Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Wilmington, NC

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000 FXUS62 KILM 191913 AFDILM AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 313 PM EDT SUN MAY 19 2013 .SYNOPSIS...
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UNSETTLED CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST FOR MUCH OF THE WEEK. A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA THIS WEEKEND BRINGING COOLER AND DRIER CONDITIONS.
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&& .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/...
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AS OF 300 PM SUNDAY...THROUGH MIDDLE EVENING...SUBSTANTIAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1-2 INCHES WILL BE FAVORED ACROSS OUR ZONES WEST OF I-95 WHERE ONE IMPULSE ALOFT EVIDENT IN VAPOR ANIMATIONS MOVING EAST OVER CENTRAL SC...WILL SERVE AS A CATALYST FOR CONVECTION BY PROVIDING UPPER SUPPORT THROUGH THE PERIOD OF MAXIMUM DIURNAL SURFACE HEATING. STEERING FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO GUIDE THE RAIN MAKERS GENERALLY SOUTH TO NORTH WITH A SLIGHT EASTWARD NUDGE. THE EASTERN 1/3 OF OUR ZONES HAVE BECOME MORE STABILIZED BY THE DIVERGENCE ASSOCIATED THE SEA BREEZE CIRCULATION AND A LESS BUOYANT LOW-LEVEL MARINE LAYER...SO HIGHEST POPS TO PREVAIL INLAND THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT PERIOD. SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED TSTMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE NNE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT PERIOD AHEAD OF A MID LEVEL TROUGH...SHIFTING CONVECTIVE FOCUS GRADUALLY EAST THROUGH THE LATE NIGHT. THINK DIURNAL SURFACE COOLING AFTER EVENING MAY DECREASE CONVECTIVE INTENSITY OVERALL...BUT WITH ADEQUATE UPPER SUPPORT AND PWAT VALUES APPROACHING 1.75 INCHES INTO THE PRE-DAWN HOURS OF MONDAY...THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY SHOWERS AND ISOLATED TSTMS WILL PREVAIL OVERNIGHT. AS THE UPPER TROUGH NEARS THE COASTAL ZONES BY DAYBREAK MONDAY....STORM MOTION WILL TAKE ON A MORE WEST TO EAST TRAJECTORY...WITH BEST DYNAMICS ALOFT SHIFTING CLOSER TO THE COAST. TIMING OF QPF FIELDS BRINGS THE BEST RAINFALL OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR COASTAL LOCATIONS MAINLY JUST AFTER 12Z MONDAY.
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&& .SHORT TERM /MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/...
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AS OF 300 PM SUNDAY...MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGE WILL BE POPS AND THE TIMING THEREOF AT LEAST THROUGH THE FIRST DAY...MONDAY. THE MID LEVEL PATTERN WILL CONSIST OF A WEAK RIDGE EXTENDING INTO THE TENNESSEE VALLEY/WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA REGION WITH A BROAD WEAKNESS ALONG THE EAST COAST AT LEAST FROM FLORIDA NORTH TO THE DELMARVA. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES REMAIN ELEVATED MONDAY INTO MONDAY EVENING NEAR ONE AND THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH. THE FORCING WILL BASICALLY CONSIST OF THE WEAK MID LEVEL FORCING...A BROAD DEFORMATION ZONE IN THE 700-300MB LAYER...AND DIFFERENTIAL HEATING VIA THE SEA BREEZE AND INTERVALS OF CLOUDS. INTERESTING TO LOOK AT THE CURRENT MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS WEST OF OUR AREA AND THE DEFORMATION. THESE APPEAR TO BE THE PRODUCT OF THIS BROAD ZONE. HOWEVER THIS AREA OF FORCING...WHILE STILL PRESENT IN A WEAKER STATE MONDAY AND OVER OUR AREA...MOVES LITTLE AND DO NOT ANTICIPATE AS MUCH ORGANIZED CONFECTION...MORESO OF WHAT WE ARE SEEING TODAY. MORE OF A SOUTHWEST FLOW DEVELOPS TUESDAY WITH PW VALUES DROPPING SOMEWHAT AND THIS IS REFLECTED IN LOWER POP VALUES. FOR TEMPERATURES...LOW CONFIDENCE FORECAST BUT I FOLLOWED A CONSISTENT TREND OF LOWER VALUES MET NUMBERS MONDAY VIA HIGHER POPS AND WARMER NUMBERS TUESDAY...MAV NUMBERS.
