Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Albany, NY

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717 FXUS61 KALY 171740 AFDALY AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Albany NY 140 PM EDT Mon Jun 17 2024 .SYNOPSIS... A warm front will move across upstate New York this afternoon. The heat and humidity increases this afternoon, reaching dangerous levels Tuesday through Thursday mainly for valley locales, before slowly receding into the weekend. Isolated to widely scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms are possible Tuesday through the end of the week. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... .UPDATE...As of 130 PM EDT...High pressure continues to build in from southeast of Cape Cod and the Gulf of Maine this afternoon. A return flow of milder and more humid air is beginning with south/southeast winds of 5 to 15 mph and dewpoints on the rise. A warm front is lifting northward across across upstate NY at this time. Some high clouds have increased north and east of the Capital Region with some clearing to west. A mid level disturbance or sfc trough/sea breeze boundary may for some isolated to scattered thunderstorms to develop over w-cntrl late this pm. We increased pops to slight chance category for the western Mohawk Valley/southwest Adirondacks in the late afternoon/early evening. The latest SPC Mesoanalysis has Showalter indices in the -1C to -3C range over west-central NY with MUCAPEs of 500-100 J/kg. Some elevated instability is present over the forecast area. Also, the influx of moisture has started as seen on the 12Z KALY sounding with a PWAT increase to 1.00" (closer to daily/monthly normal) compared to the record low of 0.37" yesterday for June 16th yesterday. Max temps look on track with upper 70s to lower 80s over the higher terrain and mid and upper 80s over the valleys and below 1000 ft in elevation with some spotty 90F readings. Some changes to the hourly T/TD and cloud trends with this early pm update. No changes to the TUE- THU Heat Advisories at this time. .PREV DISCUSSION [0630 AM EDT]... A weak shortwave passing to the north may result in a few rain showers across the southern Adirondacks, before the impulse exits to the northeast this afternoon ahead of the developing ridge. Scattered clouds this morning will thus give way to mostly sunny skies through the afternoon and evening. Conditions will remain muggy and mild tonight, as temperatures only fall to lows in the 60s across the region. && .SHORT TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/... **Heat Advisories are now in effect noon Tuesday through 8 PM Thursday for all of eastern New York and western New England** Dangerous levels of heat and humidity arrive across the region Tuesday. Heights aloft will continue to rise through much of Wednesday as the closed 500 hPa high amplifies to nearly 600 dam while drifting north and east toward the region. Height anomalies remain only a +2 to +3 sigma event per latest NAEFS output, however the narrower historical distribution of high pressure still renders this event outside the CFSR climatology, indicating height anomalies of this magnitude have likely not occurred at this time of year in the last three decades. 850 hPa forecast temperatures remain around 18-21C, which do not represent as significant of an anomaly, only +1 to +2 sigma, but may nonetheless result in surface temperatures which challenge daily records across the region. Despite deep mixing, it may be difficult for surface temperatures to reach 100 degrees given the lack of more substantial temperatures anomalies aloft. Nonetheless, dangerously hot and humid conditions are expected, as temperatures reach afternoon highs in the mid 80s to low 90s in high terrain and mid to upper 90s at lower elevations both Tuesday and Wednesday. Surface dewpoints in the mid 60s to low 70s will yield heat indices in the 90s above 1000 feet and 100-105 degrees for valley locales. Conditions will remain mild and muggy through the overnight hours, as overnight lows remain stuck in the mid 60s to low 70s across the region. Despite heat indices in high terrain areas of the southern Adirondacks and eastern Catskills potentially remaining below 95 degrees, and in collaboration with neighboring forecast offices, have opted to expand Heat Advisory coverage to include the entire forecast area as potentially record-setting heat this early in the summer season with little relief available overnight may result in more significant impacts to the local population. As such, Heat Advisories are now in effect from noon Tuesday through 8 PM Wednesday for all of eastern New York and western New England. There remains potential for the Capital District, Hudson Valley, and Connecticut River Valley to see heat indices in excess of 105 degrees, which would result in the issuance of Excessive Heat Warnings if confidence in their occurrence and coverage increases in future forecast updates. Isolated to scattered diurnal showers and thunderstorms are additionally possible both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, most likely across the southern Adirondacks and southern Greens. Forecast temperatures are admittedly on the higher end of guidance, and any increase in coverage of these showers or storms could result in temperatures underperforming current forecast highs, as supported by short-range ensembles. