Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Cleveland, OH

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471 FXUS61 KCLE 242335 AFDCLE Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cleveland OH 735 PM EDT Fri May 24 2024 .SYNOPSIS... Low pressure over the Upper Midwest will swing a cold front east across the region late tonight into Saturday. High pressure briefly returns Saturday night before another low pressure system out of the Great Plains lifts northeast into the Ohio Valley Sunday night into Monday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/...
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730 PM...A complex of sub-severe thunderstorms continues to move east across eastern Indiana this evening, though recent satellite cloud-top warming suggests that a weakening trend may be imminent as it moves into a more stable environment. Nonetheless, did increase PoPs a bit out west, particularly along the I-75 corridor as a few isolated to scattered thunderstorms cannot be ruled out this evening into the early overnight. Previous Discussion...High level clouds will begin to filter overhead this evening ahead of a weakening line of showers and storms moving across Indiana along a cold front. Quiet for much of the evening and overnight with warm lows in the low to mid 60s. Expect for showers and storms to continue to decrease in intensity and coverage as they move toward the I-75 corridor overnight tonight and early Saturday morning. Some isolated showers may persist Saturday morning and early afternoon before shower coverage increases Saturday afternoon and evening along and east of I-71. Temperatures rise into the upper 70s accompanied by dew points in the low to mid 60s Saturday afternoon and evening as the atmosphere destabilizes. This warm and moist atmosphere will support MLCAPE values in the 1500-2000 J/kg range east of I-71 with roughly 20-30 knots of 0-6 km shear. There is a Marginal Risk (Level 1/5) for severe weather across the eastern half of our forecast area on Saturday. Damaging wind gusts and large hail will be the primary hazards with any strong to severe storm Saturday afternoon and evening. The general timing for showers and storms looks to be between 2 and 8 PM. Showers and storms exit to the east Saturday evening as a brief area of high pressure builds overhead. Overnight lows on Saturday night will be closer to normal as they settle in the mid 50s. An active pattern continues into the short term period, for more information on Sunday`s hazardous weather threat, see the below discussion.
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&& .SHORT TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/... Sunday will be a day that folks across the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes region should stay updated and weather aware this Memorial Day Weekend for the threat of widespread severe weather potential, especially during the time frame of late Sunday afternoon into the overnight hours. The day 3 outlook from SPC currently has a marginal to slight risk area into portions of northern and northwestern Ohio. But the trends with the forecast models, and more so with the latest 12z guidance, is indicating that severe weather potential and threat may be increasing as well as shifting northeastward closer to the lower Great Lakes region for Sunday afternoon and evening. We are now getting into that time window of 48 to 60 hours out where the CAMS and high-res short term models are able to start seeing this weather system and narrowing done the severe weather potential with more details and confidence. With that said, it is looking very possible that when SPC does the next severe weather outlook update for Sunday, there may be a shift of those higher probabilities into northwest and north central Ohio, including the Toledo and Cleveland metro areas. A developing and deepening surface low pressure system will track northeastward across the Cornbelt Region and Upper Midwest through the western Great Lakes region on Sunday. There will be a moisture rich and very warm airmass over the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes region Sunday afternoon into the evening ahead of this approaching cold front. Most of the day Sunday up through late afternoon will be fairly quiet with mostly sunny skies and very warm temps climbing into the lower to mid 80s. As for the thermodynamics and the atmospheric parameters, that is looking a more favorable for severe storms to develop and organized convection. CAPE may climb to into very unstable range of 2000-3500+ J/kg with the higher values of potential energy expected across northwest Ohio. A low level jet of 50-60 knots will push into the region which will aid in direction and speed wind shear. PW values will be on the higher levels between 1.5 and 1.8 inches that will help with a heavy rainfall threat and rainfall rates as well with deeper convection. There is a slight excessive rainfall threat and a limited risk for some localized heavy rainfall amounts and flash flooding possible. Some of the severe weather composite parameters and index with the CAMs are on the moderate to higher side of the scale. The supercell index parameter is in the higher range for northwest and north central Ohio Sunday evening. And the tornado parameter (sig tor) index has increased with the latest 12z guidance as well. There still is some uncertainty regarding the full severe weather threat and