Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Atlanta, GA

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650 FXUS62 KFFC 201740 AAA AFDFFC Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Peachtree City GA 140 PM EDT Thu Jun 20 2024 ...New 18Z Aviation Discussion... .SHORT TERM...
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(Today through Friday) Issued at 322 AM EDT Thu Jun 20 2024 Key Messages: - Dry weather will prevail in the region today. - Isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms may return to central Georgia on Friday. Today and Friday: Dry weather will prevail in northern and central Georgia today as easterly flow along the southern side of a ridge over the Mid- Atlantic continues to advect in a relatively dry airmass. PW values may creep back up over and inch is places this evening, but for the majority of the day they will be below an inch. Combine this with modest surface dewpoints and paltry mid level lapse rates (700-500 mb lapse rates of 3.8 to 4.2 C/km), and instability will be insufficient for convection today. Fair skies will help high temperatures climb into the 88-93 degree range this afternoon. The upper level ridge will retrograde to the west tonight and Friday, with the core of the ridge setting up along a line from Texas to the Tennessee Valley by Friday afternoon. Meanwhile the easterly wave (clearly visible on satellite this morning just northeast of the Bahamas) will continue to push eastward, guided by the prevailing flow around the ridge. The National Hurricane Center has maintained a low probability (30% chance) of tropical development with this feature over the next 48 hours. Given that the majority of the model guidance favors little to no intensification with this wave, their outlook seems quite reasonable. One thing this wave will do is drive tropical moisture back into our region Friday and Friday night (PW values rise back above 1.5 inches). Showers and isolated thunderstorms could develop in central Georgia by Friday evening as surface dewpoint rise to near 70 degrees and a marginal amount of instability develops (MUCAPE values from the HREF of 500 to 1250 j/kg). Lower dewpoints should limit instability and keep northern Georgia dry through Friday. High temperatures should climb by a couple of degrees on Friday, especially in northern Georgia where less cloud cover and lower dewpoints will aid diurnal heating. Afternoon high temperatures in the 90 to 95 degree range are anticipated. Albright
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&& .LONG TERM...
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(Friday night through Wednesday) Issued at 322 AM EDT Thu Jun 20 2024 Other than possible extreme heat conditions Monday-Wednesday, major forecast concerns or significant weather impacts are not expected in the long term period. Overall forecast confidence is below normal. Most recent guidance still continuing depiction of large E-W oriented upper ridge waffling roughly from Southern Plains to the Mid-Atlantic states Friday through Sunday. Depending on where tropical low ends up, parts of the area could be very moist with widespread diurnal convection on Sat and Sun. GFS and EC members do bring in tropical low well inland over S Georgia and N Florida while GEPS and SREF keep most of it over the Atlantic. Even without a strong consensus and relatively strong upper ridge just to our north, will still need 20-40% PoPs this weekend. By Monday, vast majority of guidance members show large scale troughing over the E CONUS and ridging centered over the SW US resulting in weak NW flow along with some hints at MCS development esp late Tues and Wed over mid-South. Without a big push of dry air, will also have some sct diurnal convection even with NW flow. In theory, daytime temps should be a tad cooler in this pattern but guidance really sticking with above normal temps, perhaps due to the very dry soil and vegetation conditions we are experiencing. Dewpoints also will be quite high with resulting heat index values approaching heat advisory criteria Mon-Wed. NBM dewpoints have been shown to have a high bias during warm-season heat waves so may need to adjust them as we approach the potential heat event. Outside of the tropical wave off the FL peninsula forecast to move toward the Georgia coast late Thurs and Fri, no tropical activity is expected over the region at this time. SNELSON
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&& .AVIATION...
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(18Z TAFS) Issued at 122 PM EDT Thu Jun 20 2024 VFR conditions are expected at all TAF sites through the period. The Cu field (045-065) will persist until early evening. Easterly winds will stay breezy around 10-15 kts with gusts of 20-25 kts, then decrease to around 5 kts or lower overnight. Winds will pick back up mid/late tomorrow (Friday) morning out of the ENE to E at 7-12 kts with gusts around 20 kts possible. FEW/SCT clouds around 050-060 are expected tomorrow afternoon. //ATL Confidence...18Z Update... High confidence on all elements. Martin
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&& .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
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Athens 65 93 69 93 / 0 0 0 20 Atlanta 69 94 72 94 / 0 0 0 20 Blairsville 63 87 65 89 / 0 10 0 20 Cartersville 67 94 69 96 / 0 0 0 20 Columbus 69 95 73 95 / 0 0 10 30 Gainesville 67 91 70 92 / 0 0 0 20 Macon 66 94 71 95 / 0 10 10 30 Rome 69 95 70 96 / 0 0 0 20 Peachtree City 66 94 69 94 / 0 0 0 20 Vidalia 68 92 73 93 / 10 50 20 60
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&& .FFC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Albright LONG TERM....SNELSON AVIATION...Martin