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Heat Advisories continue until 8 PM Thursday for all of eastern New York and western New England... Our long duration heat event continues into Thursday as our impressive closed high featuring near 595 - 600dam heights (which is +2 to +3 standard deviations above normal) centered over the mid- Atlantic slowly pushes southward. Strong west-southwesterly winds around it will continue to advect in an anomalously warm air mass into the Northeast with 850hPa isotherms reaching +19C to +20C (also +2 to +2.5 standard deviations above normal). This should support afternoon high temperatures once again soaring into the mid to possibly upper 90s for valley areas with upper 80s to low 90s in the hill towns and high terrain. With dew points again reaching into the 60s to around 70, heat index values are expected to reach 100 - 104F. These values support the heat advisory we already issued and if confidence for heat index values reaching or exceeding 105F increase, excessive heat warnings may need to be issued for valley areas. Considering this will be the third day of the oppressive heat/humidity, heat impacts likely be become more noticeably. Overnight low temperatures also will not provide much relief as overnight lows only drop into the 60s to low 70s. A wind shift boundary from the international border will be slowly sinking southward on Thursday and looks to reach our southern Adirondack and Upper Hudson Valley areas. Therefore, we continue to show light chance and chance POPs spreading south into these zones by Thursday afternoon. While the overall forcing and moisture is rather lackluster, instability will be quite high given the heat/humidity so if the boundary can provide enough forcing for ascent, thunderstorms will easily develop. Chances for showers and thunderstorms continue each day (especially during the afternoon hours) Friday and Saturday as our boundary continues to slowly push southward but again the overall thermal gradient and available moisture along the boundary appears rather weak. Even still, given how unstable to environment will be, it will not take much lift to result in thunderstorms, especially the peak heating hours. Given the increase cloud coverage from the incoming boundary plus chances for showers/storm, temperatures Friday and Saturday show a slight drop with highs "only" topping out in the upper 80s to low 90s Friday and mid to upper 80s to around 90 in valley areas on Saturday. Given this will be day 4 and 5 of the hot/humid weather, heat impacts likely will be still be felt given the lack of relief, especially for those populations without air conditioning, even if some areas technically fall below the 95F heat index threshold. By Sunday, the wind shift boundary over the Northeast looks to lift northward as a warm front and temperatures could turn hot once again ahead of an incoming and stronger cold front. Still uncertainty on exactly how and when this cold front occurs but the heat/humidity looks to linger into a 6th day on Sunday with more organized area of rain and thunderstorms possible later in the day Sunday or Sunday night. Luckily, there are signs that relief from the heat/humidity should finally arrive by the beginning of the new work week. && .AVIATION /18Z MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/...
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Through 18z Tuesday...VFR conditions are expected to prevail through the 24 hour TAF period. Periods of high level clouds will move through, with otherwise just FEW-SCT mid level clouds during diurnally favored times of the daylight hours. There is a slight chance of a rogue SHRA/TSRA, but the probability is too low to mention in the TAFs (less than 20 percent). Winds will be south-southwest around 5-10 kt with gust around 15 kt through the rest of today, decreasing to 5 kt or less tonight. Winds on Tuesday will be south-southwest around 5-8 kt. Outlook... Tuesday Night: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Wednesday: Low Operational Impact. Slight Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Wednesday Night: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Thursday: Low Operational Impact. Slight Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Thursday Night: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Friday: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Friday Night: Low Operational Impact. Slight Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Saturday: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...TSRA.
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&& .CLIMATE... Record High Temperatures: Tuesday June 18: Albany - 97 (1957, 2018) Glens Falls - 95 (1907) Poughkeepsie - 94 (2018) Wednesday June 19: Albany - 94 (1995) Glens Falls - 97 (1995) Poughkeepsie - 92 (1941, 1943, 1993, 2016) Thursday June 20: Albany - 97 (1953) Glens Falls - 97 (1923) Poughkeepsie - 96 (2012) Friday June 21: Albany - 97 (1938) Glens Falls - 96 (2012) Poughkeepsie - 97 (1949) && .ALY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CT...Heat Advisory from noon Tuesday to 8 PM EDT Thursday for CTZ001-013. NY...Heat Advisory from noon Tuesday to 8 PM EDT Thursday for NYZ032-033-038>043-047>054-058>061-063>066-082>084. MA...Heat Advisory from noon Tuesday to 8 PM EDT Thursday for MAZ001-025. VT...Heat Advisory from noon Tuesday to 8 PM EDT Thursday for VTZ013>015. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Picard/Wasula NEAR TERM...Picard/Wasula SHORT TERM...Picard LONG TERM...Speciale AVIATION...JPV CLIMATE...Rathbun