Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Detroit/Pontiac, MI

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842 FXUS63 KDTX 251638 AFDDTX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac MI 1238 PM EDT Sat May 25 2024 .KEY MESSAGES...
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- Showers are likely again with a chance of thunderstorms Sunday evening and Sunday night. There is a Marginal Risk of severe weather with these storms. - There is also a Marginal Risk of Excessive Rainfall Sunday evening through Sunday night. See Hydrology section of the AFD. - The Memorial Day outlook calls for cool temperatures with showers likely Monday and Monday night.
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&& .AVIATION...
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Post frontal dry air advection is well underway across the area. Surface dewpoints along Lake Mi have dropped into the 40s. As the dry air continues its eastward expansion into Se Mi this afternoon, skies will undergo a clearing trend. Deepening of the afternoon mixed layer will be supportive of wind gusts in the 15 to 20 knot range. Winds will quickly decrease toward sunset as high pressure expands across Lower Mi from the southwest. This high will maintain dry and VFR conditions into Sunday afternoon as moves across Lower Mi and into the eastern Great lakes and upstate New York. For DTW/D21 Convection...Dry air and subsidence will hold across metro Detroit this afternoon well into Sunday afternoon. The chance for thunderstorms will increase across the airspace late Sunday afternoon in the south, then expand northward across the airport and northern portions of the airspace later in the evening Sunday. DTW THRESHOLD PROBABILITIES... * None.
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&& .PREV DISCUSSION... Issued at 341 AM EDT Sat May 25 2024 DISCUSSION... Rain chances to start the morning off but drier conditions on the way behind a passing cold front. The warm front has lifted through the region with good push of theta e advection on a weakening low level jet around 25-30 knots this morning. Ample moisture is/will be in place with PWATs around 1.25 inches and surface dewpoints set to rise from the mid 40s as of 5Z up to near 60 this morning. In addition, the nose of a mid level jet max enter the Great Lakes with the left exit region lifting NE through lower MI this morning. The low level jet with good moisture advection combined with the mid level jet support should all lead to a band of showers and thunderstorms along the cold front passing through between 12-16Z. best chances will be across the Saginaw Valley and Thumb with decreasing chances toward the Ohio border as the larger scale forcing pull northward. Surface ridge then builds northward the rest of the day leading to drier conditions and temps rising into the mid to upper 70s. Zonal flow will gradually take on more of a ridge locally overnight into Sunday as the next mid level system comes together over the Central Plains, resulting in downstream ridging. Attention in this period turns to the Plains system as it lifts into the Great Lakes Sunday evening through Monday. The more dominate upper level vort max centered over northwest Ontario will draw the developing shortwave northeastward from Kansas to the UP. Question as this surface low occludes sending the occlusion through SE MI Sunday evening and overnight, is the evolution of the convection and the implications on a developing triple point that would possible travel through southern MI. As we get deeper into the CAMs, they all have ongoing convective systems traveling from Iowa through northern IL/IN drifting east/SE along the instability gradient. Meanwhile the low and occluded front lift NE through MI. There is a chance the northern periphery of the convective complexes can reach northward into far southern MI. This will likely all be dictated by existing outflows from earlier convection and any MCV that can form on the north end of the complex that would affect MI. Overall though, there is a very strong surface low, compact and strong mid level vort max, elevated warm front bringing in PWATs in excess of 1.5 inches, 30 knots of bulk shear, and CAPE around 500 J/kg likely limited by moist lapse rates. So the background is there to warrant a conditional Marginal Risk per SPC Day 2 outlook with best chances of severe storms closer to the Ohio border. The other concern due to the wealth of moisture will be QPF amounts. Newest ERO Day 2 has most of SE MI in a Marginal Risk area, with convectively driven heavy shower potential. QPF totals between 00-06Z Monday in excess of a half inch focus south of M59 due to potential for the upstream convective system to clip it. Memorial Day looks cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Though the initial mid level system will be pulling away by Monday, we`ll be in the moist wrap around region with cold air advection aloft steepening low level lapse rates while a secondary mid level wave slides through the region. Highs will only make it into the low 70s for most locations. Cooler temps continue through mid week as longwave troughing sets up over the region and a cool Canadian surface high slides down. Highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s will carry us through Wednesday before warmer temps start working back into the region later in the week. MARINE... A low pressure system drifts from southeast Manitoba into western Ontario today causing modest local gradient winds to veer toward the southwest. The system`s LLJ extends across Lower Michigan and is now crossing into the central Great Lakes. Forecast soundings highlight a sharp low-level subsidence inversion limiting gust potential during the initial stable period. A rouge gust or two could approach the 25 knot threshold across Saginaw Bay where 30+ knot flow extends below 750 ft AWL; infrequency warrants foregoing a Small Craft Advisory. Meanwhile, the system`s cold front should make inroads across the basins and maintain some thunderstorms, some of which could generate locally higher winds/waves. Flow then flips northerly behind the boundary as thermodynamic profiles become more unstable, but a decrease in column winds keep speeds at-bay. An occluded low then tracks across Wisconsin and The UP Sunday night with another LLJ response. More showers and storms are expected, some of which may be strong to severe. Small Craft Advisory conditions are becoming increasingly likely Sunday evening and Monday as low-level lapse rates steepen amidst cold advection. Latest NBM winds feature a brief period of gusts to gales over Saginaw Bay which will need to be monitored. HYDROLOGY... Thunderstorms are likely Sunday evening into Sunday night as a strong low pressure system lifts into the region. Locally intense rainfall rates are possible in some thunderstorms with a high moisture environment in place. Forecast average rainfall amounts are around a third of an inch north of I69 with over a half inch to the south. Some locations south if I94 may receive over an inch of rainfall. Forecast adjustments are likely due to convective nature of the rainfall. Main concern would be for localized flooding of prone urban areas across the Detroit Metro region. && .DTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MI...None. Lake Huron...None. Lake St Clair...None. Michigan waters of Lake Erie...None. && $$ AVIATION.....SC DISCUSSION...DRK MARINE.......KGK HYDROLOGY....DRK You can obtain your latest National Weather Service forecasts online at www.weather.gov/detroit.