


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Rapid City, SD
Issued by NWS Rapid City, SD
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594 FXUS63 KUNR 300757 AFDUNR Area Forecast Discussion For Western SD and Northeastern WY National Weather Service Rapid City SD 157 AM MDT Mon Jun 30 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Dry and seasonable today - Hot Tuesday through Thursday, with isolated afternoon storms possible - More widespread storms possible late Thursday into Independence Day weekend && .DISCUSSION...(Today Through Sunday) Issued at 157 AM MDT Mon Jun 30 2025 Water vapor imagery tonight shows a sharpening shortwave trof digging through the north central CONUS. The axis of this trof is effectively bisecting the area at this hour. As the trof swings thru the region, an associated upper-level jet streak is departing to the southeast. With jet forcing and deep moisture convergence weakening, convection across our area has largely diminished, with only a few lingering showers/storms across south central SD. Water vapor and infrared imagery have captured this evolution well, with widespread subsidence/warming cloud tops noted in the last couple of hours. Behind the weakening convection, mostly clear skies and fairly light winds prevail. Strong Q-vector divergence remains poised to overspread the area today as deep ridging builds over the Rockies and begins to nose eastward into the Plains. Associated subsidence should translate to sunny skies. High confidence in temperatures falling within a handful of degrees of climo per ensemble guidance. A trend in guidance over the past 24 hours has been to show some weakness in the ridging late tonight, and especially early Tuesday, as a subtle shortwave crosses the region. This does not appear to appreciably impact the expansion of a low-level thermal ridge into the region, so high temperature anomalies of 5-10 F or greater are probable to likely over at least the western half of the area. However, an associated area of Q-vector divergence aloft crossing the northern Rockies/High Plains may impact the potential for isolated convection Tuesday afternoon. Generally, the environment for thunderstorms should be improving Tuesday compared to today, with return flow supporting advection of 55 F or higher dew points over the Black Hills region and much of western SD below midlevel lapse rates exceeding 7 C/km, bringing probable or likely SBCAPE values of 1000 J/kg or greater based on the latest LREF. Marginal deep-layer shear (25-35 kt) may limit organization somewhat outside of local perturbations near the Black Hills. For now, continued to pencil in some slight chances for storms over and around the Black Hills, but we could very well stay dry areawide thru Tuesday afternoon given the large-scale subsidence. Later in the evening and during the overnight, once subsidence departs the region, continued low-level theta-E advection and convergence owing to a low-level jet may support convective initiation across western/central SD. The deep ridge shifts eastward Wednesday and Thursday, with its axis overhead by Thursday morning. Low-level thermal ridge also continues to expand eastward, with 850 mb temps of 25-30 F or higher becoming very likely across most of the area by Thursday afternoon. At the surface, this will translate to likely to definite (70-90%+ probabilities per NBM) highs in the 90s on Wednesday and at least the 90s on Thursday. Many locations on the west central SD plains will probably or likely (60-90% probabilities) reach triple digits by Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday afternoon, best convective environment shifts northward across northwestern SD, where midlevel lapse rates steepen to ~7.5 C/km, dew points increase to ~60 F, and deep-layer shear modestly increases. Farther southwest, deeper, well- mixed boundary layers will limit moisture availability. Rising heights areawide on Wednesday may again limit convective initiation. By Thursday afternoon/evening, the ridge axis shifts east of our area. Falling heights may be more supportive of thunderstorm development near and upstream of the area. In fact, a pronounced region of Q-vector convergence overspreads the area late Thursday through at least the first half of Friday, which could make for an active Thursday thru Friday morning. Details are obviously sensitive to poorly resolved factors at this lead time, so will leave further discussion on storm/severe potential for later discussions. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS Through 06Z Monday Night) Issued At 937 PM MDT Sun Jun 29 2025 Scattered showers/storms have developed from SW to central SD, and are expected to gradually shift southeastward this evening and remain sub-severe. Besides any brief MVFR conditions with these storms, VFR conditions are expected through the TAF period. && .UNR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...None. WY...None. && $$ DISCUSSION/KEY MESSAGES...Sherburn AVIATION...Pojorlie