Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS St. Louis, MO
Issued by NWS St. Louis, MO
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504 FXUS63 KLSX 232308 AFDLSX Area Forecast Discussion...Updated Aviation National Weather Service Saint Louis MO 508 PM CST Sun Nov 23 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... -Widespread light rain will move over the area Monday afternoon and overnight. -Dry weather and below normal temperatures will enter Wednesday and persist through Friday. && .SHORT TERM... (Through Late Monday Night) Issued at 225 PM CST Sun Nov 23 2025 This morning`s stratus continues to linger across central and east- central Missouri and into southern Illinois this afternoon. As low- level warm air advection along southerly flow continues into this evening and overnight, stratus will spread back out into areas that have cleared today. Combined with incoming high clouds from an approaching system, low temperatures tonight will remain elevated, in the 40s, and several degrees warmer than last night. Meanwhile, a strengthening mid-level trough is currently over the Four Corners region, it`s associated surface low sitting over the Texas panhandle. The mid-level trough will swing into the region Monday, pushing the surface low through the mid-Mississippi Valley. Warm air advection and low-level moisture convergence will produce widespread rain during the afternoon and evening Monday, extending overnight as the surface low moves east over the area. Everywhere will see at least some rain, and about 70% of the area will see at least 0.25" of rain. A few isolated areas may see up to 1.25" of rain, but this depends on the heaviest rain moving over the same area throughout the day. Delia && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday through Next Sunday) Issued at 225 PM CST Sun Nov 23 2025 While the first surface low will push east out of the region Tuesday, another surface low will move through the upper Mississippi Valley ahead of another mid-level trough moving from the Dakotas into the Great Lakes region Tuesday. This second low will swing a cold front through the forecast area Tuesday afternoon. While the mid-levels will be dry along the western side of the first low, lingering low-level moisture has a 20-30% chance of producing light rain/drizzle across the area along the front. The surface pressure gradient will tighten with the exit of this system, resulting in elevated northwesterly winds Tuesday evening and overnight. The 850 mb front will slide through the forecast area overnight, and cold Canadian air will surge into the region. After a mild day Tuesday with highs in the 50s, the advancing of this cold air mass will cause lows Tuesday night into Wednesday morning to drop into the 30s. Ensemble guidances shows a clear cooling trend with this air mass, resulting in highs in the 40s for the second half of the week, including the Thanksgiving holiday. Under deep northwesterly flow, the region will remain dry during this period. Weak mid-level ridging returns to the area Friday into Saturday, while another trough begins to dig into the West Coast. Flow quickly becomes southwesterly over the weekend as the trough deepens into the Four Corners region. At the same time, a surface low will develop over the south-central US, with southwesterly flow and warm air advection kicking off Saturday across our forecast area. Current guidance shows warm air advection precipitation, potentially interacting with a surface warm front, widespread across the region. While some guidance sources are indicating that at least some of this precipitation will fall as snow across the northern portions of our forecast area, confidence in this occurring is very low. The warm air advection nature of the precipitation, potentially falling during the day, doesn`t provide a lot of confidence for snow to maintain to the surface. Therefore we are continuing to forecast mostly rain during this period. Even so, a number of details remain in question at this point, including the timing and strength of the surface low and upper level support, the strength of the warm air advection, and timing of precipitation. All of this will determine precipitation type with this system. Delia && .AVIATION... (For the 00z TAFs through 00z Monday Evening) Issued at 504 PM CST Sun Nov 23 2025 It will not be a great night for air travel as IFR/LIFR is expected at all terminals. IFR stratus is expected to expand and continue to build down to the surface, resulting in lowered cigs and eventually vsbys at all sites tonight. The worst conditions are expected at COU/UIN, where vsbys less than a half mile are likely at times overnight. The forecast is a little more uncertain in metro St. Louis as the edge of the stratus is currently near CPS/STL. Even if they briefly go VFR, expect the stratus to fill back in overnight with reductions in vsbys as well at all St. Louis TAF sites. Cigs will rise slightly through the day on Monday, but as that occurs showers are expected to move through all terminals Monday afternoon into Monday evening. Deitsch && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...None. IL...None. && $$ WFO LSX