Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Lake Charles, LA
Issued by NWS Lake Charles, LA
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629 FXUS64 KLCH 180901 AFDLCH Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lake Charles LA 401 AM CDT Sat May 18 2024 ...New SHORT TERM, LONG TERM... .SHORT TERM... (Today through Monday night) Issued at 400 AM CDT Sat May 18 2024 Early morning sfc analysis shows a weak cold front extending from an area of low pressure over far srn MS swwd across sern LA and into our far ern coastal waters. Water vapor imagery shows a significant shortwave approaching the forecast area from the Ozarks/ern TX. Combined with good moisture over the region (00z KLCH sounding showed a low-level mean RH of 80 percent and a PWAT of 1.63 inches while KLIX raob showed 82 percent/1.85 inches), local 88Ds were showing widespread convection over coastal swrn LA/all of s-cntl LA, plus the adjoining coastal water...some of the activity over the Gulf was rather hefty with large hail possibly falling. Meanwhile, the other problem child over the forecast area was patchy dense fog developing. In the near term, have issued a Dense Fog Advisory for the wrn 2/3 of the forecast area as observations on the past hour have shown an increase in the number of sites seeing lower visibilities, or at least a downward trend. The fog should burn off after sunrise, with an expiration time for the advisory of 15z. This morning should see the last of the rain for a while. Ongoing activity is expected to continue pushing ewd as the mid-level shortwave shifts into the forecast area and the sfc front further departs. For now, POP grids show decreasing rain chances over the far sern zones for the first couple hours after sunrise. Thereafter, skies should begin clearing as good dry air aloft begins encroaching. Despite being on the back side of a cool front, it won`t really be cool today with highs generally in the upper 80s (about normal for mid-May). Moving forward, the remainder of the short term continues to look dry as ridging aloft builds over the region. Guidance isn`t very bullish on fog development tonight, which is reflected in the grids/zones at this time...suspect that the combo of clear skies/calm winds with lingering boundary layer moisture will spell at least some patchy fog development prior to sunrise Sunday. Look for highs back in the lower 90s for most of the area tomorrow and Monday. 25 && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday through Saturday) Issued at 400 AM CDT Sat May 18 2024 The bulk of the long term continues to look dry as the ridging aloft lingers into mid-week. We do begin to see a little bit of a pattern change by late Wednesday though as a nrn stream shortwave begins breaking down the ridge/nudging it ewd. Meanwhile, an associated sfc front is progged to drift swd into nrn LA before stalling. As a series of disturbances swing by to our north, we should see some convection begin encroaching on our nrn zones by Thursday, although rain chances remain rather small at this time. High temps generally hold around 90 degrees through the long term. Lows are progged to slowly inch upward with mid 70s likely across the srn zones by the end of the period. 25 && .AVIATION... (06Z TAFS) Issued at 1126 PM CDT Fri May 17 2024 A short wave will move across with showers and thunderstorms developing near an instability axis from just off the coast of southeast Texas into lower Acadiana. KBPT and KLCH will have light thunderstorm activity with MVFR conditions until about 18/08z. A better chance of thunderstorm activity will be at the KLFT and KARA terminals through 18/12z with potential for IFR conditions at KARA. Once the storm activity ends, and for the terminal at KAEX, low clouds and patchy fog will form with MVFR into IFR conditions through about 18/15z. On Saturday, drier and more stable air will move in and this should lead to mainly VFR conditions after 18/15z through the remainder of the day. Rua && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AEX 87 66 90 67 / 0 0 0 0 LCH 87 70 90 71 / 10 0 0 0 LFT 88 72 91 72 / 10 0 0 0 BPT 89 70 91 71 / 0 0 0 0 && .LCH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... LA...Dense Fog Advisory until 10 AM CDT this morning for LAZ027-028- 030-031-073-074-141-142-241-242. TX...Dense Fog Advisory until 10 AM CDT this morning for TXZ180-201- 259>262-515-516-615-616. GM...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...25 LONG TERM....25 AVIATION...07