Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Knoxville/Tri Cities, TN

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639 FXUS64 KMRX 231132 AAA AFDMRX Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Morristown TN 732 AM EDT Sun Jun 23 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SHORT TERM... (Today and tonight) Issued at 309 AM EDT Sun Jun 23 2024 Key Messages: 1. Thunderstorms arrive from the northwest this evening. A few could pose a damaging wind risk over the northern plateau region, but most will be run of the mill storms. 2. Hot weather continues today, with highs in the low to mid 90s in the southern valley, before we get a bit of a reprieve in the long term period. Discussion: A shortwave trough and associated surface low will shift east through the Great Lakes region today into tonight, with a cold front extending southwest through the Ohio valley this afternoon and evening. Ahead of the front, scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop, with additional convection expected along the front. In the updated Day 1 Outlook, SPC has maintained a marginal risk area clipping our northern plateau counties, mainly for a limited risk of damaging winds. There`s some discrepancy on the arrival time, but most guidance points to the arrival of storms being around 00z or shortly thereafter. HREF ensemble mean fields point to there still being around 1,000 J/kg of surface based CAPE in that area as storms move in, which will be coincident with some 20-30kt effective deep layer shear and 0-3km SRH values upwards of 100 m2/s2. All of this would support some cluster type convection capable of a stray damaging wind gust. Will continue to mention in the HWO, but that being said it`s not exactly a significant severe weather threat. Further south and east, the arrival time of storms doesn`t support much in the way of a severe threat. Expect just general thunderstorms. Otherwise, expect another hot day today with highs reaching into the low to mid 90s, warmest in the south. Lowered dewpoints a fair amount from the NBM, choosing to side with the CONSShort guidance which was performing better over the last few hours with respect to observations. This yields some afternoon RH values in the 35-40 percent range for the southern valley. Even with the lower dewpoints/resulting RH, heat index values will still be in the upper 90s in the south. && .LONG TERM... (Monday through Saturday) Issued at 309 AM EDT Sun Jun 23 2024 Key Messages: 1. Continued above normal temperatures, but a couple of days not quite so hot. 2. Although we will have chances of showers and storms, most areas will still get below normal precip for the week. In the early parts of this forecast period we are under an upper level northwest flow, while a couple of shortwaves push through the area in this flow, then by Friday, the old upper ridge comes surging back over us again, that continues into the weekend. Meanwhile at the surface, on Monday weak high pressure will be covering the area in the wake of a weak cold front. By Wednesday we have a return flow out of the south ahead of the next shortwave on Wednesday, and then a cold front and reinforcing shortwave move through around Wednesday night or early Thursday. Surface high pressure should be in control by Friday, with the next return flow starting up again on Saturday. During this heatwave, temperatures are their own topic. Monday and Tuesday will not be as hot as the last several days, then Wednesday, with the return flow, will likely be hot and humid again. But then another cold front passes, and the reinforcing shortwave may keep clouds around longer, so Thursday may be the most comfortable day of the week. With the upper ridge moving back in for Friday and Saturday the heat will likely be "on" again. Also, during this heatwave it has been dry. The precip totals for the Wednesday/Thursday showers and storms looks to mainly be between only 0.10" and 0.30" for us, so most areas will not get any "game changer" precipitation. For the intensity of storms Wednesday or Wednesday night, the setting looks a little less organized than it did in yesterday`s model runs, with a couple of weak shortwaves racing through the flow, rather than one strong shortwave. We will keep an eye on it as it gets closer. && .AVIATION...
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(12Z TAFS) Issued at 724 AM EDT Sun Jun 23 2024 Line of SHRA/TSRA is expected to move into the TN valley around or shortly after 00z this evening. Current timing based off high resolution guidance supports VCTS by 02z at all sites, with a TEMPO for TSRA thereafter. The incoming front and line of convection will be progressive so it should be east of the Appalachians by 06z-08z. Behind the front, as moistened air mass stabilizes, expect MVFR CIGS to become prevalent before 12z.
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&& .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Chattanooga Airport, TN 96 74 95 69 / 10 40 10 0 Knoxville McGhee Tyson Airport, TN 93 72 91 65 / 20 50 10 0 Oak Ridge, TN 93 71 90 65 / 20 50 10 0 Tri Cities Airport, TN 90 69 86 60 / 20 60 10 0 && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && $$ SHORT TERM...CD LONG TERM....GM AVIATION...CD