Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Charleston, WV

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378 FXUS61 KRLX 050536 AFDRLX AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Charleston WV 136 AM EDT Wed Jun 5 2024 .SYNOPSIS...
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Cloudy with a wave of showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. Another wave of convection ahead of a cold front late tonight. Cooler temperatures anticipated this weekend.
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&& .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/...
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As of 135 AM Wednesday... Fairly potential active day ahead as synoptically a semi-stationary boundary will drape across the northern tier of the CWA while we are in the warm sector with southerly flow pumping plenty of moisture into the area. The frontal boundary will eventually lift north by this evening. PWATs are up near 1.5 inches, the column will be saturated in the mid to upper levels and long skinny CAPE all tells us that heavy down pours are possible within shower or storms which will be capable of pumping down significant amounts of rainfall in as short period of time. QPF is generally around an inch for today into Thursday morning and heavy convection will likely add to those totals in certain areas, especially west of the Ohio River. WPC has placed us in a slight risk for excessive rainfall so an isolated water issue is not out of the question. There will not be too much instability (greatest instability likely along the Ohio River and west of there) as cloud coverage will stay fairly high today, however there will be enough to support storm activity area-wide. Some storms could be strong to severe across the Ohio River and west of there. SPC has place that area under a marginal risk for severe with the main threat being damaging wind, hail and we cannot rule out a tornado or two. Outside the threats we are looking at a warm although guidance had much higher temperatures than in the current forecast which was lowered by a few degrees due to the amount of cloud coverage and rainfall expected. Hi-res models imply there will be a wave of convection during the afternoon and another wave ahead of the cold front to our west late tonight. Overnight lows will be fairly high with clouds suppressing any radiational cooling along with fairly decent mixing at the surface through the overnight.
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&& .SHORT TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... As of 200 PM Tuesday... A low-level jet could develop Wednesday evening/night, allowing for the threat of stronger thunderstorms before all is said and done. CAPE will be on the downward trend after sunset though, however a few models show an MLCAPE boundary of 1,000J/Kg that could keep activity going a bit past sunset. Shear also looks to increase from 15-20kts to 20-30kts with the arrival of the LLJ. Still, these values are not conducive to a large-scale severe threat, so the thinking is maybe a few stronger or isolated severe storms with damaging winds and small hail. There is a marginal risk for severe thunderstorms across our SE Ohio counties and portions of WV along the Ohio River Wednesday evening/night. Heavy downpours will still be a continued concern in the evening with PWATs in the neighborhood of 1.50-1.75". Isolated flash flooding instances will be on the table and the area is under a marginal risk for excessive rainfall through Wednesday night. PoPs taper off from west to east Wednesday night, becoming more confined to the mountains as a large, upper-level low moves down out of Canada and forces a cold front through. Thursday looks to start off dry as a result, but chances for diurnal showers or storms remain as temperatures will be in the low to mid 80s across the lowlands; 60s and 70s in the mountains. Some quarrel with this is that the atmosphere looks to be capped Thursday, with a mid to upper-level dry layer. That said, kept higher chance PoPs farther east along the mountains where the elevated heat source and lift will be more favorable for storm/shower formation. Conditions look to become fairly dry across the area Thursday night with lows dropping back in the 50s to around 60 for most locations. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... As of 1215 PM Tuesday... Previously mentioned low pressure system will remain just north of the area for the long term period, which means somewhat active weather through the weekend. Severe weather does not look to be on the table right now, but the chances for the usual diurnal shower/thunderstorm activity remains each day, even at the beginning of next week. Starting Friday, temperatures will be less warm, but still comfortable with 70s across the lowlands; upper 50s to low 70s in the mountains. Overnight lows the weekend will be cooler with the lowlands dropping to the 50s each night and mid 40s to mid 50s in the mountains. && .AVIATION /06Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
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As of 120 AM Wednesday... Have HTS/PKB developing fog this morning due to recent rainfall as well as some fog inserted to EKN TAF. Any fog lifts by 13Z. The rest of the site will be under VFR until this afternoon where a wave of convection will likely start up and cause some VIS restrictions periodically. CIGs should stay relatively elevated in height but could sneak down to high end MVFR at times under thunderstorm or shower activity. There may be a slight lull in the evening but then by late tonight another wave of convection ahead of a cold front will cause more restrictions to VIS and CIGs. Winds will stay elevated and south-southwest for the period with gust in the teens this afternoon and evening possible as well as with frontal passage by Thursday morning. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: Medium to High. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Fog development may spread to other TAF sites this morning. 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. DATE WED 06/05/24 UTC 1HRLY 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 EDT 1HRLY 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 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 L L L H H H H PKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H L CKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H AFTER 06Z THURSDAY... Brief IFR conditions are possible in showers and thunderstorms at times Wednesday night into Thursday.
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&& .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...None. OH...None. KY...None. VA...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...JP/JZ NEAR TERM...JZ SHORT TERM...TRM LONG TERM...LTC AVIATION...JZ