Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Des Moines, IA

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760 FXUS63 KDMX 171958 AFDDMX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Des Moines IA 258 PM CDT Mon Jun 17 2024 .KEY MESSAGES...
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- Slight Risk of severe weather this afternoon. Damaging winds, hail and heavy rain the primary threats. - Additional severe weather chances return late Tuesday. Damaging winds and heavy rain are the primary threats early on. Heavy rain to persist Tuesday night and into Wednesday. Highest amounts in the west. - Wet pattern remains nearby until the weekend.
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&& .DISCUSSION...
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Issued at 255 PM CDT Mon Jun 17 2024 Afternoon surface analysis placed the boundary diagonally across central Iowa with a slow descent northward. HCR can be seen ahead of it in the uncapped warm sector that has 1500 J/kg of MUCAPE. Models overnight have trended H70 temperatures cooler across the state today with the EML reaching the MO river by the end of the day. This opens up the possibility for some thunderstorms to form along the aforementioned boundary this afternoon across the northern part of the state. Chances of storms are higher on the eastern part of the boundary where the H70 temps are cooler. As for severe weather, better deep layer shear values near 50kts can be found in the northwest. If storms can get going in this area, wind and hail will be possible. With moisture pooling along the boundary, cannot entirely rule out a tornado right along it, but the chances are low. A sustainable updraft could become supercellular in the better shear (also generally where the Slight Risk is). Storms further to the south and east and away from the better shear will likely pulse up and down, but still have the potential for hail and a strong wind gust. High temperatures have trended down with the cloud cover and cold pool in the north today with highs being held in the 80s northwest and near 90 southeast. The hindered mixing from the cold pool has kept wind gusts relatively tame, but 35 mph gusts will be more apparent in the west before sundown. The front will lift into Minnesota tonight and keep much of the rain to the north of the state tonight. Early morning stratus appears possible for Tuesday morning as moisture continues to pile in from the south. This will also limit high temperatures. Winds early in the morning could be gusty in the west due to the nocturnal jet. Before that eases, 40kt gusts could be measured in the west. Clouds will start to erode in the southeast for the afternoon, but will be short lived as the trailing cold front from the nearby surface low approaches. CAPE values will recover into the 1000s in the far west with 0-3km shear values near 30kts. Storms will evolve into more of a heavy rain threat early on as the poor orientation of the line relative to the shear. The mean wind will be parallel to the boundary, generating training storms. 13kft of war cloud depths, PWATs exceeding 2 inches and a saturated profile all point towards heavy rain for the west once again Tuesday night. what could further exacerbate the setup is the timing of the front stalling as the upper level ridge builds in from the southeast. Currently the HREF LPMM for tomorrow night has widespread rainfall values exceeding an inch with localized areas receiving 3"+. What may spare the state from further rain is the lee cyclone that forms late Tuesday with moisture becoming trapped along its warm front in Kansas, disintegrating much of the rainfall further north. At least localized impacts from water are possible in the west. Will continue to monitor trends in upcoming issuances. The front will advance as far as southeast Iowa Wednesday, but retreat back northwest with time, brining more rain to at least northwest Iowa and Minnesota Wednesday night. That same front will stall somewhere very nearby for the remainder of the week, hence the continual rain mentions for at least the north. Current ensemble guidance keeps the axis of highest cumulative precipitation for the entire week in Minnesota, but a healthy amount of rain can still be expected for at least the northern and western part of the state by the end of the week. An upper level closed low is anticipated to arrive this weekend, giving us another chance of more organized precipitation, but also shoving the upper level ridge into the Atlantic and building another one over the Desert Southwest, bringing a foreseeable end to the Gulf moisture channel to the upper Midwest.
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&& .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/... Issued at 1241 PM CDT Mon Jun 17 2024 Front draped across the central part of the state this afternoon with southerly winds to the south and northwest becoming easterly winds to the north of it. Front will slowly lift north in the short term and bring low confidence thunderstorms to the northeast terminals after 20z. May affect KFOD, but have left out of TAF due to very low confidence. MVFR to possible IFR stratus moves in over the morning hours, reaching as far southeast as KDSM. Have left KDSM VFR for now, but will be better refined in future updates. Gusty southerly winds to prevail after 00z for most of the sites. && .DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Jimenez AVIATION...Jimenez