Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Atlanta, GA
Issued by NWS Atlanta, GA
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614 FXUS62 KFFC 121759 AFDFFC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 159 PM EDT Sun May 12 2024 ...New 18Z Aviation Discussion... .SHORT TERM... (Today through Monday) Issued at 345 AM EDT Sun May 12 2024 Key Messages: - Fair weather will prevail in the region today. - Cloudy skies, cooler temperatures and scattered light rain showers are expected Monday. Today & Monday: Upper level ridging and a surface high will bring benign weather to the region today. The core of the surface high will be closer to us today (compared to Saturday) and this will result in lighter winds this afternoon. Northwest winds between 4 and 8 mph can be expected. Light and variable winds will develop tonight as the boundary layer decouples and the surface high settles over Georgia. An approaching trough will bring significant changes to Georgia`s weather on Monday. Cloud cover will return in force tonight as southwesterly follow in the mid and upper levels brings a surge of moisture northward. By Monday morning isentropic lift associated with a weak mid level trough (ahead of the larger shortwave in the Plains) could produce light rain showers. Any accumulations through Monday morning should be less than 0.25 inches. A relative minimum in precipitation potential is expected Monday afternoon before widespread rain showers and thunderstorm build back in Monday evening/night (associated with lift from the parent trough and a low level jet). Shifts in the forecast towards greater rain chances and more cloud cover have introduced a significant amount of uncertainty into the high temperature forecast for Monday afternoon. Below average high temperatures are likely (>90% chance), but the spread in the NBM guidance is quite large. For the Atlanta area the spread between the 25th and 75th percentile MaxT`s is 7 degrees (69 to 76 degrees). Similar large spreads exist for the rest of northern and central Georgia. Our deterministic forecast remains close the the 50 percentile of the NBM and favors a highs in the lower 70s for most of northern and central Georgia. Albright && .LONG TERM... (Monday night through Saturday) Issued at 345 AM EDT Sun May 12 2024 The long term forecast looks quite wet overall with a parade of lows within the southern branch of the jet moving past the CWA through the end of the week (and possibly even into early next week, but that is beyond the scope of this forecast). The forecast picks up Monday night with rain likely ongoing across the CWA. Upper level cut off low with begin to progress eastward, albeit slowly, and initial upper level divergence will have overspread the CWA. Isentropic lift over a theta-e gradient should provide for widespread rain showers through the night, though some elevated instability may provide for a few rumbles of thunder. As the low progresses east, but upper level support will arrive with moderate jet streak overspreading the CWA on Tuesday. Ensemble guidance paints a decent probability space for the intersection of instability, shear, and precipitation over the CWA, with highest probabilities in central GA, decreasing as you move into north GA. This feels appropriate, and the northward extent may be overdone overall. Models will typically struggle with the rain based reinforcement of the surface boundary attempting to lift north as a mass response to the surface low, and generally these boundaries will remain further south than forecast. In simpler terms, the further south the surface based warm, moist air from the Gulf remains, the lower the overall severe threat for our area. Looking at hodographs and overall model forecast soundings, primary threat would likely be wind and maybe hail. SW surface winds will make ingestion of streamwise vorticity a bit more challenging, keeping tornado threat low for now. Better examination will be had in the short term guidance as Tuesday evening comes into range. The trade off of a lower severe threat may be an elevated flooding/flash flooding risk, especially if that boundary sits in the same location further south and provides a source for repeated lifting of air parcels. Central Georgia would once again be the primary candidate for this, though the sandy soils can take a bit more rain before it becomes a problem. Current forecast QPF over this time period is 2- 4" with locally higher amounts in central GA, and 1-2" across north GA including metro Atlanta. 6 hr flash flood guidance is generally 4" or higher across much of central GA, so any threat may be driven by more convective elements and/or training of cells over the area. The system clears out through Wednesday morning, and we should see some clearing through Thursday before the next system approaches the area. Model trends seem to be slowing this system a bit, pushing the overall timing of rain into Friday. This is another slower moving system, and both the GEFS and EPS probabilities of rain are relatively high through the weekend. Details of what exactly this looks like are bit more fuzzy, though the deterministic suite shows a stalled boundary over the CWA that appears to be the focus of most of the rainfall. This is a bit of a concerning signal given we may have some heavier rainfall on the front end of the week, but certainly too early with too much uncertainty to ring any flooding alarm bells just yet. Lusk && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 150 PM EDT Sun May 12 2024 VFR conditions will continue through the evening, with gradually deteriorating conditions from the W after midnight tonight. Showers will spread into CSG by daybreak, with rain spreading across the remainder of the terminals through Mon morning. Have opted for lower ceilings (IFR) in rain as model soundings look to be nearly saturated in the lower levels at the expected onset of precipitation. Rainfall is not expected to be too heavy through the end of the forecast period other than at CSG. However, due to the expected moisture levels in the boundary layer, vsbys may be further limited by fog. Winds will be very light, although SE winds will begin to increase at the end of the period. //ATL Confidence...18Z Update... Medium for timing of rain onset along with cig heights and vsbys in rain, high for other elements. SEC && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Athens 56 73 60 75 / 0 70 100 100 Atlanta 60 70 62 77 / 10 70 90 100 Blairsville 52 68 56 70 / 0 60 90 100 Cartersville 57 71 60 77 / 10 80 90 90 Columbus 63 76 66 80 / 30 70 90 100 Gainesville 57 70 61 73 / 0 60 90 100 Macon 61 75 64 78 / 20 70 90 100 Rome 57 71 62 78 / 10 70 90 100 Peachtree City 59 71 62 79 / 20 80 90 100 Vidalia 64 80 67 80 / 10 60 90 100 && .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...None. $$ SHORT TERM...SEC LONG TERM....Lusk AVIATION...SEC