Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Central Illinois

Current Version |  Previous Version |  Text Only |  Print | Product List |  Glossary On
Versions: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
-- Highlight Changed Discussion --
-- Discussion containing changed information from previous version are highlighted. --
917 FXUS63 KILX 260430 AFDILX Area Forecast Discussion...Updated Aviation National Weather Service Lincoln IL 1130 PM CDT Sat May 25 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Severe weather returns tomorrow morning. The line of thunderstorms is expected to move through from 5am to noon. Main hazards with this line is large hail and damaging wind. - There is a second round of severe weather tomorrow afternoon. It will be a mix of discrete supercells that eventually merge into a line. This will be an all hazards possible round: large hail, damaging winds, tornado or two, and flooding. - Flash flooding is most likely to occur where the outflow boundary will set up over the are that was affected yesterday and is very saturated already. A Flood Watch is in effect from 7pm to midnight tomorrow. - After tomorrow the weather will be dry and pretty through most of next week. && .UPDATE... Issued at 900 PM CDT Sat May 25 2024 Low pressure has migrated into western KS, while the high pressure center that was over IL today as moved northeast of the area. The resulting pressure gradient has allowed a light southeast wind to initiate across much of central IL after a mostly calm wind day, and this wind will increase to a breezy 15 mph or so by Sunday morning as the low continues toward IL overnight. Supercell thunderstorms ahead of the low this evening will likely develop into a more organized line or cluster of storms as they head toward central IL by morning. High resolution models bring the first storms into the central IL forecast area around 5 to 6 AM and continue them eastward through the I-57 corridor by 10 AM. These storms continue to have a risk of large hail and severe wind gusts. Timing is a bit earlier than previously forecast, so have updated forecast with storm timing/location an hour or two/county or two earlier/farther east than the afternoon package. Otherwise, lows mainly in the lower 60s look on track for tonight. 37 && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 252 PM CDT Sat May 25 2024 With a high pressure in place today, weather has been calm and beautiful. It has provided a nice breather before the next round of active, potentially severe, weather tomorrow morning. Skies have been clear and sunny. Highs today have been around the upper 70s. Lows tonight are expected to drop down to the low 60s. Tomorrow is a different story. POPs increase again late tonight into early tomorrow morning. The models struggled with the previous event that moved through yesterday and once again today, they are not agreeing on timing and evolution of the event. Both the NAM 3km and HRRR show an initial line moving across the CWA tomorrow morning, but the way the afternoon unfolds is uncertain. However, that uncertainty could mostly play into if the environment can recover sufficiently from the morning convection, which could also be playing a factor in how the models are depicting the afternoon "mess". Timing on the HRRR is showing the initial line of storms moving across central and southeastern Illinois from 10z to 18z tomorrow morning. Whereas, the NAM 3km is showing 13z to 18z. So the consensus is that the line of storms should be out of the area by early afternoon, but the start time is still variable by a couple hours. The ARW model shows it entering around 12z. To generally summarize when we think the line will begin to affect our area, it should be around the time everyone is waking up in the morning. Mesoscale Factors....... The morning time has MUCAPE of 2000-2500 J/kg, lapse rates aren`t super impressive (~7.5-8.5 C/km), and bulk shear 30-40 knots. This round of convection appears to be elevated, bringing the primary risk of large hail and damaging winds and limiting the tornado threat. In the afternoon, the risk shifts some. The CAPE becomes more surface based (SBCAPE of 1500-2000 J/kg). The lapse rates are impressive just as the CI begins (LR of 9 C/km) but quickly weaken as we go into the evening hours. Bulk shear increases to 40-60 knots. The initial storm mode in the afternoon could be supercells with a tornado and large hail risk but will transition to a more linear mode as we go into the evening, shifting the hazards to more a flash flooding, large hail, and damaging wind set up. This initial line will arrive well before the front and will be associated with a strong shortwave passage, with the afternoon convection potentially firing along the outflow boundary of the morning line. If the afternoon round sets up along and south of I-72 again, we could have some flooding concerns. Forecast soundings from the GFS and NAM show PWAT values in that area of 1.5 to 2 inches and somewhat long, skinny CAPE. Our storm motion is too quick so the threat will come from training storms over the same areas that have already been saturated to the max over the past week. The cold front should move through tomorrow evening. After tomorrow the next real chance for any rain comes on Friday. Temperatures will slowly rebound this week. The first part of the week the highs will be in the low to mid 70s and by Thursday high will be getting to the low 80s. The skies should be blue and clear for the most part this coming week after Sunday. Copple && .AVIATION...
-- Changed Discussion --
(For the 06z TAFs through 06z Sunday Night) Issued at 1130 PM CDT Sat May 25 2024 A morning line of strong to severe thunderstorms and a less certain afternoon to early evening round of scattered storms are in the forecast for the central IL terminals over the upcoming day. The first round looks to sweep across the area from around 12Z-16Z, then there is much higher uncertainty in timing and location with subsequent thunderstorms. MVFR to possible brief IFR conditions are possible with these storms, especially from 12Z-14Z until 17Z-20Z when MVFR cigs will likely be predominant. Winds SE 5-10 kts overnight, shifting to S and increasing to 12-16 kts with gusts 20-28 kts by around 16Z. Winds shifting to W around 10 kts by 02Z-04Z after a cold front sweeps through the area. 37
-- End Changed Discussion --
&& .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch from 7 AM CDT Sunday through late Sunday night for ILZ044>046-049>057-061>063-066>068-071>073. && $$