Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Raleigh/Durham, NC

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361 FXUS62 KRAH 101025 AFDRAH Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Raleigh NC 625 AM EDT Thu Jul 10 2025 .SYNOPSIS... Disturbances in unseasonably moist, southwesterly flow aloft will interact with a surface trough over the Middle Atlantic and Carolinas through Friday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... As of 340 AM Thursday... * A Flood Watch is in effect today for all of central NC through at least 2 AM then only the Coastal Plain until 5 AM. * Weakly organized storms will be capable of torrential rainfall, which may result in scattered flash flooding, as well as strong to locally severe wind gusts. Water vapor imagery and RAP analysis shows a positively-tilted trough axis extending from southern Quebec southwestward through the Ohio Valley into the ArkLaTex region. Ahead of this feature, continued moist southwesterly flow aloft will keep anomalous deep-layer moisture in place over the Mid-Atlantic into the Southeast. The trough axis is expected to slowly sag eastward through this evening and reach the eastern Carolinas by Fri morning. Regional radar imagery also show several embedded MVC`s rotating through the mean flow over the southern Appalachians as well as central SC and southeastern GA. After the widespread early morning stratus gradually scatters out through mid-morning, a continued warm and moist airmass, with surface dew points in the low/mid 70s, should result in 1500-2500 J/kg of MLCAPE with diurnal heating. Anomalous deep-layer moisture in place will favor relatively early convective initiation over western NC and SC due to low convective temps and weak synoptic ascent. This should result in scattered to numerous showers and storms once again through the afternoon as convective outflows spread into our area. Weak steering winds and deep-layer shear < 20kts will result in slow storm motions of efficient heavy rain producing storms, only propagating along the development of common cold pools and storm scale MCVs. Flooding and severe risk: Greatest concern will once again be scattered instances of flash flooding due to a large portion of the Piedmont particularly sensitive to additional rainfall (the area from the Triad to the Triangle to Fayetteville to Albemarle has experienced 2 to over +10 inches within the past 7 days, which is 200 to +600% of normal). 00z HREF and 18z REFS are in good agreement that the rainfall footprint may look closer to a more classic summer-time pattern where most places will see at least trace amounts to 0.5-1", but concentrated areas of 2 to 5+ inches will again be possible. Both ensemble systems highlight the greatest probabilities for concentrated higher amounts to be bimodal, one area over the western/southern Piedmont into the western Sandhills, and another somewhere over the Coastal Plain. However, it is important to note that in these patterns, locally higher and potentially significant rainfall amounts can occur anywhere. Additionally, one or two strong to severe convective clusters will be capable of producing strong to severe winds, but with heavily saturated soils over a large portion of the Piedmont, scattered downed trees will be possible even with sub-severe wind gusts. && .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/... As of 355 AM Thursday... A mid/upper trough will move east from Quebec and New England into the Canadian Maritimes on Friday and Friday night. Meanwhile a shortwave trough initially over eastern NC will push east and offshore, turning the mid-level flow to a more W/NW direction. This will bring in some drier air, with 2+ inch PW values confined to far southern and eastern portions of central NC. This combined with weak height rises behind the departing shortwave mean coverage of convection should be significantly less than previous days, especially over the northern Piedmont. This may help temperatures get a bit warmer than today, with forecast highs in the upper-80s to lower-90s (near normal). Still, dew points in the 70s and good surface heating will result in another day of 1500-2500 J/kg of CAPE, so scattered to locally numerous showers and storms will be possible in the afternoon and evening, particularly where any remnant outflows are left over from today`s storms. The best coverage and intensity should be across the Sandhills and Coastal Plain, coincident with the greatest deep-layer moisture. However, scattered showers and storms will still be possible farther west along the Piedmont surface trough that will be in place. Very weak mid-level flow (less than 15 kts) should preclude an organized severe threat, but still can`t rule out an isolated wet microburst, and SPC has our entire area in a marginal (level 1 of 5) risk for severe storms. The heavy rain threat certainly looks less than previous days, but WPC still has central NC in a marginal (level 1 of 4) risk for excessive rainfall as well. Think this will be mostly confined to the south and east, where the LPMM on the 00z HREF depicts isolated pockets of 1-3 inches, but it isn`t nearly as widespread, and some will depend on how much rain falls there today. Given how much rain has fallen over the Piedmont this week, FFG values there are quite low, so that area will still bear watching as well. Convection will diminish in the late evening and overnight hours with loss of daytime heating. Mild lows in the lower-to-mid-70s are expected. && .LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... As of 355 AM Thursday... The weak shortwave off the Southeast US coast will lift NE on Saturday and Sunday, getting replaced by a building subtropical high over the Gulf. W/NW flow around the high will continue to bring drier air into central NC, with any 2+ inch PW values still confined to southern and eastern portions of the area. Still, a combination of surface dew points in the 70s, moderate destabilization, a Piedmont surface trough, and potential upper impulses mean scattered showers and storms can`t be ruled out anywhere. POPs are greatest in the south and east, but even there convection should be mainly scattered in nature. Weak flow aloft should continue to preclude an organized severe threat. As the Bermuda surface high begins extending back westward and moist southerly flow increases off the Atlantic, increasing deep-layer moisture looks to yield higher shower/storm chances once again from Monday through Wednesday, though overall QPF still isn`t as high as what we have gotten in recent days, as there will be a lack of upper forcing with the subtropical ridge building into the Southeast US. A mid/upper trough looks to move east across the Great Lakes and Northeast US early next week, dragging a cold front to its south, but at this time the front looks to largely dissipate by the time it reaches the Carolinas. Forecast highs from Saturday through Monday are still upper-80s to lower-90s. Some heat indices in the low-100s will be possible in the south and east. A slight cooldown may commence on Tuesday and Wednesday depending if the front is able to reach us, but highs should still be within a few degrees of normal. Lows each night will be in the lower-to-mid-70s. && .AVIATION /11Z THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/...
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As of 625 AM Thursday... Prevailing LIFR-IFR cigs developed across the 4 northern terminals while remaining fairly patchy around FAY. Those ceilings are expected to then persist through mid-morning, then lift through MVFR and scatter to VFR through late morning to midday. Scattered to locally numerous convection is expected redevelop with daytime heating of an unseasonably moist airmass, and under the influence of a series of mid-level disturbances that will track across the region, later this afternoon-evening. Timing of the PROB30s was slightly tweaked based on the latest available guidance. Outlook: Another day of diurnally-driven showers and thunderstorms appears likely for Friday, with coverage more scattered Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. In addition, considering the early morning fog/stratus that occurred this morning, early morning restrictions could continue through the next several days with minimal change in air mass expected.
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&& .RAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch through late tonight for NCZ007>010-021>025- 038>040-073>076-083>086. Flood Watch through late tonight for NCZ011-026>028-041>043- 077-078-088-089. && $$ SYNOPSIS...MWS NEAR TERM...Swiggett SHORT TERM...Danco LONG TERM...Danco AVIATION...Swiggett/MWS