Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
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042 FXUS63 KDDC 032207 AFDDDC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 507 PM CDT Mon Jun 3 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Areas of fog, possibly dense, early Tuesday morning as higher dewpoints push back north into southwest Kansas on southeast winds. - Thunderstorm chances minimal through Thursday as the main polar front remains south of southwestern Kansas. - A wetter/stormier pattern is likely beginning Friday evening going into the upcoming weekend with severe weather and heavy rainfall potential increasing. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 339 PM CDT Mon Jun 3 2024 The large mesoscale convective system (MCS) earlier this morning left in its wake a cooler, more stable airmass across much of Kansas. The focus for surface-based severe local storms will be to the south of our southwest Kansas area of responsibility...down into the eastern Texas Panhandle and west central/southwestern Oklahoma where low level convergence will be enhanced from the MCS`s remnant outflow boundary. For our area tonight early Tuesday morning, we will be looking at return southeasterly flow in the low levels, including the surface, which will draw northward higher dewpoints...as high as the upper 60s to around 70 across the south central Kansas counties (generally east and southeast of Dodge City). Elsewhere, mid 60s dewpoints will be common. The slight upslope component to the surface winds and temperatures falling into the upper 60s, we will likely see the development of low stratus and/or fog. The latest official forecast will follow closely the 12Z HREF means/probabilities for fog as the HREF has fairly widespread 30-40% probabilities of 1/4 mile or less visibility centered across the central portions of our forecast area. Each run of the HRRR model that goes out to 12Z Tuesday shows a fairly consistent signal of 1/4 mile visibility as well. The next shift will need to continue to monitor obs, satellite, and hourly HRRR trends for possible dense fog headline, but we will hold off on any such issuance this ESTF cycle. Something else we will need to monitor is late nocturnal convection developing in an increasingly convergent low level flow field ahead of a frontal boundary across northwestern Kansas and southwestern Nebraska. There is slight signal in thunderstorm activity developing across northwest Kansas and clipping the I-70 corridor around daybreak or after, but the prospects of a large MCS like the past couple mornings are very small. The rest of the Short Term forecast is fairly straight-forward with rather benign sensible weather as a cold front pushes southeast during the day Tuesday, pushing any thunderstorm risk southeast of our forecast area, with the exception, perhaps, of Barber County/vicinity. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... Issued at 339 PM CDT Mon Jun 3 2024 The early portion of the Long Term period...Wednesday and Thursday...will be fairly quiet with convective activity focused across the Southern Plains as a formidable upper tropospheric jet streak crosses the Midwest Region, pushing the polar front well to the south of southwest Kansas. The Midwest/Great Lakes system will push east quickly, and the polar front will stall out somewhere near the Red River region late Thursday/Thursday Night. By early Friday, very moist Gulf of Mexico air mass to the south of the old front will begin to pull back northward toward western Kansas as westerly winds in the mid levels across the Rockies induce lower level leeside troughing. All of the global models show a nicely established leeside trough with long north-south corridor of south/southeast winds east of a sharpening dryline/leeside trough. This will set the stage for a potential multiple day/night severe weather setup across the western Great Plains, including southwest Kansas, along with multiple mesoscale convective systems (MCS) in the favorable broad west or west-northwest flow aloft. The flat ridge centered across Arizona and New Mexico with several shortwave troughs moving around the northern periphery of this ridge, along with abundant low level moisture on south/southeast winds is the classic pattern for multiple MCSs across the central High Plains. This pattern is favored for a 3 or 4 day/night period beginning Friday Night. Obviously, each day/night`s thunderstorm forecast will depend on the magnitude and track of previous day/night`s MCS activity, but the synoptic setup certainly favors increased thunderstorm chances beginning Friday evening. This pattern may be break around Tuesday of next week (11 June) when ensemble means suggest increased amplification of the upper level pattern (ridge in the west, trough in the east), which would push the effective synoptic polar front to the south of southwest Kansas with much drier/stable air mass in place. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY/... Issued at 505 PM CDT Mon Jun 3 2024 Widespread VFR conditions will prevail in vicinity of all TAF sites through late evening. Later overnight, light southeasterly upslope winds and mostly clear skies combined with high relative humidity and residual moisture from recent rainfall will be conducive to low level stratus/fog development across portions of south central and southwest Kansas. As a result, MVFR/IFR cigs/vsbys will be possible in vicinity of all TAF sites generally after 06-08Z. Light southeasterly winds are expected to persist throughout the period as surface high pressure in eastern Kansas shifts eastward into Missouri while lee side troughing develops in eastern Colorado. && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Umscheid LONG TERM...Umscheid AVIATION...JJohnson