


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Springfield, MO
Issued by NWS Springfield, MO
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461 FXUS63 KSGF 041100 AFDSGF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Springfield MO 600 AM CDT Fri Apr 4 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - High confidence in multiple rounds of heavy rainfall through this weekend. Increasing confidence in this resulting in potentially significant flooding, especially in south-central Missouri. Today into Saturday look to be the most impactful days. A Flood Watch remains in effect along and southeast of Interstate 44. - Marginal(1 of 5) to Moderate(4 of 5) risk of severe storms today into this evening. Large hail will be the primary hazard. There will be a conditional risk for tornadoes over part of south central Missouri. - Turning colder late in the weekend into early next week and we have a frost/freeze potential both Sunday night and Monday night. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/... Issued at 220 AM CDT Fri Apr 4 2025 Synoptic overview and current conditions: Water vapor imagery and upper level analysis show a highly amplified upper level pattern over the CONUS with a large trough extending from northern Manitoba into the Baja region. Broad southwesterly flow aloft continues from the southern plains through the mid Mississippi valley and into the Ohio valley. Strong low level flow from the Gulf across the lower Mississippi valley and into the TN and OH valley with a deep moisture axis from east TX into the OH valley. At the surface, a frontal boundary remains south and east of the forecast area with several waves of low pressure along the front which extends into TX. The entire CWA remains on the cool side of the front for now. Rest of the overnight period: The next wave of precipitation will continue to approach from the southwest, but is expected to mainly hold off reaching our CWA until after 11-12z. Today: This next wave of showers and embedded thunderstorms will expand across the area this morning as a 40 to 45kt low level jet overruns the surface front which will remain to the south of the area this morning. Some weak elevated instability might be supportive of some small hail during the morning. Heavy rain is expected over the area which may start to lead to some flooding in areas that receive multiple rounds of rain. As we head through the afternoon, surface low pressure and a warm front will try to make it into south central Missouri from the southwest. The most likely scenario would be for the front to make it into our far southeast counties. For those counties that do get into the warm sector south of the front, there will be a several hour window where surface based convection will be possible along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes. For this reason, SPC has lifted the moderate risk to include parts of Howell and Oregon counties while the enhanced risk includes at least parts of Shannon, Texas, Douglas, Ozark and Taney counties. While instability doesn`t look overly impressive, within the warm sector there would be enough surface based CAPE with the amount of low level shear present for the tornado risk. In addition to the severe risk, an axis of PW values around 1.5" to 1.7" will extend over south central Missouri within that moisture axis extending from east TX into the OH valley. Thunderstorms with heavy rain will support widespread rainfall amounts from 1 to 3" during the day today along and southeast of the I-44 corridor. This will likely lead to some flooding across these areas which remain in a flood watch through Saturday. Showers and thunderstorms continue tonight with the main area of precipitation across the eastern half of the CWA. The severe weather risk will continue over this area through the evening, but should end by the late evening. The heavy rain and flooding risk will persist over the eastern Ozarks where an additional 1 to 4 inches of rain will be possible during the night. Area rivers in the eastern Ozarks will begin to rise quickly, and move above flood state tonight and continue to rise into the weekend, some into moderate and close to major flood stages. For Saturday, the next wave of energy will begin to push into the area with showers and thunderstorms continuing. While most of the severe storm potential should be southeast of the forecast area, the heavy rain potential will persist, especially through south central Missouri where the heaviest rain will have already occurred. && .LONG TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/... Issued at 220 AM CDT Fri Apr 4 2025 The upper level trough will finally begin to push into the area Saturday night into Sunday morning. Cold air advection on the back side of the low may cause some rain to mix with light snow during this time frame with only a dusting expected for those areas receiving light snow. As the upper wave shifts east of the area on Sunday into Sunday night, the precipitation chances should come to an end. Colder temperatures are expected late in the weekend into early next week and for those with agricultural interests, we may see some frost and sub-freezing temperatures Sunday night into Monday morning, with near freezing temperatures again on Monday night into Tuesday morning. We do have some upper 20s going in the forecast for Sunday night, so if you have some plants already outside you might want to be prepared to cover them or bring them inside for a couple days. By Tuesday we get into more of a zonal pattern and we should see temperatures moderate back into the 60s for highs and possibly some 70s in the west by Wednesday. 70s are expected for all of the area by Thursday. Outside of the 7 day outlook, it looks like upper level ridging will build into the area and we should see generally dry and warmer than normal temperatures. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SATURDAY/... Issued at 532 AM CDT Fri Apr 4 2025 IFR/LIFR ceilings will occur today as heavy rain and thunderstorms begin to move into southern Missouri this morning. Visibilities may be reduced down to 3 SM in and around these thunderstorms. Biggest threat with these storms is large hail up to 2 inches. Expect rain to persist through most of the day with a front pushing through around 03-04z Saturday, switching the winds to the north. A break in the rain will occur just before midnight tonight but ceilings will remain low overnight. && .HYDROLOGY... Issued at 220 AM CDT Fri Apr 4 2025 Expected rainfall amounts within the 25th and 75 percentile range for the remainder of the event: Nevada, Warsaw: 1.0" to 2.1". Joplin, Bolivar, Osage Beach: 1.4" to 3.5". Springfield, Lebanon, Fort Leonard Wood, Rolla: 2.3" to 5" Branson, Houston, Salem: 3.2 to 6.4" West Plains, Eminence, Alton: 3.6" to 6.5" High end amounts (10% chances of happening): Nevada, Warsaw: 2.8" to 3.0" Joplin, Bolivar, Osage Beach: 3.5" to 4.2" Springfield, Lebanon, Fort Leonard Wood, Rolla: 5.6" to 6.1" Branson, Houston, Salem: 6.4" to 7.8" West Plains, Eminence, Alton: 7.3" to 7.5" All of this rain will lead to flooding, especially along and southeast of the I-44 corridor where a flood watch remains in effect. Significant river flooding is also expected in these areas with current river forecasts based off of these rainfall projections bring river stages in to the moderate to near major flooding categories over the weekend. && .SGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...None. MO...Flood Watch through Saturday evening for MOZ070-071-081>083- 090>098-101>106. && $$ SHORT TERM...Lindenberg LONG TERM...Lindenberg AVIATION...Soria HYDROLOGY...Lindenberg