Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Charleston, WV
Issued by NWS Charleston, WV
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028 FXUS61 KRLX 250021 AFDRLX AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Charleston WV 721 PM EST Sun Nov 24 2024 .SYNOPSIS... Dry weather through Monday morning. The next cold front brings rain later Monday into early Tuesday. Rain and mountain snow possible to end the week. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH MONDAY/... As of 715 PM Sunday... No major changes were made to the forecast, as things appear to be generally on track. Did tweak tonight`s low temps down a bit in some spots based on current conditions and trends. As of 1250 PM Sunday... The forecast area has branched back out to pleasant sunshine this afternoon in the midst of surface high pressure. One last batch of low hanging stratus was scattering out across north- central West Virginia at the time of writing while high cirrus periodically passes overhead from the west. Low level flow out of the southwest has established itself at most weather stations this afternoon, which will tap into warming temperatures to round out the weekend. Charleston and Huntington had already surpassed 50 degrees at noon and is projected to plateau into the mid to upper 50s for the day. For our northern and eastern zones, lingering morning cloud deck prompted a delay in warming temperatures, but should still rise into the upper 40s in the northern lowlands and the 40s along the higher terrain. High pressure will retain residency over the region tonight under mostly clear skies. Morning lows will topple down into the 30s across the board, but should quickly ramp up into the 50s/60s on Monday ahead of our next disturbance. The surface high will swiftly depart to the east throughout the day Monday as the next low pressure system/cold front aims for the forecast area late in the near term period. Strengthening southwesterly flow will yield the aforementioned warm up into the 50s and 60s during the day, followed by increasing cloud coverage by the late afternoon into the early afternoon. Higher resolution model guidance depict rain sprinting ahead of the front and could arrive to the lower Ohio Valley as early as mid-morning. This will then slowly graze our northwestern zones throughout the day from southwest to northeast, then establish further into the forecast area in the afternoon and evening as the front inches closer. && .SHORT TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... As of 1204 PM Sunday... Rain will continue into the mid morning or early afternoon hours of Tuesday, with some gradual clearing expected by the late afternoon. Rainfall totals will generally remain light, only amounting to 0.25- 0.50" across most of the region. After a briefly mild day Monday, Tuesday will return to seasonably cool weather with highs only in the upper 40s across the mountains and the lower 50s in the lowlands. High pressure will build into the region Tuesday into Wednesday, bringing a two-day stretch of mainly dry weather. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY/... As of 1204 PM Sunday... The next low pressure system will approach from the west Wednesday night into Thanksgiving morning, likely bringing another round of rain to the area for Thanksgiving Day. In the mountains, temperatures may be cold enough for precipitation to begin as some mixed rain and snow showers, before transitioning to rain for the majority of the day. Models are in good agreement showing a strong blast of cold air advection following this system for Thursday night into Friday, with overnight lows likely to be in the upper 20s and lower 30s. This cold blast will allow for a transition from rain to snow showers, first in the mountains and eventually in some of the lowlands, late Thursday night into Friday morning. There is some potential for upslope snow showers during the day Friday with a west-northwest flow, but models are not in agreement with the low-level moisture profile, with some showing drier air and others showing more saturated air with a moisture connection from the Great Lakes. This could be the difference between isolated and more widely scattered snow showers. Confidence will increase with time as models come into better agreement. This unusually cold airmass will continue throughout the weekend and into the new week, with highs no better than the 20s and 30s areawide Friday through Monday. In addition, we will also monitor for potential on and off snow showers, particularly in the northern WV mountains. Snow chances may increase a bit Sunday into Monday with models showing another burst of cold air and upper-level energy diving into the region from the northwest. && .AVIATION /00Z MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... As of 620 PM Sunday... VFR conditions through tomorrow morning, as skies remain clear tonight, with high and then mid-level clouds moving in Monday morning. Southern sites are likely to remain VFR through the period, though some low VFR ceilings could start to work in to HTS and CRW by midday, with PROB30 for showers for the last few hours of the TAF. EKN should also stay VFR through the period, unless they get some unexpected fog later tonight should they decouple thoroughly enough. For PKB and CKB, clouds will begin lowering earlier, with MVFR CIGs in the prevailing forecast from around 18z onward. However, it will likely still take a while for precip to start even in these northern sites. A low-level jet currently over Middle Mississippi and Lower Ohio Valleys will weaken as it shifts east towards our CWA tonight. However, it may still have enough winds aloft to produce a bit of LLWS late tonight into early tomorrow morning for HTS, but shouldn`t impact other sites. The LLJ may strengthen again during the day tomorrow based on some model data, but enough gusty winds should mix down to the surface to reduce any LLWS below TAF thresholds. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: High. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: LLWS may develop in additional sites before sunrise Monday morning. EXPERIMENTAL TABLE OF FLIGHT CATEGORY OBJECTIVELY SHOWS CONSISTENCY OF WFO FORECAST TO AVAILABLE MODEL INFORMATION: H = HIGH: TAF CONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. M = MEDIUM: TAF HAS VARYING LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY WITH MODELS. L = LOW: TAF INCONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. DATE MON UTC 1HRLY 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 EST 1HRLY 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 CRW CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H HTS CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H BKW CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H EKN CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H PKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H CKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H AFTER 00Z TUESDAY... IFR ceilings and low visibility possible late Monday night into Tuesday as a cold front crosses with rain showers. && .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...None. OH...None. KY...None. VA...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...MEK/FK/JMC NEAR TERM...MEK/FK SHORT TERM...JMC LONG TERM...JMC AVIATION...FK