Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Burlington, VT

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419 FXUS61 KBTV 230239 AFDBTV Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Burlington VT 1039 PM EDT Sat Jun 22 2024 .SYNOPSIS... Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms are expected on Sunday, particularly during the afternoon into early evening hours. A few tornadoes are possible along with damaging straight line winds. Heavy rainfall could also lead to isolated flash flooding. Next week looks to feature quieter weather and seasonable temperatures. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH MONDAY/...
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As of 1026 PM EDT Saturday...Some rain showers continue across portions of the forecast area, although they have been pretty light. Some convection has been ongoing across New York this evening, although it has been weakening as it moves east. Overall, minimal changes needed with this update. Previous Discussion...For the rest of today, the thunderstorm threat is mainly to our south as we remain in the cool sector with a stable atmosphere. Not the nicest of weekend days with plenty of clouds and scattered showers around but it is an improvement from the recent heat and storms. So other than dodging a few showers or downpour, with a low chance of a thunderstorm across our southern zones, the rest of this afternoon into the evening hours look benign weather wise. Sunday could look to be the highest end severe weather day that we have had in North Country so far this year. A warm front lifting northwards, along with a triple point in the vicinity will lead to an elevated threat of tornadoes along with damaging winds and heavy rain. Even taking an ensemble approach to ingredient based forecasting leads to rather concerning severe weather parameters. Here is a sampling of the 12z HREF CAM (5 hi-res guidance over 2 time steps) parameters across Addison county, VT for Sunday afternoon: 2500 J/kg of surface CAPE, 700 J/kg of downdraft CAPE, 600 ft LCL, 800 ft LFC, 100-200 J/kg of 0-3 km SRH, 30-40 units of bulk shear, and PWATs of 1.9 which is near maximum of SPC sounding climatology. Between the tornadic, damaging wind and wet microburst threat, Sunday could be one of the higher end severe weather days in recent years. With a 10 percent tornado and 30 percent damaging straight line wind probability, we coordinated with SPC to introduce a Day 2 Enhanced risk (level 3 of 5) for parts of the area, mainly across the southern and eastern half of Vermont. This area could be expanded with future updates so do not pay too much attention to where the Slight and Enhanced risk areas are delineated. The main severe storm threat timing is between 11 AM and 8 PM. Having said that, there could be a round of strong to locally severe storms during the early morning hours, but the coverage looks to be much more isolated. There also looks to be a window of 3 to 4 hours of relatively calm or quiet weather between the early morning hours disturbance and the more widespread coverage of strong to severe storms in the afternoon to early evening. Flash flooding threat looks to be relatively localized given the fast moving nature of the storms, i.e. less residence time for the heavy rain to cause more significant flooding issues. Nonetheless, given that PWATs are near maximum of SPC sounding climatology, poor drainage or street flooding is certainly possible with any deluge that occurs with the thunderstorms. Finally, wet microbursts are also a possibility in addition to the tornadic and damaging straight line wind threat. As with every forecast, there could always be a wrinkle or a wrench thrown in. As with warm front or triple point forced severe weather in the Northeast, the key word is conditional. The early morning convection could certainly impact the afternoon coverage and intensity of the storms, but all the parameters currently point to a higher-end severe outbreak with a few tornadoes possible. Now is the time to prepare and make sure you have multiple ways of receiving warnings and severe alerts. The severe threat should wane shortly after sunset, though there could certainly be a few lingering stronger or even locally severe storms headed into the evening hours depending on how quickly the atmosphere recovers with the earlier convection.
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&& .SHORT TERM /MONDAY NIGHT/... As of 323 PM EDT Saturday...An upper level low will move overhead or just north of our forecast area through the day on Monday, which will result in another showery day. Given the compact nature of this low, there is still some model spread on the exact timing and track of the low. The NAM puts the low almost directly overhead Monday afternoon, which is a favorable setup for scattered to numerous showers with potentially a few embedded thunderstorms. However, the GFS/ECMWF move the low through earlier , which would result in lower coverage of showers/t- storms during the afternoon as heights build for the second half of the day. Have stayed close to the National Blend for the forecast for Monday, with seasonably cool highs in the mid 60s to low 70s under the upper low. Shower chances will be highest around midday to early afternoon, again depending on the timing of the low. Have kept PoPs in the 40 to 60 percent range during the daytime hours. Given surface temperatures only expected to reach into the upper 60s/mid 70s, instability will be marginal and thunderstorm coverage is expected to be in the isolated to widely scattered range. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... As of 323 PM EDT Saturday...Building ridging over the southwestern US with broad troughing over northeastern Canada will keep our forecast area within a progressive and relatively active northwesterly flow regime for next week. For Tuesday, upper-level low will have departed to the east and brief ridging will build in. If you`re looking for the driest day coming up, Tuesday is your day. Highs will be in the low to mid 80s with plenty of sunshine. Dewpoints in the 50s won`t feel overly oppressive, but it will be a warm summer day. Within the progressive flow, the next system quickly moves in from the northwest bringing renewed rain and thunderstorm chances for Wednesday. For Wednesday`s system, instability looks to be quite high (1500+ J/kg), with 40+ knots of 0-6 km Bulk Shear. Thus, the ingredients are lining up for some severe weather Wednesday, and we`ll certainly be this system closely over the next few days. Once Wednesday`s systems clears the area, the remainder of the week will generally be dry before the next system arrives over the weekend. Temperatures in the longterm will hover fairly near seasonable levels, with highs in the 70s/80s and lows in the 50s/60s. && .AVIATION /03Z SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... Through 18Z Sunday...A warm front will slowly pass through the region today and into tonight, bringing showers and low ceilings. A few of the showers will likely be heavy enough to briefly lower visibilities to MVFR. Plenty of low-level moisture remains trapped in place, so the clouds will be much more stubborn than typical during the day. All terminals are forecast to be out of IFR by around noon but it looks unlikely that any of the terminals will improve to VFR conditions that are not already there. Ceilings should fall back tonight and low MVFR and IFR conditions look to develop at many of the terminals again. Patchy fog will probably develop again as well. It will take until tomorrow morning for the front to push to the north and have southerly flow clear out the low clouds and fog. However, a low-level jet will pass overhead and cause LLWS to develop at all the terminals. Winds at the surface will generally be light during the period though they will begin to increase tomorrow morning. Then towards the end of the TAF period, especially after 15z Sunday, there is increasing potential for widespread thunderstorms, some of which could be severe producing damaging wind gusts. Outlook... Sunday: Mainly VFR, with local IFR possible. Definite SHRA, Chance TSRA. Sunday Night: Mainly MVFR, with local IFR possible. Chance SHRA, Chance TSRA. Monday: MVFR/IFR conditions possible. Chance SHRA. Monday Night: VFR. Chance SHRA. Tuesday: VFR. NO SIG WX. Tuesday Night: VFR. Chance SHRA. Wednesday: Mainly VFR, with local MVFR possible. Chance SHRA, Chance TSRA. && .BTV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... VT...None. NY...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Chai NEAR TERM...Chai/Kremer SHORT TERM...Duell LONG TERM...Duell AVIATION...Chai