Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Jackson, KY

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353 FXUS63 KJKL 250010 AAA AFDJKL AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED National Weather Service Jackson KY 810 PM EDT Fri May 24 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Showers and thunderstorms are expected from time to time through the middle of next week, especially during the afternoon and early evening hours. - There is a potential for severe thunderstorms on Sunday and Sunday night, with damaging winds and large hail being the primary threats. && .UPDATE...
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Issued at 745 PM EDT FRI MAY 24 2024 23Z sfc analysis shows weak high pressure over eastern Kentucky this evening amid plenty of mid level clouds and a few instances of convection scattered around the area. Most places have stayed dry today and that should be the case for much of the night, but a low chance of showers or storms will remain in the forecast through Saturday morning. Currently, temperatures are generally in the low to mid 70s while dewpoints remain elevated in the mid and upper 60s - amid light and variable winds. Have updated the forecast mainly to fine tune the PoPs through the night per the latest ideas from the CAMs and radar trends. Did also tweak the valley fog anticipated tonight as well as adding in the current obs and trends for the T/Td/Sky grids. These minor adjustments have been sent to the NDFD and web servers.
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&& .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Saturday night) Issued at 414 PM EDT FRI MAY 24 2024 A very quiet day continues as of late afternoon, with very dry air and light winds aloft as weak mid-upper level ridging passes over from west to east. A weak trough aloft is approaching behind the ridge, and a few showers and thunderstorms have popped up to our west and southwest. Can`t rule out something developing here tonight as the ridging departs and the dying trough moves through, but the timing is not favorable. On Saturday and Saturday evening, a weakening cold front will approach from the northwest and could help a few showers/thunderstorms develop. However, there will once again not be much in the way of upper level support, and the POP looks limited. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Friday) Issued at 519 PM EDT FRI MAY 24 2024 The extended period will start off on Sunday at the start of the most active section of the forecast. As of 12Z on Sunday, a deepening shortwave will be taking shape across the Central Plains, along with a very strong surface low pressure system. This system is expected to track northeast throughout the day and overnight, as it continues to strengthen, reaching the Upper Great Lakes by 6Z Monday. A warm front associated with this system will be parked just north of the CWA Sunday, shifting northward. This will then be followed by the associated cold front with this system, which is expected to move into Western KY by 0Z Monday. It will then sweep the state, passing through eastern KY Monday morning and early afternoon. There are several things to note with this system. The first is that this track through the state is actually quite a bit slower than previous model runs, which had the bulk of the impacts for eastern KY on Sunday afternoon and evening, instead of Sunday evening and Monday morning. Also by Monday, the system will be well to our north and continuing to move away from the region, so the best lift and instability will also be shifting north away from eastern KY. For instance, CAPE looks great on Sunday, but storms are expected to begin here until Sunday night, at which point surface temps lower and best instability is cut off. Then as we head into Monday, GFS is showing CAPE values around 2000 J/Kg (not bad), but very little llvl wind shear. In other words, expect any storms that do occur to be pulsy without much organization to them. SPC also backed off on the Slight Risk across eastern KY, pushing it back westward with the morning issuance, so that only the far SW portion of the CWA is now included in this risk. This is also still Day 3, so the CAMs and hi-res data doesn`t even go out this far yet, so still quite a bit of room for change at this point. Once this system finally moves out late Monday, and precip chances diminish, we can expect a much cooler airmass to move into place. This will be aided by a large upper level trough overhead of much of the eastern U.S. which is pumping in colder Canadian air. As skies clear out Monday night, temperatures should fall into the mid and upper 50s, some 10 degrees or so cooler than the previous night. Daytime temperatures will also top out in the 70s instead of the 80s over the next several days. Models do show another upper level low rotating through the troughing pattern and across the Ohio Valley on Tuesday. This will be accompanied by a surface low pressure system and cold front, which should result in additional precip to areas to our north. It`s a bit more uncertain as to how far south this precip will drop and if JKL will be impacted during the day. The NBM went with isolated pops during the afternoon, and given the lower confidence, didn`t see any reason to increase or decrease this. The associated cold front will likely pass southward through Kentucky Tuesday night, however, all models back off on convection during this time, especially as CAA keeps temperatures cooler (lows in the low to mid 50s). The front should exit by early afternoon on Wednesday, which mixed with daytime heating and mixing, could increase pops again across the far eastern CWA for the afternoon. Again, NBM went with low end chance pops for this time period, and given how far out we are in the period, didn`t see enough evidence to change this. This system will continue to exit by Wednesday night, quickly giving way to high pressure. Meanwhile, nearly N to S flow will keep CAA advection in place through much of the rest of the extended. As clouds clear out overnight Monday night, can`t rule out some of the deeper valleys actually dropping back into the upper 40s if this pattern plays out. The following night will be even cooler, with more widespread upper 40s to around 50 degrees. In good news, at last the high pressure should also remain in place through the end of the extended, with dry weather on tap. && .AVIATION...
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(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Saturday evening) ISSUED AT 810 PM EDT FRI MAY 24 2024 Mainly VFR conditions are expected for the terminals through the period. The only exceptions would be localized IFR or worse visibilities in valley fog overnight and early Saturday - not expected to affect any TAF sites - and a small potential for localized sub-VFR conditions in a passing shower or storm. Winds will be light and variable through the period.
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&& .JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ UPDATE...GREIF SHORT TERM...HAL LONG TERM...JMW AVIATION...HAL/GREIF