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FXUS64 KLUB 240859
AFDLUB

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Lubbock TX
359 AM CDT Mon Jul 24 2017

.DISCUSSION...
Subtropical upper high poised over the scenic inselberg of Shiprock,
NM will set its sights on the flatter Texas South Plains later today
and overnight. Until this high arrives on Tue, respectable mid-level
lapse rates will remain intact and support one last bout of isolated
to scattered storms, mostly in the afternoon and early evening. Foci
for precip today are more vague than yesterday`s pair of MCVs, but
fine resolution water vapor imagery does show a very subtle cyclonic
curl near Hereford drifting southward. This could focus PoPs more
over the western South Plains today, but have opted to keep a broad
scattered mention as no clear signal exists at this point to justify
further tweaking to PoPs. A large, but weak outflow boundary pushing
west through the CWA at 3 AM may enhance pre-sunrise convection in
our NW zones, but this feature will only dampen and be of less
significance by daybreak.

With the arrival of the amplifying upper high on Tue, 500 mb heights
will jump a solid 40-50 meters from today. Attendant warming of the
column and subsequent poor mid-level lapse rates should effectively
squash precipitation chances until late week when the high is still
progged to retreat to the Desert SW. Steady height falls, weak NW
flow, and the arrival of a decaying cold front late Wed night/early
Thu all favor an uptick of low PoPs across the Panhandle and
adjacent South Plains. The wildcard from Thu-Sat will be just how
much outflows from episodic storms near the front can drive precip
chances farther south than models say. The joker meanwhile is how
effective the eastern periphery of the upper ridge will be at
warding off these southward-moving storms. For now, PoPs remain
focused mostly over our northern two rows of counties later this
week, before re-orienting N-S off the Caprock later in the weekend
as the upper ridge axis trends more meridional while also nudging
closer to the South Plains.

Temp wise, the heat will shift into overdrive Tue and Wed under
the growing high, before relaxing thereafter as the upper
anticyclone retreats.

&&

.LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.
&&

$$

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