


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Marquette, MI
Issued by NWS Marquette, MI
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386 FXUS63 KMQT 131303 AFDMQT Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Marquette MI 903 AM EDT Sun Jul 13 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Wildfire smoke from Canada will be over the area through at least tonight resulting in air quality concerns and reduced visibility. - This evening, a few showers and thunderstorms may arrive in the western UP. A few of these storms may be strong to severe, with a Marginal Risk (category 1 of 5) for damaging winds and 1+" hail. - Periods of showers and thunderstorms possible Tuesday into Wednesday (30-60%). && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Issued at 344 AM EDT Sun Jul 13 2025 Upper air pattern (per RAP analysis) consists of a negatively tilted trough (cut off at and below 700mb) over northern Ontario with a minor embedded shortwave extending southwest from the trough over the Plains. With minor ridging and height rises over the UP in the wake of the main trough`s passage yesterday, subsidence has kept wildfire smoke from upstream fires in northwest Ontario and Manitoba near the surface over the UP, with many UP METARs showing visibility sub-6 miles this evening and PurpleAir sensors showing PM2.5 AQI of 150-215+. Even if those sensors are biased high by a category, the air quality is poor enough that people in sensitive groups may experience some health issues, especially those with poor air filtration or those that cannot prevent smoke from getting inside their homes. RAP-Smoke and HRRR-Smoke show little improvement throughout the morning and even show increasing concentration of near-surface smoke in the western UP this afternoon. Anyone with air quality concerns should refer to the Air Quality Alert in effect for more information including links to health information and best practices. Despite the smoke, high temperatures today will still be around the 80 degree mark with otherwise sunny skies expected. Attention then turns upstream as the aforementioned minor Plains shortwave approaches, forcing isolated convection upstream. Increasing flow aloft will provide better shear environments than much of the recent convective setups with the HREF showing mean 0- 6km shear values of around 30 kt and increasingly sickle-shaped hodographs in the lower levels allows 0-3km SRH values to climb to the 100-200 range. There is a question of available instability as the timing of when showers/storms would arrive would be around 0Z- 6Z, after the peak of diurnal heating, so HREF mean SBCAPE is only around 750 J/kg, but there is considerable spread in the minimum and maximum modeled values (especially given that smoke could dampen the ability for the surface layer to destabilize). Additionally, the surface trough will be weakening as it approaches the UP, so forcing will be weakening. Available moisture will not be an issue though as much of the short range guidance has dew points in the 60s in the west ahead of this activity. To recap: good shear, weakening lift, questionable instability, and good moisture. All of this combines for a conditionally marginal severe setup, as if convection does have enough forcing and instability over the region, the shear and moisture will support some isolated supercells capable of severe wind and hail. However, given the failure of better forced and more unstable events this summer, confidence in storms even lasting to reach the UP is not particularly high, with PoPs only up to 35 percent. Even with storms petering out after 06Z, the boundary will help mix out some of the wildfire smoke, bringing some (at least brief) relief to the hazy skies. Expect low temperatures to fall to the low 60s tonight. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/... Issued at 249 PM EDT Sat Jul 12 2025 A few showers or perhaps a thunderstorm will be possible Sunday night as a weakening boundary tries to move through from the west. For early next week, zonal midlevel flow initially will become more amplified with time over the northern tier of the CONUS as troughing digs into the northern Plains, resulting in SW flow over the local area. At the surface, an area of low pressure will develop over the Rockies/central Plains, with a warm front extending NE into the northern Plains or upper Great Lakes. After a dry and seasonably warm day Monday (highs mainly in the 80s), precipitation chances enter the picture again Tuesday/Wednesday as impulses in the SW flow team up with diurnal instability to generate areas of showers and thunderstorms. There is still uncertainty with timing and placement of the front upon which most of the activity should be focused, so general broad-brush chance to low-likely (30-60%) PoPs will suffice, with Wednesday having relatively higher probabilities for precipitation over most areas. With relatively more ensemble members having the front north of our area on Tuesday, another warm day in the 80s looks likely, with a cool- down becoming more likely Wednesday on the back side of the front. Gradually trending drier and seasonably cool for the end of the week as high pressure builds over the northern Plains/Great Lakes. && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z MONDAY/... Issued at 728 AM EDT Sun Jul 13 2025 Wildfire smoke from Canada is causing hazy skies and reducing visibility to MVFR conditions this morning. While periods of VFR vis are possible for periods of time today, the most common visibility is expected to be in the MVFR range with a few spurts down to 2SM possible but unlikely. The only thing interrupting primarily dry conditions is the chance for some isolated TSRA at IWD (and to a lesser extent, CMX) this evening after 00Z, which could bring some erratic and gusty winds but chances of TSRA actually impacting the terminal are only around 20-30 percent at IWD and 10-20 percent at CMX. Expect winds primarily out of the west to southwest today at around 5-10 kt with some gusts to 15 kt possible. && .MARINE... Issued at 903 AM EDT Sun Jul 13 2025 Visibility will continue to be reduced in areas of fog and wildfire smoke into Monday. Winds will increase with west-southwesterly gusts around 20 kt through today, mainly over the western half. A weakening band of showers and thunderstorms is possible over the western lake this evening (40% chance). Winds diminish early in the week, but could increase to near 20 kt from the north late in the week behind a frontal boundary. Unsettled weather returns Tuesday/Wednesday with additional rounds of showers and thunderstorms possible, plus the potential for fog where rainfall occurs. && .MQT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Upper Michigan... Air Quality Alert until noon EDT /11 AM CDT/ Monday for MIZ001>007-009>014-084-085. Lake Superior... None. Lake Michigan... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...GS LONG TERM...Thompson AVIATION...GS MARINE...Thompson