Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Charleston, WV

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387 FXUS61 KRLX 071548 AFDRLX AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Charleston WV 1148 AM EDT Fri Jun 7 2024 .SYNOPSIS...
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Cooler and drier Saturday under high pressure. Precipitation chances return early Sunday with a cold front with pop-up activity continuing into early next week.
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&& .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/... As of 605 AM Friday... Early morning satellite trends show river valley fog present down in the southern coalfields and faintly up into the Kanawha Valley. Included a mention of fog in the wx grids for the next several hours before its anticipated erosion shortly after 8 AM. Also tweaked temperatures and sky conditions to reflect current observations around the area this morning. As of 125 AM Friday... A cold front continues to make slow eastward progress through the forecast area into the Mid-Atlantic early this morning, with light shower activity still noted along the West Virginia mountains at the time of writing. Once this last batch of precipitation wanes and departs the forecast area, dry weather prevails today under the guise of encroaching high pressure. Low level pressure gradient tightens overhead late this morning into the afternoon in the wake of the cold front and ahead of the establishing surface high. Forecast soundings suggest northwest winds of 15 to 25 kts during the day, settling back to lighter thresholds this evening. Fair weather cumulus deck sprouts this afternoon under a temperature spread of low to mid 60s along the mountains and mid to upper 70s for the lowlands. Dew points drop into the 50s today in the wake of the cold front, relinquishing the area of muggy conditions for the end of the work week. Cooler temperatures anticipated for tonight, bottoming out into the 50s for late tonight into Saturday morning. && .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/...
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As of 1146 AM Friday... A quick moving shortwave will affect the area late Saturday night, early Sunday, with some light shower activity possible, mainly across far southern zones. Showers and storm chances increase during the afternoon Sunday, with the arrival/passage of a weak cold front, combined with diurnal heating. Thunderstorms should generally be isolated in nature, and severe is not anticipated. Much in the way of water issues are not anticipated either due to isolated nature and anticipated movement of any storms. A shortwave moving across the northeast may provide some light/brief shower/storm activity mainly across the north and east on Monday, but overall drier and cooler weather will take hold with surface high pressure building in, and northwesterly flow aloft taking hold.
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&& .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... As of 1210 PM Thursday... The long term period will be characterized by mean troughing over the east coast and relatively flat ridging over the western half of the country. Seeing some differences in model solutions regarding the western flank of elongated low pressure along the Canadian border and interaction with the aforementioned weak ridging. The last couple runs of the GFS have cut this feature off and tucked it under the ridge, eventually being picked up by a shared energy area early next week. GEFS mean, as well as the operational EC and Canadian seem to depict a more plausible scenario with this energy ridging the northern stream. Net result would be slightly higher synoptically forced precipitation chances Monday night into Tuesday with the operational GFS. Otherwise, expect mainly diurnally driven isolated showers and thunderstorms for much of next week. Temperatures will generally be on a rising trend through the week from around 5 degrees below normal to 5 to 10 degrees above normal by Friday. If the outlier GFS solution were to be realized the warming trend would be significantly stunted for the middle of next week. && .AVIATION /16Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
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As of 605 AM Friday... Generally quiet conditions triumph this morning in the wake of a cold frontal passage. Fog development has taken shape across parts of southern West Virginia this morning, but has yet to creep into any TAF site by the time of writing. If fog were to reach the airfield, its longevity will be short lived as the sun continues to rise and daytime mixing transpires. High pressure will slowly track in from the Tennessee Valley today, promoting dry weather through the period. May see a fair weather cumulus deck sprout this afternoon, but should pose little to no chance of vertical development. Winds will be slightly breezy to gusty across the area today in the midst of a tightened pressure gradient. Gusts on the order of 15-25 kts were included at all TAF sites through this evening, diminishing in intensity after sunset into the overnight hours. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: High. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Brief period of fog may attempt to develop this morning at EKN. 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. UTC 1HRLY 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 EDT 1HRLY 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 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 18Z SATURDAY... No widespread IFR conditions are expected at this time.
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&& .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...None. OH...None. KY...None. VA...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...ARJ/SL NEAR TERM...MEK SHORT TERM...JP LONG TERM...SL AVIATION...MEK