Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Atlanta, GA

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648 FXUS62 KFFC 230556 AFDFFC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 156 AM EDT Thu May 23 2024 ...New 06Z Aviation Discussion... .SHORT TERM... (This afternoon through Thursday) Issued at 218 PM EDT Wed May 22 2024 While quiet conditions will remain in place through the remainder of the day today, some changes to our dry pattern will begin to manifest by tomorrow. Upper ridging will continue to flatten and transition to zonal flow by tomorrow. Meanwhile, at the surface, a cold front will sag into the Tennessee Valley and become stationary. With the stalled frontal boundary to the north, the bulk of shower and thunderstorm coverage will remain situated across the Tennessee Valley region tomorrow. With that said, as a subtle midlevel shortwave pushes eastward Thursday afternoon into the Tennessee Valley, showers and thunderstorms will develop and spread eastward as instability increases. The primary coverage and trajectory of this activity should remain across Tennessee and into the Carolinas during the afternoon and early evening. However, the trailing end of this convection could affect portions of far north Georgia. Given SBCAPE of 1000-1500 J/kg and favorable bulk shear, an isolated severe threat, primarily in the form of damaging wind gusts, could be realized in areas of far north Georgia. Otherwise, for areas near and south of I-20, dry conditions will persist for another day on Thursday. As such, high temperatures will nudge a few degrees higher on Thursday, and low 90s will begin to sneak back into Middle Georgia with upper 80s across the bulk of the remainder of the area. RW && .LONG TERM... (Friday morning through next Tuesday) Issued at 218 PM EDT Wed May 22 2024 An active weather pattern and increasing temperatures are expected across north and central Georgia this holiday weekend into early next week. The start of the long term period will be characterized by a series of longwave troughs across the northern tier of the CONUS, while across the southern tier, quasi-zonal flow and intermittent shortwaves will be the impetus for isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms. SBCAPE should have no problem reaching 1000 J/kg or greater each day through Monday as temperatures and dew points climb. In addition, ensemble guidance is depicting surface- to-500mb bulk shear of 30-40 kts each day. The best overlap of instability and shear looks to generally be across north GA, as ensemble guidance suggests that most of the shortwaves will be traversing the OH and TN Valleys. There will be potential each day for some strong (possibly severe) storms with gusty to damaging winds, small hail, and frequent lightning. Should any clusters of convection across north GA organize into MCSs and migrate southward (which often happens in these perturbed, quasi-zonal flow regimes), central GA could also have some strong to possibly severe storms. Progged PWAT of 1.3" to 1.6" ranges from the 75th to 90th percentile per sounding climatology, so some storms will be heavy rain producers and could lead to localized flash flooding in the event of repeated rounds of storms. Do want to point out that SPC has introduced a 15% risk for severe weather across Dade, Walker, Catoosa, and Whitfield Counties in far northwest GA on Sunday (Day 5). More organized convection appears likely on Sunday with an approaching longer- wave trough and warm, unstable environment ahead of it across the TN Valley. Will need to monitor severe weather forecast parameters on Monday and Tuesday as well, as this dynamic trough shifts eastward across the Southeast while the associated surface low tracks northeastward across the MS and OH Valleys. For now, maintaining chance to likely PoPs both days with a chance for thunderstorms. For the majority of the long term period, highs will be in the upper 80s to lower 90s, and lows will be in the mid-60s to lower 70s (with the exception of the typically cooler conditions in the mountains). Martin && .AVIATION...
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(06Z TAFS) Issued at 149 AM EDT Thu May 23 2024 VFR conditions expected throughout the TAF cycle. BKN/SCT cumulus field expected to develop with cigs at 3kft lifting to 5kft by the afternoon. Could see -SHRA near the northern metro TAF sites, but confidence is currently too low to include in the TAF. Light SW winds at 5KT or less will become VRB03KT/calm overnight. //ATL Confidence...06Z Update... High confidence on all elements. KAL
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&& .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
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Athens 67 86 66 91 / 20 30 20 20 Atlanta 68 87 68 90 / 20 40 20 30 Blairsville 61 78 61 84 / 40 60 40 60 Cartersville 66 86 65 89 / 30 50 30 40 Columbus 68 89 70 91 / 0 20 10 20 Gainesville 67 84 66 89 / 20 50 30 40 Macon 68 89 69 92 / 0 10 10 20 Rome 66 86 66 89 / 30 60 40 50 Peachtree City 67 88 67 91 / 10 30 20 30 Vidalia 71 91 72 93 / 0 10 10 20
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&& .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...RW LONG TERM....Martin AVIATION...KAL