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000
FXUS63 KMPX 230345
AFDMPX

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN
1045 PM CDT THU SEP 22 2016

.SHORT TERM...(This evening through Friday)
Issued at 415 PM CDT Thu Sep 22 2016

Warm front this afternoon has made it down to about I-80 in Iowa. It
will begin lifting back north tonight. This will maintain the cloud
cover overhead through the night and the day on Friday, but precip
fortunately looks to be lacking. There are a couple of reasons for
this. One, we have building heights at h5. Two, the 925-850 winds
will be diverging over the region with a weak segment going from
Iowa toward southern WI and the main push going from the eastern
Dakotas to the western Dakotas. This 925-850 setup looks to stay
with us through the day on Friday with the models showing their
primary focuses for precip through Friday across northeast Iowa into
southern WI and way out in the northern high Plains. As a result,
cut back considerably on PoPs tonight through Friday, with most of
the area remaining dry through the short term. Isolated activity in
the form of mostly showers as opposed to thunderstorms, is looking
to be the best we see as the boundary lifts back north.

.LONG TERM...(Friday night through Thursday)
Issued at 415 PM CDT Thu Sep 22 2016

We will finally get the upper trough to our west out of here by the
end of the weekend, but until then we`ll have a few more periods of
precipitation with which to contend. It appears most activity will
be to our north Friday night with the warm front and better
isentropic lift located there, although some low PoPs for part of
the area are still warranted. The western upper trough will start to
shift east on Saturday, helping the surface low lift north to near
the North Dakota/Canada border and push the cold frontal boundary
east toward Minnesota. We should see fairly SHRA/TSRA develop in a
north-south axis across the area during the afternoon as some upper
divergence and DPVA work into the area and help take advantage of
decent moisture and some instability. Although the cold front will
certainly not be a fast mover, it should move quickly enough to
avoid any widespread flooding issues. But, any additional
precipitation will certainly be problematic at this point, and it
looks like we could have some areas with over an inch of rain from
Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning, and it will unfortunately
be over the central and eastern portion of the area which has seen
substantial rain of late. The cold front will push east of the area
by Sunday evening, but we will then have the upper low and low level
cyclonic flow linger into Tuesday. So, although the widespread
precipitation will be done, we`ll likely see scattered showers
Monday into Tuesday with cool temperatures. Things then dry out and
start warming up for Wednesday and Thursday as the upper low shifts
east and a surface high and rising heights work into the area.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Friday night)
Issued at 1045 PM CDT Thu Sep 22 2016

The main concern overnight is the narrow band of MVFR ceilings
stretching from southwest MN through the Twin Cities to northern
WI. With the low level wind flow veering during the night, the
band should pivot and become more E-W and then SE-NW. This
pivoting looks to be across the Twin Cities with an MVFR forecast
through the period. This will bring MVFR conditions into KEAU
overnight as well as KAXN. If the low ceilings do not make it
into KEAU, then less than IFR ceilings and visibilities in FG are
likely late tonight. A few showers are beginning to develop on
radar across far southern MN as well as central MN. They shouldn`t
amount to much, but VCSH groups have been inserted as a general
low level WAA pattern gets underway. NE winds overnight 10 knots
or less becoming E early on Friday.

KMSP...Kept ceilings MVFR through the period, but did indicate an
upward trend in ceilings heading through the TAF period. A
sprinkle or very light shower cannot be ruled out overnight with
chances increasing Friday afternoon/evening.

/OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/
Sat...VFR with MVFR/TSRA likely late. Wind SE 10-15kts.
Sun...VFR. Wind WSW 10g20kts.
Mon...Chc MVFR/-SHRA. Wind W 5-10kts.

&&

.MPX Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
WI...None.
MN...None.
&&

$$

SHORT TERM...MPG
LONG TERM...
AVIATION...RAH