalled front in the Gulf Mon night and tracking across the Southeast and into the western Atlantic by Tues night. NWP guidance over the past 24-36 hours has trended towards a more favorable strength/location of a cold Canadian surface high over the Northeast, however, it is more transitory and does not supply a steady source of cold air in the low levels to support anything other than a cold rain. Rainfall amounts with this second system certainly have a higher ceiling, but remain highly uncertain (the most likely low-end totals from the EPS and GEPS still only show only a few hundredths to around 0.10", and mainly confined to the Sandhills and Coastal Plain of the Carolinas). Latest forecast rainfall amounts from WPC are slightly on the higher end of the solution envelope (closer to 50th to 75th percentile from the 12z grand-ensemble) and results in good soaking rain with totals ranging from 0.5 to 1" between Mon night and Wed. && .AVIATION /12Z THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... As of 659 AM Thursday... Through 12z Friday: VFR conditions are expected as high pressure builds in from the west. Winds will be gusty from the WNW and gusts will return with mixing by mid-morning lasting through the late afternoon at 10-20kt, with a few gusts to 25kt. Looking beyond 12z Friday, VFR conditions are likely through at least Sunday, then chance of showers and sub-VFR cigs increases as we trend to an unsettled weather pattern late in the weekend. && .Fire Weather / TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... As of 400 AM Thursday... .KEY MESSAGES... - It will be highlighted in the Hazardous Weather Outlook that the weather parameters are expected to support only minimal fire weather concerns today and Friday. - Relative humidities will be low... dipping to 20 to 25 percent by mid-afternoon. - Winds will be WNW at 10-20 mph, with gusts around 25 mph - The cold temperatures below 50 for most of the day will keep the threat of adverse fire weather behavior low to modest today. - Relative humidity recovery tonight will be slow and only to around 60-65 percent by around daybreak Friday. - WNW winds 10-15 mph and min. relative humidity values Friday should again be in the 20-28 percent range, lowest in the Sandhills. -Bottom line... After coordination with surrounding WFO`s, we will include mention of the breezy, cold, dry conditions in the Hazardous Weather Outlook with low Fire Weather concerns for now. && .RAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Badgett NEAR TERM...Badgett SHORT TERM...Badgett LONG TERM...Swiggett AVIATION...Badgett/Hartfield FIRE WEATHER...Badgett