Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS La Crosse, WI
Issued by NWS La Crosse, WI
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106 FXUS63 KARX 031647 AFDARX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service La Crosse WI 1145 AM CDT Mon Jun 3 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms are expected today. A few severe thunderstorms cannot be ruled out, primarily in far southwestern Wisconsin this afternoon if skies can clear. - Widespread rainfall (80-99% chance) is expected Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday night with the entirety of the forecast area favored (70-80% chance) to receive at least half an inch of rainfall with the potential for locally higher amounts. A stray severe storm could occur as well, but the probability is very low (5% or less). - Below normal temperatures are expected for the second half of the week with most afternoons featuring a chance for showers. Additionally, strong wind gusts could occur Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 345 AM CDT Mon Jun 3 2024 Severe thunderstorm potential today: A surface low in the Northern Plains has been progressing east overnight, generating precipitation across much of Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. The lows associated surface frontal boundaries lie to its east and southeast - the eastern boundary predominantly exists as a moisture boundary extending into central Wisconsin and the southeastern boundary boundary extends southeast into central Iowa. This boundary places the primary warm sector along and east of the Missouri River Valley. Similar trends can be seen in the ongoing associated precipitation shields - the northern shield progressing northeast and weakening has been grazing our northern and western periphery over the last ~18 hours. Initial precipitation chances this morning will shift southeast through the morning, remnants of the lifting mesoscale perturbation. Subsequent, higher and more impactful precipitation will be tied to the actual warm sector with a more amplified low level perturbation arriving in the afternoon. These storm chances will lift northeast. Otherwise, near term impacts overnight have been increased southeasterly winds as the pressure gradient tightens. In summary, storm threat increases this afternoon as the main warm sector lifts northeast through the Upper Mississippi River Valley. High resolution model guidance differs in instability, dependent on sufficient reduction in sky cover allowing surface heating to overcome the warm frontal off deck weak inversion. Comparing high resolution model soundings, the RAP exhibits the warmest and most unstable solution: building 1500+ J/kg of surface based CAPE from 3pm CDT onward into the nighttime hours. The ARW and HRRR build a 2 hour window this afternoon with 1000 J/kg of SBCAPE while the Fv3 has nil SBCAPE. Intra model dProg/dt has pushed this CAPE axis farther northwest. All appreciable shear is expected to remain in the lower levels (0- 3km = 0-6km = 20-30kts) with very weak mid level unidirectional shear. While most likely storm mode will be scattered, pulsey strong storms, the increased low level shear profile and helicity of 200 m^2/s^2 suggests a brief tornado cannot be ruled out this afternoon if surface destabilization, dependent on a reduction in cloud cover as discussed above, occurs. Tuesday and Tuesday night rain: Guidance continues to depict a longwave trough and an associated cold front advancing from the northern Rockies east to WI Tuesday into Tuesday night. South-southwesterly low level moist advection looks to occur for much of the day ahead of this wave, with the 03.00z GFS suggesting 1.75" of PWAT will be present with NAEFS/ECENS values above the 90th percentile. Thus, while strong forcing for ascent will likely remain confined to the fast-moving cold front, limiting the duration of rainfall, healthy rainfall totals should still occur, with latest NBM probabilities suggest at least half an inch is likely (70-80%) with some areas having a slight (15-20%) chance of topping two inches. Trends over the past few model cycles suggest the cold front will arrive a bit later than previously forecast, so attempted to reduce PoPs Tuesday morning afternoon and increase them towards 100 after 00z. Additionally, this moist advection, coupled with cooling aloft ahead of the trough, should allow for around 1000 J/kg of MLCAPE to build. Thus, while deep layer shear appears weak - progged 0-6km bulk shear values are generally less than 20 knots - a stray severe storm could occur. That said, progged mid-level lapse rates are below 7 C/km, surface mixed layer is virtually non-existent given the robust moist advection, and low to mid level winds are generally 40 knots or less, all suggesting a severe storm is a remote possibility (5% or less). Wednesday through Next Monday: Northwesterly flow aloft looks to dominate proceedings from Wednesday through the end of the seven day forecast period. With many of these days looking to feature cool temperatures aloft and partly cloudy skies, resulting modest destabilization should result in some diurnal showers most afternoons. Finally, progged 700/850/925mb winds suggest breezy conditions could occur Wednesday and Thursday, with NBM probabilities suggesting a 20 and 40 percent chance for a 40 knot gust at Rochester each afternoon, respectively. Thus, will need to monitor wind potential during this period as well. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/... Issued at 1145 AM CDT Mon Jun 3 2024 CIGS: low saturation has led to some MVFR cigs creeping across/near the TAF sites for late morning/early this afternoon. RAP/HRRR soundings suggest this will mix out/lift moving into the afternoon. The propensity of short term guidance then suggest mostly BKN/SCT mid-high level (VFR) clouds into 12z Tue, with increasing chances for MVFR for Tue morning. Will steer the forecast this way. WX/vsby: further shra/ts expected this afternoon, but CAMS and main forcing mechanisms shift the bulk of the threat east/southeast of the TAF sites. Will keep dry for now - update if radar/meso model trends suggest different. WINDS: generally southerly through the period and around 10 kts or less into Tue morning. A few gusts this afternoon. Uptick in winds moving into late morning/afternoon of Tue withe more gusts into the lower 20 kts. && .ARX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...None. MN...None. IA...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Ferguson/JAR AVIATION.....Rieck