how this event will develop and unfold just west of our area late Sunday. It is starting to appear that a line of intense convection may develop along the cold front west of our area late Sunday afternoon and push into Northwest Ohio by early to mid Sunday evening. There will also be the threat of isolated supercells just ahead or embedded with this line of severe storms. All modes and severe weather threats will be possible. Damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph or higher will be the main threat followed by large hail up to golfball size potentially given the strong CAPE values. There will be a tornado threat as well, especially if we have supercells to develop and that higher potential may be closer to northwestern Ohio. This line of severe storms will move across northern Ohio and across Lake Erie through the late evening. It will continue through northwest Pennsylvania into the late night hours but also weaken as it advances eastward across NEOH and NWPA. The cold front and associated convection should be east of our CWA by 12z Monday morning. We will have improving weather conditions on Monday behind the frontal passage with slightly cooler high temps. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... The weather pattern will remain somewhat unsettled into the middle of next week. A large upper level trough will carve out across the Great Lakes region by the middle of next week. A secondary cold front will swing through on Tuesday and usher in a much cooler airmass for the middle and end of next week. There will be off and on scattered rain showers Tuesday through early Thursday morning associated the upper level trough. The scattered rain showers and isolated thunder will be mainly diurnal driven with the daytime heating and colder air aloft. There will be periods of clouds and sun during for the middle of the week but it will also not with instablilty driven showers. High temps will be in the 60s to near 70. Overnight temps will be cool in the 50s with a couple night late next week getting down in the middle and upper 40s. A large surface high pressure system will build down across the Great Lakes Thursday and Friday with nicer weather and clearer skies. Temperatures will slowly rebound upward by the end of the week. && .AVIATION /00Z Saturday THROUGH Wednesday/...
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VFR across the TAF sites this evening with mainly VFR to persist through the TAF period outside of thunderstorms. As of this evening, there is a cluster of thunderstorms off to our west across eastern Indiana, though expect this activity to weaken over the next couple of hours as it enters a less favorable environment. Given uncertainty in strength and timing, opted for vcts mention at FDY/TOL generally through the rest of this evening. Otherwise, attention then turns to Saturday morning and afternoon as another round of thunderstorms are possible, mainly along and east of the I-71 corridor. There may be multiple rounds of thunderstorms; one in the mid to late morning and another in the mid to late afternoon. The highest confidence for thunderstorms to impact TAF sites are at YNG/ERI so opted to include a brief tempo group at both sites in this update. Winds are quite variable this evening, out of the north 5 to 10 knots behind a lake breeze, and out of the south to southwest 5 to 10 knots behind an approaching warm front. Winds will become southerly by Saturday morning, 5 to 10 knots, then abruptly shift towards the west and northwest behind a cold front Saturday afternoon and evening. Outlook...Non-VFR possible in showers and thunderstorms Sunday evening into Monday. Periodic Non-VFR conditions may persist in scattered showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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&& .MARINE... Tonight, winds will become south-southeasterly as a warm front lifts north of the area and increase to 10-15 knots. An associated cold front will move east Saturday afternoon into the evening, allowing winds to shift to become west-northwesterly at 5-10 knots into Sunday. A very similar progression of another low over the Plains will occur on Sunday into Monday as a warm front lifts north of the lake on Sunday, increasing southerly winds to 10-15 knots. The most notable winds of this forecast period will occur on Monday afternoon as the associated cold front moves east across the area, shifting winds to gain a more westerly component and increasing them to 15-20 knots. On Monday evening into the overnight, winds across the central and eastern basin may briefly increase to 20-25 knots and will be the period to monitor for any marine headlines. Boaters should continue to monitor the forecast, especially given that Monday is a holiday and increased boating is possible. In addition, with warming Lake Erie temperatures, beach goers for the holiday should be aware of the potential for rip currents and stay up to date with the forecast. A secondary cold front is expected to move southeast across the area on Tuesday into Wednesday, allowing winds to become 10-15 knots from the northwest before high pressure builds in on Thursday and winds becomes 5-10 knots. && .CLE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...None. PA...None. NY...None. MARINE...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Iverson NEAR TERM...Iverson/Kahn SHORT TERM...Griffin LONG TERM...Griffin AVIATION...Kahn MARINE...Griffin