Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Quad Cities, IA IL
Issued by NWS Quad Cities, IA IL
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782 FXUS63 KDVN 111117 AFDDVN Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL 517 AM CST Tue Nov 11 2025 ...Updated for 12z Aviation... .KEY MESSAGES... - Breezy/windy today (south/southwest winds). There is a low chance (20-30%) for gusts greater than 40 mph. - Warming trend into the weekend with the potential for near record highs for some on Friday and Saturday. - The weather pattern looks to turn more active this weekend into early next week with chances for precipitation. However, uncertainty exists regarding the evolution of a potential storm system. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Issued at 235 AM CST Tue Nov 11 2025 Water vapor imagery reveals a pair of shortwave troughs, one extending from central to southwest Minnesota, and the other moving into western North Dakota which looks more pronounced/ stronger. Distance/speed tool on this latter wave places it moving into our western service area toward midday. Both of these will be accompanied by a period of extensive mid/high cloudiness in the warm advection regime and increasing mid level Fgen. Forcing certainly looks sufficient to support some precipitation potential. The challenge is saturation, as 00z DVN, OAX, TOP and MPX RAOBs all depict a sizable dry layer. This should lead to mostly virga or precipitation mainly aloft with cloud bases mainly in range of 9-12kft agl. That being said also can`t discount the potential for the forcing to overcome saturation deficiency in the cool season, especially given moderate strength lift, and so will be monitoring for potential of a few flakes and perhaps even a very narrow quick transitory ribbon of light snow for parts of our north/east service area very early this morning (prior to daybreak) within the stronger mid level Fgen. Should this occur it would be with minimal/no impacts with minimal if any visibility restrictions or accumulation. Then, another very low potential for a few flakes or possibly even a few sprinkles toward midday with the secondary vort max. This should then be followed up by decreasing cloudiness this afternoon, as the wave packet departs. The combination of a tightening MSLP gradient and mixing of higher winds aloft will lead to a brisk/windy day with gusts 25 to 35 mph initially southerly veering to westerly this afternoon ahead of an approaching cold front. Progged 925 hPa temps are from +2C NE to +7C SW by late PM. This would support a general range of highs from 42F (less sun) to 47F (more sun) NE to 51F (less sun) to 56F (more sun) SW. Skies look to be mainly clear for most of tonight in the wake of the cold front passage, with some increase in higher cloudiness late with a strengthening upper level jet core. Soundings show a shallow mixed layer with 10-20 kt of wind atop to where this should keep the BL just enough mixed (around 10 mph) to prevent lows from plummeting, and should see seasonable lows mainly in the lower to mid 30s with pockets of upper 20s possible in the drainage areas. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... Issued at 235 AM CST Tue Nov 11 2025 An amplifying west coast ridge will gradually shift eastward into the Mid-Mississippi Valley by 12z Saturday. This will support dry weather with a marked warming trend. In fact, temperatures could be near record for highs Friday (south) into Saturday (areawide) with 850 hPa temperature anomalies of +10C to +15C Friday into Saturday, or +1 to +2SD per NAEFS and ECMWF EFIs of 0.5 to 0.8 with little/no SoT (Shift of Tails) supportive of the anomalous warmth. The median of the NBM, or 50th percentile for highs, is in the 60s/near 70 Friday and mid 60s to lower 70s Saturday. Record highs are generally around 70 to 75. Heading through the weekend into early next week brings some uncertainty with the evolution of the pattern and strength of systems, some of which is tied to whether any phasing of streams in a generally split flow pattern occurs. WPC clusters depict this well and offer a couple of scenarios. One scenario would suggest more phasing or interaction of streams leading to a stronger shortwave over the central CONUS. This would lead to much higher precipitation chances with a stronger moisture feed and forcing, with even some instability to support a chance of thunder. The other scenario is one of less phasing and more split flow with a progressive northern stream initially more dominant for us. This would support a progressive cold frontal passage over the weekend with more limited moisture and low precipitation chances followed by a cool down toward more seasonable levels. Also in this latter scenario, the southern stream energy would eventually lift out across the central CONUS next week with uncertainties on strength/timing/track per WPC Clusters. Much of the deterministic medium range guidance and ensemble means of GEFS/EPS/CMCE support this second scenario of a more split flow with a progressive northern stream cold front moving through this weekend and followed by a meandering southern stream shortwave into the central U.S. next week. NBM in the uncertainty broadbrushes low chances (20-30%) for precipitation Saturday night through Monday, but do expect to see refinement of these in the coming days. && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 515 AM CST Tue Nov 11 2025 Winds remain the primary concern for the TAFs as VFR conditions abound. LLWS mention continues until 14z with winds increasing to 40-50 kt from SSW around 2kft agl. After 14z, mixing of stronger winds aloft will lead to more consistent gustiness of surface winds from S/SW with gusts 25-35 kts. Winds will veer to westerly this afternoon and remain gusty before diminishing to around 10 kt with sunset. && .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...None. IL...None. MO...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...McClure LONG TERM...McClure AVIATION...McClure