Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Jackson, KY

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992 FXUS63 KJKL 120545 AAA AFDJKL AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED National Weather Service Jackson KY 145 AM EDT Wed Jun 12 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Slightly cooler than normal to near normal temperatures, comfortable humidity, and pleasant weather will hold through tomorrow. - Hot weather arrives late this weekend, with highs in low to mid 90s and heat indices peaking out around 100 degrees at some locations on Sunday and Monday. && .UPDATE...
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Issued at 135 AM EDT WED JUN 12 2024 No significant changes to the forecast with just the inclusion of the latest obs and trends for the T/Td/Sky grids with this update. These minor adjustments have been sent to the NDFD and web servers. UPDATE Issued at 1038 PM EDT TUE JUN 11 2024 Just minor tweaks again to the Sky grids. Otherwise, the forecast is on track with hourly observations blended into the forecast grids. UPDATE Issued at 700 PM EDT TUE JUN 11 2024 Only minor tweaks made to the grids for the early evening update. Remnants of today`s earlier CU field across our eastern zones continues to erode and dissipate. Additional, mid/high level clouds will take aim at the area through the overnight. Remains to be seen what impact these cloud could have on overnight temps. But current surface observations show the current forecast is generally on target. No updates needed to the zones yet, but will likely be updated sometime this evening to freshen up the wording. Updated grids have been issued.
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&& .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday night) Issued at 427 PM EDT TUE JUN 11 2024 Short term is fairly straight forward. Pattern aloft will become less amplified as the core westerlies retreat northward to wards the Northern Tier. At the surface, high pressure will be centered over the Commonwealth one more night before shift off to the east Wednesday. Return southerly flow around the western periphery of the surface high will initiate a warm up beginning Wednesday. Sensible weather features dry, fair weather for the short term. With dry air in place (surface Tds generally around 50) and mostly clear skies, temperatures will drop off quickly in our sheltered valley locations tonight. Guidance has temperatures falling into the mid 40s tonight in our cooler valley locations. Elsewhere temperatures will fall into the mid 50s, especially along our thermal belt. Boundary layer moisture will begin to increase Wednesday with return flow, but Tds will only climb back into the mid to upper 50s. At least that will make for relatively comfortable weather Wednesday as afternoon high temperatures climb back up into the 80s. However, moisture return will be enough that fog will become a bit more prevalent Wednesday night in our valley areas, especially where a readily available water source (lakes, rivers, streams) is nearby. We should experience a great ridge valley split Wednesday night as well, with the thermal belt only dropping into the lower 60s for overnight lows, while the cooler valleys drop into the low to mid 50s, especially across our east. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Tuesday) Issued at 427 PM EDT TUE JUN 11 2024 The period will start with upper level ridging over the southwest CONUS, very weak troughing over the southeast CONUS, and fast relatively zonal flow immediately to the north from the Pacific Northwest to New England and the Mid Atlantic states. Broad surface ridging will extend from TX to the Mid Atlantic states. Although little in the way of low level advection will be occurring in our region, continued rising geopotential heights and air mass modification will result in further rises in temperature and dew point on Thursday. A couple of shortwave troughs moving through the flow to our north will bring a return of upper level troughing over the northeast CONUS by Friday, while at the same time the southwestern ridge begins to move east. The resulting northwest flow aloft over our area will send another cold front through on Friday. The GFS and ECMWF generate some very light precip with the front, but forecast soundings look only marginally supportive of convection. Will opt to include nothing more than a 20% POP. Unlike recent frontal passages, the cool and dry air mass behind this front will skirt by our area, remaining mostly to our northeast. By Saturday, the northeast CONUS trough will be departing eastward and the aforementioned upper ridge will be building into the Ohio Valley and southeast CONUS. This brings us continued dry weather with climbing temperatures and dew points during the weekend. Model differences come into play on Monday and Tuesday concerning the evolution of the upper ridge. The ECMWF holds onto the upper level ridge and strengthens it with a center over the central Appalachians on Monday and Tuesday, resulting in continued dry and hot weather. However, some recent runs of the GFS move the upper ridge axis to our east and develop very weak, broad troughing to our west, with a weak southerly flow in between sending a plume of deep tropical moisture northward over KY. This would be supportive of unorganized, slow moving thunderstorms, with clouds and precip restricting high temperatures somewhat. The GFS ensemble mean looks like a compromise. With all that said, a model blend/compromise seems like the best path to go down at this time, with only minimal POPs on Monday and Tuesday. && .AVIATION...
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(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Wednesday night) ISSUED AT 145AM EDT WED JUN 12 2024 VFR flight conditions are expected throughout the period outside of the river valleys where fog will develop through early morning. This fog will not impact any terminals. There will be an increase in thin high level clouds into the morning. Light winds will be the rule through the period, averaging less than 5 kts but having a predominant north-northeast direction.
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&& .JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ UPDATE...GREIF SHORT TERM...RAY LONG TERM...HAL AVIATION...CMC/GREIF