Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Raleigh/Durham, NC
Issued by NWS Raleigh/Durham, NC
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923 FXUS62 KRAH 141737 AFDRAH Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Raleigh NC 1237 PM EST Fri Nov 14 2025 .SYNOPSIS... High pressure will hold over the Mid South and Southeast through Saturday. A mostly dry cold front will move through the area from the north on Sunday, then settle to our south on Monday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... As of 1230 PM Friday... * Warming trend begins. Broad surface high pressure stretching from the Carolina Piedmont into the northern Gulf states will continue to sink south and consolidate near the FL/GA border by early Sat morning. Light and variable winds will become predominantly southwesterly through the afternoon and continue overnight. Warm advection ahead of an elevated frontal boundary over the Ohio Valley will shift across the Central Appalachians this evening and slide across northern NC and eastern-central VA bringing some scattered to overcast cloud cover to northeast NC, but otherwise, expect mostly clear skies especially across the Piedmont. Pockets of very light to calm winds overnight underneath a strengthening inversion may result in isolated locations of radiational cooling and allow temperatures to dip into upper 30s with low to mid 40s expected elsewhere (2 to 8 degrees above normal). && .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT/... As of 1230 PM Friday... * Well-above normal temperatures Sat and especially Sat night. A vigorous shortwave pivoting across central Canada will spread 50 to 150m H5 height falls in 12 hours across the Great Lakes, northern Mid-Atlantic with glancing influences as far south as central NC. This very strong synoptic forcing along with a narrow PV anomaly will result in a large area of mid-high clouds over the Ohio Valley Saturday morning that will spill into the area through the morning and becoming overcast across most of the area by mid-afternoon. This should be relatively short-lived as the PV anomaly is expected to pivot across the southern Mid-Atlantic by around 00z and should shunt a large percentage of these high clouds off the coast. In its wake, a favorable pattern for orographic cirrus will exist but its areal coverage and opaqueness will be dependent on the available moisture streaming across from the Ohio Valley. Overall global models are struggling with the cloud cover forecast and may be resulting in temperatures too warm through the afternoon hours, but other than a few degrees difference in afternoon highs, no sensible weather impacts are expected. Highs should still reach into the upper 60s to low/mid 70s. Overnight lows will likely be very mild with overnight stirring and risk for period of scattered to overcast orographic cirrus and only settling into the mid 50s (15 to 20 degrees above normal). && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... As of 1220 PM Friday... On Sunday morning, low pressure will be over New England with a cold front extending southwest into Virginia and farther west back into the southern Plains. The cold front will move through on Sunday, but with minimal moisture, no precipitation is forecast. The winds will be gusty, as high as 20-30 mph. Behind the cold front, high pressure will briefly take over across the southeastern United States Monday, but another wave is expected to move over Tennessee and Virginia Tuesday. The best chance of rain still appears to be to our north, but the ECMWF/EPS is trending wetter towards the GFS/GEFS solution, which has consistently shown more precipitation over North Carolina. Wednesday and Thursday should then be dry, with the GFS/ECMWF diverging on the timing of the next system - the GFS is faster than the ECMWF with low pressure moving to the east. There is high confidence that Sunday will be the warmest day out of the next seven, with highs ranging from the upper 60s to the upper 70s. Lows on Sunday night will be 15-20 degrees colder than the night before as a result of the cold front, dropping anywhere from the mid 30s to the mid 40s. Next week, highs should be in the upper 50s and 60s, while lows will be in the upper 30s and 40s. && .AVIATION /18Z FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... As of 1230 PM Friday... Prevailing VFR is expected through the TAF period. Light south to southwest winds at the surface tonight. LLWS is expected at RDU and RWI as a very shallow but sharp and strong inversion develops around 04z with veering winds and 35-40kts of flow. This will likely be short lived as the enhanced flow shifts east rather quickly ceasing the LLWS threat after 10-11z. Outlook: Another round of strong winds above a weaker inversion will result in LLWS (RDU/FAY/RWI) Sat night with nearly westerly winds of 40-50kts at 2,000 ft and light southwest winds at the surface. Strong surface wind gusts of 25 to 30kts are expected ahead of, and especially behind, a dry cold frontal passage during the day on Sun. Mostly clear skies on Sun should result in excellent mechanical mixing and result in light to moderate low-level turbulence and may result in wind gusts as high as 35 kts. Some isolated showers may be possible immediately along the cold front Sun, but confidence is low at this time. && .RAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Hartfield NEAR TERM...AS SHORT TERM...AS LONG TERM...Green AVIATION...AS