Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

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973 FXUS64 KFWD 222355 AFDFWD Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 655 PM CDT Wed May 22 2024 ...New Short Term, Aviation... .SHORT TERM...
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/NEW/ /Through Thursday/ The most widespread convection in progress this evening exists across Central Texas, and is in the process of impacting the Waco/Temple/Killeen area. This activity poses a high-end risk for all severe hazards, and will continue to advance ESE through Central and eventually East Texas in the proceeding hours. Meanwhile, additional isolated convection continues to redevelop in North Texas near and north of a consolidated outflow boundary which is presently draped from west to east just south of the I-20 corridor. Ample MUCAPE still exists above this boundary while ascent continues, and this will allow a marginally severe hail threat to exist with elevated supercellular activity for a few more hours across portions of North Texas. Following an eventual departure of Central Texas convection to the southeast and some dissipation of North Texas activity as the environment becomes increasingly overworked, a relative lull in convection is expected from roughly midnight through early Thursday morning. The one exception to this may be our northeastern zones where scattered shower and thunderstorm activity could persist as warm advection strengthens overnight. However, mesoscale influences of previous convection and the aforementioned outflow boundary location could heavily influence the existence and/or location of this convection. After daybreak, increased warm advection and dynamic ascent associated with a subtle mid-level disturbance will result in deeper convection near and south of I-20. This activity should spread northeast during the daytime, likely impacting portions of North Texas later in the afternoon. Due to extreme instability values and shear marginally supportive of supercells, all hazards will be possible with a primary threat for large hail and a secondary wind/tornado threat. -Stalley
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&& .LONG TERM...
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/Issued 217 PM CDT Wed May 22 2024/ Update: The long term portion of the forecast, as described below, has not changed much with additional storms expected Thursday associated with a lifting front and passing shortwave. It does appear the atmosphere will need to recover from overnight convection before additional storms get going, and that the front will have moved well to the north before large scale lift associated with the shortwave arrives. The best storm chances will be across North Texas during the afternoon with storms exiting to the northeast late Thursday evening. Plenty of moisture and instability will remain in place and there should be adequate deep layer shear to sustain updrafts. The difficult part will be determining just where convection will initiate Thursday since there will be no well-defined sources of low level convergence. Therefore, we will keep chance PoPs in the forecast for now. Some storms will be strong to severe with large hail being the primary threat. The threat for localized flooding will also remain through the afternoon. The remainder of the week through the weekend will be hot and humid with only some low afternoon/evening storm chances. It still appears that another cold front will enter the region Sunday night/Monday, resulting in drier and slightly cooler weather for Memorial Day. 79 Previous Discussion: /Thursday Onward/ A meandering surface front and a dryline will provide focus for thunderstorm development again on Thursday as a modest shortwave trough passes overhead. Recent CAM guidance has indicated that showers and storms may begin developing Thursday morning across Central Texas as forcing for ascent strengthens in advance of the disturbance, likely on the nose of a strong theta-e ridge. Morning showers and storms would likely be elevated in nature, making hail the main concern in any strong or severe storm. Convection would then develop farther north in the vicinity of the aforementioned surface boundaries as the atmosphere destabilizes Thursday afternoon. Models have been less aggressive with the Thursday convection compared to previous suites, perhaps a result of the atmosphere being worked over from Wednesday night storms or cloud cover associated with the Thursday morning activity. In addition, a persistent capping inversion around 850mb may also be a mitigating factor. Will keep POPs in the chance to slight chance category for now, with the best chances across Central Texas in the morning and North Texas in the afternoon. Any storm which forms (particularly in the afternoon and evening) could become severe with large hail and damaging winds; and locally heavy rain may also occur. Precipitation will come to an end Thursday night, followed by hot and humid weather on Friday as the front lifts well north of the region. A strong shortwave in the Plains will drag the dryline east to near the I-35 corridor, which may serve as a focus for isolated thunderstorms Friday afternoon and evening. Storm coverage would likely remain low, but a highly unstable airmass and strong flow aloft would allow any storm which forms to once again become severe. The dryline will remain the main focus for development on Saturday afternoon and evening as a stronger shortwave crosses the Southern Plains. A strong cap will be in place, but a few cells will likely break through it and quickly become severe. The best chances for storms on Saturday appears at this time to be along and north of I-20, and in the afternoon and evening hours. A lull in storm chances is then expected on Sunday as subsidence briefly dominates in the wake of the Saturday system. It will remain quite warm with highs ranging from the low 90s in the northeast to the upper 90s across the west. Sunday may end up being the warmest day temperature-wise, but lower dewpoints will be in place compared to Friday and Saturday (when heat indices will reach 100+ across most of the CWA). The next upper level system will drop southeast from Nebraska into Arkansas/Missouri Sunday night and Monday, dragging a cold front south through the entire region. Weak forcing will keep storm chances fairly low and limited to the eastern half of the region. Otherwise, cooler air will arrive on Memorial Day with the cold front, bringing near-normal temperatures to North and Central Texas Monday night through the midweek period of next week. 30
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&& .AVIATION...
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/NEW/ /00z TAFs/ Isolated thunderstorms continue to impact portions of D10 early this evening with strong elevated instability present above an outflow boundary from previous convection. TS activity at the D10 terminals remains possible through late evening, but mostly quiet weather is expected overnight before additional thunderstorm chances resume by mid morning Thursday. An intrusion of MVFR stratus is also expected overnight, with cigs at or below 2 kft expected to overspread all airports for severals hour through daybreak. Additional convective development is likely across D10 through peak heating, and a few hours of strong thunderstorms are expected in the vicinity the TAF sites during the mid/late afternoon period. For Waco, much more widespread strong/severe convection is in progress at the TAF site as of this writing, and will continue for the next few hours before vacating the terminal to the southeast around midnight. MVFR cigs will fill in afterwards, with additional TS development likely to affect the TAF site tomorrow morning into the early afternoon hours. -Stalley
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&& .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
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Dallas-Ft. Worth 71 86 73 93 73 / 40 40 20 5 20 Waco 72 87 73 91 72 / 90 40 10 10 20 Paris 68 83 68 89 68 / 60 40 50 5 30 Denton 68 85 71 91 69 / 40 40 10 5 10 McKinney 70 84 71 91 70 / 40 40 20 5 20 Dallas 70 87 73 93 72 / 40 40 20 5 20 Terrell 70 85 72 91 71 / 60 40 20 5 20 Corsicana 73 88 75 92 73 / 70 30 20 5 20 Temple 72 89 73 92 72 / 70 30 5 10 10 Mineral Wells 70 85 71 93 69 / 40 40 5 5 10
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&& .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch through late Thursday night for TXZ092>095-102>107- 117>123-130>135-141>148-156>161. && $$