Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Charleston, SC

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066 FXUS62 KCHS 042002 AFDCHS Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Charleston SC 402 PM EDT Tue Jun 4 2024 .SYNOPSIS... High pressure will extend across the area through Wednesday. A cold front will approach from the northwest on Thursday, then slowly move through on Friday. High pressure returns for the weekend. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING/...
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Rest of this afternoon: Radar continues to show that isolated to scattered convection remains confined to the far interior counties, from Allendale County, SC to Jenkins County, GA. Weak boundaries are propagating from these areas of convection, which will likely form isolated to scattered showers a little further eastward, especially if any of those boundaries can reach the seabreeze, which is currently 10 to 20 miles inland. Locally heavy rainfall is now looking a little more likely over the interior location due to the multiple boundary collisions and the relatively slow storm motions. This evening and overnight: Expect convection to steadily decrease after sunset due to the loss of heating/instability. A relatively mild night is expected, with minimum temperatures in the upper 60s to lower 70s, which is actually close to normal for this time of year. Still not concerned about any widespread fog, but some patchy, low level late night fog will be possible, especially within any areas that received rainfall this evening.
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&& .SHORT TERM /6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY/...
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Wednesday: A fairly active pattern will be in place as weak mid-lvl ridging shifts further offshore and becomes replaced with weak mid- lvl troughing across the Southeast United States. A series of h5 shortwaves associated with the trough will ripple across the area, the first of which occurs on Wednesday and helps promote scattered to potentially numerous showers/thunderstorms during peak heating hours. A seabreeze circulation could provide an additional focus of activity and a few stronger thunderstorms and/or isolated severe thunderstorm can not be ruled out during peak heating hours, mainly inland. Convection should then wane during evening hours. High temps should range in the upper 80s to lower 90s away from the coast. Overnight lows should range in the low-mid 70s away from the immediate beaches. Thursday: A southwest flow will help advect deep moisture to the region (PWATs near 2.0 inches) ahead of a cold front advancing toward the Southeast United States late day, suggesting the most active weather day of the week. Numerous showers and thunderstorms remain in the forecast during afternoon hours when stronger h5 shortwave energy arrives and the sfc front advances across the Midlands. Although wind fields remain rather weak, moderate levels of instability could result in a few pulse severe thunderstorms locally, especially if thunderstorm boundary interactions occur with an inland moving seabreeze across inland zones. Convection could persist into evening hours as the front begins to shift across the local area at night, posing a limited risk for a few stronger and/or isolated severe thunderstorm closer to coastal areas before midnight. However, the threat for stronger activity likely comes to an end during the second half of the night as the front begins to advance offshore. High temps for the day should range in the lower 90s for most areas away from the beaches. Low temps should dip into the upper 60s well inland to low-mid 70s closer to the coast. Friday: The cold front will likely reach the coast prior to daybreak, with a deep westerly flow occurring across the region in its wake during the day. There isn`t much in the way of cold air advection post fropa to start off the weekend and with a substantial downslope wind in place temps are likely to remain warm, perhaps in the lower 90s. However, moisture will likely be driven offshore with the front and subsidence associated with the downslope flow suggests precip chances will remain fairly limited to southern most areas, perhaps near the I-95 corridor across southeast Georgia. Given the amount of heating, a few thunderstorms can not be ruled out, but stronger/severe convection is not expected.
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&& .LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/...
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Although temps will remain fairly warm this weekend, the airmass will noticeably change due to substantially lower dewpoints. This should also limit the potential for convection. An increase in moisture early next week and some shortwave energy will bring a return to scattered diurnal convection.
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&& .AVIATION /19Z TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
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Rest of today and tonight: VFR conditions are expected to prevail at KCHS, KJZI, and KSAV. Still looks like the best chance for an isolated afternoon shower/thunderstorm will be around KSAV through the rest of the afternoon, but changes are less than 20%. Wednesday: Increasing chances for afternoon showers/thunderstorms. Given 20-30% chances for convection start at the end of the current TAF period (18z Wed), have decided to leave mention out for now. Extended Aviation Outlook: TEMPO flight restrictions are possible Wednesday afternoon with showers and thunderstorms and again on Thursday with showers and thunderstorms associated with a passing front. VFR conditions should then prevail Friday and persist through Sunday.
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&& .MARINE...
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Rest of this afternoon: The waters will remain dominated by Atlantic high pressure, centered to the southeast. Winds generally from the southeast at 10 to 15 knots, strongest near the coast with the seabreeze. There could be some gusts of 15 to 20 knots near the coast later this afternoon. Seas expected to average 2-3 feet. Tonight: Continued relatively quiet with southeast winds of 5 to 10 knots. Could see isolated late night showers/thunderstorms, especially beyond 20 nm offshore. Wednesday through Sunday: High pressure will remain over the western Atlantic Wednesday, maintaining southerly flow around 15 kt or less into early Wednesday night. The pressure gradient should then show signs of strengthening heading into Thursday as a cold front approaches from the west Thursday night into early Friday. Southwest winds gusting upwards to 15-20 kt are possible ahead and immediately post fropa, before the pressure gradient weakens and winds turn more offshore heading into the weekend. Seas should also build up to 3-4 ft into Thursday night, then subside to 2-3 ft during the weekend.
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&& .TIDES/COASTAL FLOODING...
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This evening: Latest guidance and tide trends indicating that tide levels for the Charleston Harbor site will reach near 7 feet, but there is still some uncertainty. Due to the marginal nature of this event, have opted to hold off issuing a Coastal Flood Advisory, but one may be necessary. Astronomical tides will continue to rise this week. Although meteorological conditions are not very favorable for elevated tides, we are expecting the threat for a positive tidal anomaly of 0.5 to 0.7 ft. Therefore, the evening high tides Wednesday and Thursday could reach at least 7.0 ft MLLW in Charleston, necessitating Coastal Flood Advisories.
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&& .CHS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GA...None. SC...None. MARINE...None. && $$ NEAR TERM...RFM SHORT TERM...DPB LONG TERM...DPB AVIATION...RFM MARINE...DPB/RFM