Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Indianapolis, IN

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000 FXUS63 KIND 192217 AFDIND Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 617 PM EDT Fri Apr 19 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Partly Cloudy Tonight and Saturday; Cooler - Some frost potential Sunday morning, more widespread frost possible Monday morning. - Increasing rain chances next Tuesday, chance for PM thunderstorms - Temperatures generally near seasonal next week, but brief cooldown is possible Wednesday into Thursday && .SHORT TERM (This evening through Saturday)... Issued at 230 PM EDT Fri Apr 19 2024 Synopsis: Surface analysis this afternoon shows Low pressure north of Lake Ontario, with a cold front that extended southwest across eastern OH and eastern KY to Northern AL. Strong high pressure was found over the Dakotas, with a surface ridge axis extending southeast across NB, northern MO and into Central IL. GOES16 shows the back edge of clouds associated with the cold front just about to exit southeast Indiana. Higher clouds were found upstream over MO and IL, streaming toward Central Indiana. Cool northerly surface flow was in place across Central Indiana due to the arriving area of high pressure. Aloft a deep upper low pressure system was found over northern Ontario. This system was providing mainly a westerly flow aloft over the plains and Ohio Valley, with a stream of Pacific moisture in place. Tonight... Quiet, and cold weather is expected tonight. Cold north/northwest surface flow is expected to continue overnight as the surface high pressure system will remain over the northwest plains. This will continue to allow cool, continental air to spill into the Ohio Valley from Canada. Meanwhile aloft, little overall change is expected as the upper low is expected to pivot northeast and the westerly flow with little to no forcing in place will remain in place. Given upstream satellite and the quick flow aloft, periodic mid and high clouds will be expected to pass through the night. Forecast soundings agree to this, showing dry lower levels through the night given the cool and dry lower level flow, but saturation appears aloft from time to time, suggesting passing mid and high clouds. Thus partly cloudy should work fine. Cold air advection will remain in play overnight. However the ongoing pressure gradient across the area should help to keep winds between 5-10 mph. This along with passing high clouds should be favorable for the prevention of frost. Expect lows in the middle to upper 30s north and central, and near 40 south. Saturday... Little overall change is expected in the weather on Saturday. The upper flow remains westerly with Pacific moisture flowing aloft. Models suggest the lower levels will remain dry with cool, northerly or northwest flow spilling into Indiana as the surface high remains strongly in place over the high plains. Forecast soundings again show dry lower levels with a steep inversion in place within the mid levels, limiting any cloud development. Upper levels show dry air aloft with subsidence in place. Thus only a few stray passing high clouds will be expected from that high, limited, Pacific moisture aloft. 850Mb temps are expected to linger around -3C, thus a cool day will be in store. Look for highs only in the lower to middle 50s. && .LONG TERM (Saturday night through Friday)... Issued at 230 PM EDT Fri Apr 19 2024 Saturday night through Monday... Quiet weather conditions are expected as surface high pressure remains dominant over the region. Aloft, guidance shows an impulse traversing the region which could help to increase cloud cover late Saturday into early Sunday. Expect the cooler pattern today to continue over the weekend due to cold air advection. Lows dropping into the 30s both Sunday and Monday morning combined with relatively light winds supports the potential for frost. There is higher confidence in frost Sunday night into Monday morning at this time since guidance shows mostly clear skies. Greater cloud cover from the aforementioned upper level impulse Saturday night into Sunday morning leads to greater uncertainty in terms of coverage. Highs in the mid 50s to near 60F Sunday should warm well into the 60s to start the work week due to return flow. Monday night onward... Rain chances return towards daybreak Tuesday as a shortwave trough and associated low pressure system move across the Great Lakes Region. Return flow ahead of the approaching system should allow for temperatures to continue moderating. Sufficient moisture return combined with increasing dynamics supports likely POPs on Tuesday. The system is likely going to move out Tuesday night. Cold air advection and surface high pressure building in behind the departing low will allow for quiet weather conditions to return briefly before another system approaches late next week. Models begin to diverge significantly by this point which limits forecast confidence, but there is a general signal for an active pattern heading into next weekend. Temperatures likely falling into the 30s Thursday morning leads to some frost concern though it appears winds may remain elevated enough to limit this potential. This will be worth monitoring as blended guidance can sometimes overestimate the magnitude of nocturnal winds when surface high pressure is building in. && .AVIATION (00Z TAF Issuance)...
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Issued at 617 PM EDT Fri Apr 19 2024 Impacts: - None Discussion: Surface high pressure will build in from the Plains. That combined with low dew points and models showing very dry low levels will result in VFR flying conditions through the TAF period. Will only see some mid and high clouds, especially tonight and at KLAF. Winds will be northwest less than 10 knots tonight and around 10 tonight Saturday afternoon. Mild gusts are also possible Saturday afternoon.
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&& .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Puma LONG TERM...Melo AVIATION...MK

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