000
FXUS62 KGSP 192342
AFDGSP

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Greenville-Spartanburg SC
742 PM EDT Sat Aug 19 2017

.SYNOPSIS...
High pressure will build across the forecast area and bring
relatively dry conditions through Sunday. Then a warming and
moistening airmass will build in, bringing hot and humid afternoons
Monday through Wednesday. A cold front is expected to pass through
Wednesday night and usher in cooler and drier air that will last
into next weekend.

&&

.NEAR TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY/...
As of 730 PM EDT Saturday: Forecast floating right along this
evening. Even the temp/dewpt trends are in good shape. No changes.

Very quiet through the near-term with a post-frontal dry airmass in
place. The front that passed through yesterday will remain stalled
to our south, but with the ridge axis building in overhead the front
will wash out somewhat, and moisture will lift back north as surface
winds swing around to the southeast during the day on Sunday. In the
meantime, seasonal temperatures out there this afternoon, with lows
tonight pretty much at climo.

As we move into Sunday, the heat will slowly increase as will the
humidity. Low level winds out of the S/SE will result in some
orographic upglide, and at 700mb, though fairly weak, as a very
minor shortwave passes over the area. This should result in a fairly
typical diurnal pattern to convection over the mountains, and should
be enough for isolated thunderstorms to develop. Storms probably
won`t move much but without enough time for recovery in deep-layer
moisture, heavy rain concerns are minimized. Other concern will be
the increasing heat with thicknesses increasing aloft as well as
subsidence from the building ridge, with highs creeping toward the
mid 90s south of the I-85 corridor. Luckily again without much time
for low level moisture recovery, heat indices will only be a degree
or two above the actual temps, but for residents and visitors across
the area, still a good idea to be aware of heat precautions.

&&

.SHORT TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/...
As of 2:30 PM EDT Sunday: The western extension of the Bermuda High
Pressure System will hold sway through Monday. H5 heights actually
are on the increase into early in the new work week. Meanwhile, the
old frontal boundary washes out and is essentially replaced by an
establishing SE flow from the surface up to H5 MB.

In the very short term, isolated ridge top convection Sunday evening
will end with the loss of heating and instability. We will carry a
slight chance for an hour or two after sundown Sunday evening.

The broad SE flow has made a couple of notable shifts in the
forecast for Monday. With dewpoints on their way back up, we have
noticed an increase in moisture both from the surface to H85 and
also the surface to H5. The first area to discuss will be the NC
mountains and perhaps far NE Georgia. The suite of models are
allowing clouds to develop, along with a fair amount of instability,
which should lead to either scattered or widely scattered showers
and thunderstorms midday Monday forward. Terrain impacts will also
be in play.

The second area is the moisture advancing north from the midlands on
Monday. We will edge up the cloud forecast in our upstate south
piedmont counties and also have a small chance of afternoon showers
or  thunderstorms. The remainder of the area will have some fair
weather cumulus, with perhaps some higher level clouds on top.

I still suspect there will be some "give and take" with respect to a
sharp cloud/precipitation line nearby on Monday. Bottom line, minor
details could change the direction of the forecast.

Any convection Monday should wane, although we re-introduced another
chance of showers in our south mountains of NC toward daybreak
Tuesday. This is in response to the flow turning southwest, which
will initiate upglide on that side of the terrain.

Moving forward, the overall pattern will be in flux. On Tuesday there
should be a greater coverage of showers and thunderstorms, still in
the chance category, but increasing in areal coverage. A prefrontal
trough, ahead of the primary approaching cold front, may lend itself
for a thunderstorm focus Tuesday as well.

Temperatures will continue to remain elevated, while dewpoints start
another surge higher. As a result heat indices will be flirting in
the middle and upper 90s in parts of NE Georgia (outside the
mountains), upstate South Carolina and the western piedmont of North
Carolina, both Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon.

&&

.LONG TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/...
As of noon Saturday: Consensus of GFS and EC continues to indicate
an amplified upper pattern developing in the middle of the week,
reaching its greatest magnitude around Thursday. As the component
trough digs over the East, a fairly strong cold front will push
into our region late Wednesday. At the present time it looks fairly
likely this front will focus deep convective development, given that
it will be moving into a hot and humid airmass associated with a
subtropical ridge. With 20-25 kt of 0-6 km shear we can`t rule out
persistent linear storm structures, though dry air aloft appears to
be lacking, which may mitigate the severe wx threat to some degree.

Given the amplified pattern, unsurprisingly a large sfc high
builds into the area following the front. While some guidance
depicts precip returning Thursday afternoon while the front is
still on our southern fringe, most indications are for subsidence
to have taken hold by that time, and therefore depict suppressed
convection. By Friday the high should have moved onto the Eastern
Seaboard, resulting in a cool wedge setup which persists into the
weekend, with deep convection looking even less likely. However,
easterly flow still warrants a low PoP in the high terrain. Max
temps will be 3-5 degrees below normal Thursday and into the weekend
on account of the wedge, with dewpoints in the upper 50s to lower
60s making for particularly pleasant conditions.

&&

.AVIATION /00Z SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...
At KCLT and elsewhere: VFR through the period with the exception of
some mountain valley fog that may impact KAVL around sunrise. Only
a few cirrus tonight with wind generally light and variable, but
favoring a northerly component. With some heating, expect few/sct
cumulus to develop in the early afternoon on Sunday, with wind
coming around to ESE or SE in many locations. Any shower activity
will be isolated to the highest ridgetops in NC.

Outlook: The inactive pattern is expected to continue into early
next week, although patchy morning fog/stratus will remain possible,
mainly in the mountain valleys. A more typical late summer pattern
returns by mid-week, with isolated/scattered afternoon/evening
storms expected, along with better chances for patchy fog/low
stratus, especially in the mountain valleys.

Confidence Table...

            23-05Z        05-11Z        11-17Z        17-18Z
KCLT       High 100%     High 100%     High  83%     High 100%
KGSP       High 100%     High 100%     High 100%     High 100%
KAVL       High 100%     High  83%     High 100%     High 100%
KHKY       High 100%     High 100%     High  83%     High 100%
KGMU       High 100%     High 100%     High 100%     High 100%
KAND       High 100%     High 100%     High  83%     High 100%

The percentage reflects the number of guidance members agreeing
with the scheduled TAF issuance flight rule category. Complete hourly
experimental aviation forecast consistency tables and ensemble forecasts
are available at the following link:

www.weather.gov/gsp/aviation

&&

.GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GA...None.
NC...None.
SC...None.

&&

$$
SYNOPSIS...Wimberley
NEAR TERM...PM/TDP
SHORT TERM...TS
LONG TERM...Wimberley
AVIATION...PM