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000
FXUS63 KLOT 201135
AFDLOT

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville, IL
635 AM CDT Fri Oct 20 2017

.SHORT TERM...

Through tonight...

230 am...No forecast concerns this period. High pressure will
remain across the east coast/mid Atlantic with a trough of low
pressure across the plains. The gradient will slowly tighten with
southerly winds increasing to 10-20 mph with some higher gusts
possible this afternoon. Temps are currently in the upper 40s to
lower 50s and probably won`t drop much more before sunrise.
Guidance highs for today are all in the upper 70s and its likely
several areas will tag 80. Temps will drop into the 60s this
evening with lows by Saturday morning likely staying in the 50s.
Increasing high clouds today which will thicken a bit more
tonight. cms.

&&

.LONG TERM...

Saturday through Thursday...

230 am...Forecast concerns include rain chances Saturday night
through Sunday evening...then two cold fronts and associated cold
air burst behind each front.

The gradient will tighten further on Saturday with southerly winds
into the 15-25 mph with higher gusts. There will likely be more
cloud cover Saturday...perhaps in the afternoon and this lowers
the confidence for high temps which for now are near guidance
highs but its likely that highs on Saturday could be similar to
Friday...especially across eastern areas.

A cold front will move across the area on Sunday with showers
developing ahead of the front late Saturday night and continuing
for much of Sunday. Timing appears to have slowed just a bit with
the best chances for rain from daybreak Sunday through mid/late
afternoon. Thunder chances look fairly low and will continue with
slight chance mention. QPF amounts look to be mainly under an
inch...storm total but there could be band/axis of heavier
rainfall though too difficult to pin down where this may occur
just yet. Models differ on end time across the eastern cwa Sunday
night into Monday morning and trends will need to be monitored as
to the exact end time of precip.

The first of two stronger cold fronts will arrive Monday as an
upper low closes off over the Lakes region Tuesday into Wednesday.
This will spread much cooler air across the region through
midweek along with showers and potentially lake effect showers in
northwest Indiana though too early for exact locations which will
be dependent on wind direction. Also currently looks to stay warm
enough that this precip should remain all rain but if precip can
become heavy enough and cool the column enough...then some mixed
snow can`t be completely ruled out.

This midweek upper low shifts east by Thursday with a short-lived
ridge building across the area Thursday then another strong cold
front moves across the area from late Thursday afternoon through
Thursday night...still some timing differences. This cold blast
will likely be colder than the first and while its just beyond the
end of this period...it also looks to be short lived as temps
begin to moderate going into next weekend. cms

&&

.AVIATION...
For the 12Z TAFs...

South winds and VFR conditions will prevail throughout the TAF
period. Expect winds to become gusty late this morning through the
afternoon, gusting up to around 20 kt at times. After sunset this
evening, a low level jet will form along the Mississippi Valley
with winds speeds at 020 increasing into the 40 to possibly 50kt
range, mainly at RFD but cannot rule out the Chicago area
terminals as well. These higher winds for now are advertised by
the NAM while the GFS and ECMWF cap winds just below 40kt. LLWS
may need to be added to the TAFs at some point, but for now will
hold off due to lower confidence.

BMD

&&

.MARINE...
244 AM CDT

High pressure is centered east of Lake Michigan today while low
pressure is slowly deepening over Alberta. Moderate south to
southwest winds will be in place across Lake Michigan through most
of the weekend. These winds will gradually strengthen to around 30
kt from late tonight through midday Sunday. Shallow mixing and
stable conditions just off the surface will help limit the
magnitude of the wind gusts, but cannot rule out a sporadic gale
force gust Saturday into Sunday. A cold front will move across
Lake Michigan on Sunday resulting in winds shifting out of the
west to northwest later Sunday into Sunday night. Winds briefly
back to the southwest once again early Monday ahead of a second
and stronger cold front which will move across the lake Monday
evening and night with winds swinging back to the northwest to
north at around 30 kt and gales once again a possibility.

BMD

&&

.LOT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IL...None.
IN...None.
LM...None.
&&

$$

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