Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Wilmington, NC

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000 FXUS62 KILM 200341 AFDILM AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC 1141 PM EDT SUN MAY 19 2013 .SYNOPSIS... WESTERN ATLANTIC HIGH PRESSURE WILL RIDGE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA FOR THE MAJORITY OF THIS WEEK. A DISTURBANCE ALOFT MOVING ACROSS THE AREA EARLY IN THE WEEK...WILL MAINTAIN THE THREAT FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK...EXPECT A RETURN BACK TO THE NORMAL DIURNALLY INDUCED CONVECTION THREAT. FOR LATE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH ACROSS THE AREA. IN ITS WAKE...DRY CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE WILL RIDGE ACROSS THE REGION DURING THE UPCOMING HOLIDAY WEEKEND. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM MONDAY MORNING/...
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AS OF 1100 PM SUNDAY...VIA LATEST 88D TRENDS...EARLIER WIDESPREAD CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY ACROSS THE FA HAS DISSIPATED TO ISOLATED IN AREAL COVERAGE AS OF LATE THIS EVENING. IN GENERAL...THE ATM HAS BEEN WORKED OVER INLAND...WHERE-AS CLOSER TO THE COAST THE ATM HAS HAD TIME TO RECOVER SOME FROM THE ITS EARLIER ACTIVITY. THIS TREND WILL ALSO OCCUR INLAND LATER TONIGHT. WITH A 1ST LOOK AT THE 00Z NAM...AID FROM DYNAMICS ALOFT...PVA ASSOCIATED WITH THE MAIN 5H VORT ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEAK S/W MID-LEVEL S/W TROF HAVING CRASHED INTO THE UPPER RIDGE EARLIER THIS WEEKEND...CONVECTION SHOULD BEGIN TO FIRE ACROSS THE CENTRAL CAROLINAS JUST OUTSIDE WEST OF THE ILM CWA...AND DRIFT INTO THE FA DURING THE PRE-DAWN HRS. ACROSS THE ADJACENT ATL WATERS...CONVECTION WILL FIRE UP ACROSS THE WARMER WATERS JUST OUTSIDE OF THE ILM COASTAL WATERS...AND PUSH ACROSS THE COASTAL WATERS AND ONSHORE DURING THE PRE-DAWN MON HRS. WITH THE SLIGHTLY COOLER THEN NORMAL SHELF WATERS IN PLACE FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR...THE QUESTION RESIDES OF JUST HOW MUCH OF A NEGATIVE/WEAKENING INFLUENCE WILL IT HAVE ON THIS CONVECTION PRIOR TO MOVING ONSHORE. POPS AGAIN HAVE BEEN RE- ADJUSTED/RE-STRUCTURED TO ACCOUNT FOR CURRENT RADAR TRENDS...AND THE INCREASED CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL LATER OVERNIGHT. 00Z RAOBS INDICATE PWS OF 1.4 MHX TO 1.8 CHS INCHES. HAVE INCLUDED A HEAVY RAIN SUFFIX TO THE PCPN WHICH ALSO RESULTED IN A RE-TOOLING OF THE QPF ACROSS THE FA. OVERNIGHT MIN TEMPS AND HOURLY DEWPOINTS REMAIN ON QUE.
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&& .SHORT TERM /6 AM MONDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... 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. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... 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. && .AVIATION /03Z MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/...
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AS OF 00Z...PERIODS OF MVFR/IFR POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT...ESPECIALLY INLAND...DUE TO LOW CIGS AND AREAS OF FOG. OTHERWISE EXPECT VFR WITH PERIODS OF MVFR/IFR POSSIBLE ON SUNDAY WITH ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. SCT/BKN LOW/MID/HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS AS WELL AS SHOWERS ARE SPREAD ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING. LATEST OBS ALSO DEPICTING SOME AREAS OF FOG...BUT CURRENTLY NOT AFFECTING ANY OF THE TERMINALS. EXPECT SOUTH WINDS AOB 8 KTS AND LINGERING ISOLATED SHOWERS THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...WITH LOW CIGS CREATING MVFR/BRIEF IFR CONDITIONS POSSIBLE GIVEN FCST SOUNDINGS AND TIME-HEIGHT ANALYSIS. ALSO CANNOT RULE OUT FOG INLAND LATE OVERNIGHT INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS...WHICH MAY CREATE MVFR/BRIEF IFR. AFTER DAYBREAK...ANY LINGERING FOG WILL DISSIPATE AND CIGS WILL GRADUALLY LIFT GIVING WAY TO VFR AREA-WIDE. SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL PREVAIL AOB 10 KTS WITH GUSTS UP TO 18 KTS ALONG THE COAST LATER IN THE DAY. CHANCE FOR ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT THE DAY. EXTENDED OUTLOOK...AFTN SHOWERS/TSTMS POSSIBLE MONDAY AND TUESDAY. OTHERWISE PREVAILING VFR.
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&& .MARINE...
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NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... AS OF 1111 PM SUNDAY...LATEST COASTAL AND MARITIME OBS INDICATE WINDS GENERALLY NEAR 10 KT NEAR SHORE...AND UP TO 15 KT ACROSS THE OUTER WATERS. BASED ON THE LATEST AND PROGGED SFC PRESSURE PATTERN...160-190 DEGREE WIND DIRECTIONS TO OCCUR OVERNIGHT. THE PROGGED SFC PG HAS WIND SPEEDS GENERALLY INCREASING TO 10-15 KT THRUOUT THE AREA WATERS. SIGNIFICANT SEAS WILL GENERALLY BE 2 TO 3 FT...WITH 4 FOOTERS POSSIBLE ACROSS THE OUTER WATERS 10-20 NM OUT. A 1 TO 2 FOOT EASTERLY PSEUDO GROUND SWELL AT 8 TO 9 SECOND PERIODS...WILL MESH WITH LOCALLY GENERATED WIND WAVES AT 4 TO 5 SECOND PERIODS. CURRENT ISOLATED CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY...WILL INCREASE TO SCATTERED TO AREAS IN COVERAGE DURING THE PRE-DAWN HRS AND INTO DAYLIGHT MONDAY MORNING. COULD SEE WINDS GUSTING TO 20 TO 30 KT FROM THE STRONGER TSTMS...ESPECIALLY THOSE TRAVERSING ACROSS SSTS OF 70 DEGREES OR HIGHER...IE THE OUTER WATERS OFF CAPE FEAR. 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...DCH SHORT TERM...SHK LONG TERM...MBB AVIATION...SGL

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