Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
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173 FXUS63 KDDC 250800 AFDDDC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 200 AM CST Tue Nov 25 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Strong north winds Tuesday gusting 40-45 mph. - Widespread hard killing freeze in the 20s Wednesday morning. - Dry uneventful weather Wednesday through Friday, excellent for Thanksgiving travel. - Arctic cold front Friday night, followed by dramatically colder air this weekend. Light snow possible Saturday. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 200 AM CST Tue Nov 25 2025 Midnight infrared satellite imagery outlined Monday`s persistent stratus, advancing eastward and out of the region through eastern Kansas. Subsidence behind the departing shortwave has cleared the sky completely, but a residual saturated boundary layer has resulted in patchy, sporadic radiation fog development. Visbility has varied wildly at places like Garden City and Dodge City over the past few hours, and patchy fog remains in the grids. Eventually, an increasing W/NWly downslope breeze will eliminate any fog by sunrise. A strong cold front racing through western Nebraska at midnight, will race through SW KS around sunrise Tuesday. Strong north winds are expected in a well mixed environment after 9 am, with north winds averaging 20-30 mph. 850 mb wind fields of 40-45 mph will allow gusts to reach that caliber by midday. North winds will provide strong dry advection at the ground, and strong cold advection at 850 mb, but some NWly downslope trajectory and full sunshine will counteract the cold advection to an extent. Afternoon temperatures will still be near late November normals in the lower 50s, but the north winds will make it feel much colder. Cold surface high pressure near 1032 mb will build south directly over SW KS through sunrise Wednesday, delivering the hardest freeze so far this season for many. All zones will be well below freezing, well down into the 20s, with teens across the northwest zones. Wednesday will be a quiet, typical late November day with gentle return flow by afternoon with temperatures near normal. Dry quiet NWly midlevel flow will result in great travel weather for the entire region on Wednesday. Quiet dry weather will continue Thanksgiving and Black Friday, as midlevel flow gradually backs to zonal. Mornings will be seasonably cold and afternoons will feature afternoon temperatures in the 50s. The message remains clear: arctic air will arrive this weekend and early next week, with both sunrise and afternoon temperatures falling well below normal. CPC`s 6-10 day outlook continues to show >80% probability of below normal temperatures during this time frame. As expected, NBM continues to trend colder, especially now with 00z GFS/MEX guidance much, much colder Sunday and Monday. Current MEX guidance forecasts an afternoon high temperature of 23 at DDC Monday, and NBM has fallen to the 27-32 range. Residents should continue to prepare homes and autos for this incoming arctic air, and agriculture producers will want to prepare their livestock. The latest iteration of the NBM forecasts wind chill indices near 0 Monday morning, with a strong probability that this is not cold enough. Minimum air temperatures Tuesday morning from the NBM are in the 10-15 degree range, with again wind chills near zero. Winter is coming. North winds Saturday will be far stronger than NBM guidance; expect these values to increase with time. 00z ECMWF/EPS guidance appears pretty stable compared to previous solutions, showing an open progressive trough swinging through SW KS around early Saturday. Confidence is increasing the initial surge of arctic air will arrive Saturday morning, and with 850 mb winds near 50 kts, gusts to near 50 mph are probable. NBM high temperatures Saturday are too warm, with a non diurnal crash downward likely during the day. Once the arctic air arrives, global models agree it will remain for 2-3 days, through Sunday and Monday, with temperatures well below normal. We have high confidence regarding the arctic air, but details regarding snow and potential winter impacts are limited, to be expected this far out. A period of light snow appears most probable on Saturday, but models are out of phase with this potential. Models do agree most rain showers on Saturday will remain east of SW KS, which is supported by cold season climatology. The trend toward a progressive, open trough on ECMWF/EPS guidance argues against a major winter storm, but some light snow seems probable at some point over the coming weekend. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 1038 PM CST Mon Nov 24 2025 Infrared satellite imagery confirms stratus has eroded well east of the airports as of 0430z. In the wake of the stratus, a light wind regime and a saturated boundary layer has resulted in sporadic, spotty ground fog development. Visbility may be quite variable over the next few hours at GCK/DDC/HYS, and amendments are expected. With time, light west downslope flow will erode any fog through 12z Tue. After 15z Tue, strong north winds will impact operations at all airports, gusting 32-37 kts. North winds will diminish rapidly by 00z Wed, as 1032 mb surface high pressure builds over SW KS. VFR is expected Tuesday through Wednesday in a much drier regime. && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Turner AVIATION...Turner