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&& .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
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AS OF 300 PM SUNDAY...WEDNESDAY SHOULD BE THE LAST DAY WITH THE ABSENCE OF ANY SYNOPTIC SCALE ASCENT AS WEST ATLANTIC SURFACE AND UPPER RIDGE HOLD ON. THE LATTER WILL BE WEAKENING HOWEVER AND LARGE SCALE WEAK FORCING MAY KICK IN AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE AFTERNOON HOURS WILL STILL BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO ISOLATED COVERAGE OF CONVECTION BORNE OF MESOSCALE BOUNDARIES ESPECIALLY WITH TEMPERATURES ON THE WARM SIDE OF CLIMO...YIELDING EXTRA INSTABILITY. THURSDAY AND FRIDAY MAY TURN ACTIVE WITH UPPER TROUGH AND SURFACE COLD FRONT BOTH IMPINGING UPON THE REGION FROM THE NW. THE SPEED AND AMPLITUDE OF THE TROUGH AND ENSUING COOLER/DRIER AIR IS NOT AGREED UPON BY MODEL GUIDANCE. THE SLOWER AND LESS AMPLIFIED 00Z EC SEEMS AT ODDS WITH THE MORE AGGRESSIVE GFS/GEM. THE QUICKER SOLUTIONS OF CONTINUITY HAVE BEEN PRESERVED...IMPLYING THAT SOME CONSIDERABLY DRIER AIR WILL WORKING OVER THE WEEKEND.
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&& .AVIATION /19Z SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... AS OF 18Z...EXPECT TO SEE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND STORMS TO CONTINUE THE PATTERN OF REDEVELOPMENT AND DISSIPATION DURING THE TAF PERIOD AS WE HAVE SEEN DURING THE PREVIOUS 24 HOURS. INITIALLY...THE GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL CONVECTION WILL BE OVER SOUTHERN AND WESTERN AREAS TODAY WITH A SHIFT EAST AND NORTH TONIGHT INTO MONDAY. THE EXACT TIMING THAT EACH TERMINAL WILL BE AFFECTED DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS IS SOMEWHAT UP TO CHANCE SO PILOTS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO DEAL WITH THE ATTENDANT MVFR OR BRIEF IFR CIGS AND VSBYS AT ALMOST ANY TIME DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. OUTSIDE CONVECTION EXPECT S WINDS OF 5 TO 10 KT WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER WINDS POSSIBLE NEARER THE COAST THIS AFTERNOON. EXTENDED OUTLOOK...AFTN SHOWERS/TSTMS POSSIBLE AGAIN MONDAY AND TUESDAY. OTHERWISE PREVAILING VFR. && .MARINE...
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NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... AS OF 300 PM SUNDAY...MODERATE SOUTH WINDS WILL PREVAIL ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE BEEN A BIT LIGHTER THAN FORECAST...ASIDE FROM LOCAL GUSTY INSHORE DUE TO THE SEA BREEZE CIRCULATION. THUS THINK SEAS WILL GENERALLY HOLD IN A 2-3 FOOT RANGE MOST WATERS...POSSIBLY NEAR 4 FEET LATE TONIGHT OVER THE OUTER WATERS WHERE PERSISTENCE OF SSE WINDS PREVAIL. SEAS PF 2-4 FEET...HIGHEST OFFSHORE...WILL BE MADE UP OF 2-3 FOOT SSE WAVES EVERY 5-6 SECONDS...AND 1-2 FOOT ESE WAVES EVERY 8-9 SECONDS. MARINERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO GET A RADAR UPDATE BEFORE HEADING OUT SINCE A FEW STRONG TSTMS COULD DOT THE WATERS LATER TONIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. WINDS AND SEAS WILL BE LOCALLY HIGHER IN AND NEAR TSTMS. SHORT TERM /MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... AS OF 300 PM SUNDAY...SURFACE PATTERN CHANGES LITTLE THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH IF ANYTHING...A SLIGHT TURN IN THE WINDS TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST TUESDAY. DIRECTION SHOULD REMAIN STRAIGHT SOUTHERLY MONDAY. OVERALL WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO DISPLAY SUMMERTIME SPEEDS IN A 10-15 KNOT RANGE. SEAS WILL ALSO DISPLAY LITTLE IN THE WAY OF VARIABILITY WITH 2-4 FEET AS PERIODS REMAIN DOMINATED BY WIND WAVES. LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... AS OF 300 PM SUNDAY...SOUTH TO SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH BERMUDA HIGH PRESSURE BEING THE MAIN PLAYER AT LEAST INITIALLY. THE INCREASED DURATION OF FETCH WILL ALLOW FOR SOME LONGER PERIOD SWELL ENERGY TO BEGIN MOVING INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. AS A RESULT THERE SHOULD BE A DECREASE IN THE OVERALL WAVE PERIOD WHILE SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT IS ON THE RISE. THERE COULD EVEN BE SOME SCEC-WORTHY 5 FT SEAS ALONG THE OUTER EDGES OF THE FCST ZONES BY THURSDAY. APPROACHING COLD FRONT ON FRIDAY COULD VEER THE WIND SLIGHTLY. THIS BOUNDARY MAY BE COMING THROUGH AS EARLY AS FRIDAY NIGHT BUT A SLOWER SOLUTION SEEMS LIKELY IN FUTURE MODEL RUNS.
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&& .ILM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...NONE. NC...NONE. MARINE...NONE. && $$ SYNOPSIS...SHK NEAR TERM...MJC SHORT TERM...SHK LONG TERM...MBB AVIATION...RAN

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