Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Charleston, WV

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724 FXUS61 KRLX 221027 AFDRLX AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Charleston WV 627 AM EDT Sun Sep 22 2024 .SYNOPSIS... Dry and hot today. Unsettled weather returns late tonight into the new work week, bringing beneficial rainfall back into the area. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/...
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As of 625 AM Sunday... Little to no changes were needed to the forecast this morning. Dense river valley fog continues to flourish across the forecast area this morning, with visibilities of half a mile or less quite common along our most traveled roadways. In coordination with surrounding offices, a Dense Fog Advisory will remain in effect until 9 AM this morning to highlight the concern for hazardous travel conditions across parts of southeast Ohio and north-central West Virginia, where rain was observed yesterday afternoon and evening. As of 215 AM Sunday... Satellite imagery early this morning reveals river valley fog growing in coverage and intensity across northeast West Virginia and along the southern Ohio River Valley. These two areas were noted to have received measurable rainfall on Saturday from a cold front and will likely festering through the predawn hours into daybreak this morning. A Dense Fog Advisory could be warranted later on this morning if half mile to quarter mile visibilities continue down into our more populated areas. The frontal boundary planted directly over the forecast area early this morning is progged to shift slightly northward today as a warm front. This will place the Central Appalachians in the warm sector of an encroaching disturbance slated to arrive late tonight into early Monday morning. In the meantime, afternoon temperatures in the Tri-State area and into the central lowlands will once again topple over the 90 degree mark. Minimum relative humidity values will bottom out into the 20 to 30 percent range during peak heating hours this afternoon in the lower elevations and down into the 30 to 40 percent range along the mountains and southern coalfields. This will be the last day through the foreseeable future for these low RH values as low level moisture becomes present over the next several days. We should lack the wind component today when it comes to fire weather concerns. A low pressure system tracking through the Ohio Valley today will invade the forecast area by dusk this evening. Clouds will first arrive this evening, followed by a line of broken showers and thunderstorms late tonight into the overnight hours. This marks the revival of unsettled weather for the start of the new work week and brings beneficial rainfall to the area. Within this portion of the forecast, QPF totals range from a few hundredths to a tenth of an inch across southeast Ohio and eastern Kentucky, where POPs will first arrive overnight.
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&& .SHORT TERM /MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... As of 305 AM Sunday... A moist airmass is forecast to be in place Monday through Tuesday as the region sits in the open warm sector of a slow moving surface low transiting the Mid-West. Diffluent flow aloft should allow for both nocturnal elevated convection as well as diurnally enhanced surface based storms Monday. Initially, deep layer shear will be on the weaker so not expecting too much in the way of storm organization Monday. The main threat with any activity will be locally heavy downpours. While any rain would be largely beneficial, could see some localized drainage issues over built up areas should one of these downpours dwell too long. Deep layer flow increases on Tuesday in response to the parent upper trough approaching the region. Contingent on diurnal destabilization could see a severe threat emerge for Tuesday afternoon with locally damaging winds, and perhaps a low end tornado threat as the primary hazards, most likely focused from the Metro Valley down the Tug Fork, although confidence is low this far out. Cold frontal passage is then expected Wednesday. At present this looks to occur relatively early in the day and not yield as much of a chance to destabilize diurnally. Ensemble guidance is reasonably confident in the combination of this activity to produce widespread beneficial rain, which should help take the edge off very dry unsheltered fine fuels, even if it won`t put much of a dent in our rainfall deficit. Interquartile 72hr amounts ending Thursday morning range from around half an inch to near 2 inches, highest in the northeast with our current deterministic forecast generally falling in this range. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/... As of 305 AM Sunday... Confidence is low for the the long term period with a wide range in model solutions. Generally most confident in amplification of the northern stream that would help to shunt any potential tropical moisture from development in the Gulf of Mexico east of us keeping our region mainly dry, but a non-trivial number of ensemble members are subdued enough with this feature to allow tropical moisture this far west. This is reflected in a significant interquartile spread in QPF values for the latter half of the week. For the deterministic forecast will continue to defer to central guidance advertising some lower end PoPs each day into next weekend for now. && .AVIATION /10Z SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...
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As of 625 AM Sunday... Dense river valley fog is quite apparent on nighttime satellite imagery this morning, having now made it into all but two of our TAF sites. The last site to see fog attempt to trickle in this morning will be CRW. Should see conditions improve shortly after 13Z/14Z this morning as the erosion of low vsbys/ceilings branches out into a mostly quiet day. A disturbance stretching in from the west will begin to yield lowered ceilings late tonight into Monday morning, with rain spreading in from west to east. Out ahead of the precipitation shield, fog will once again attempt to form in our river valleys. Western terminals may have a more difficult time with fog production with the mid to upper level cloud deck moving in from the Ohio Valley. Will hint at most sites seeing fog tonight, but modifications are certainly not out of the question with future TAF issuances. Winds will be light and variable through the this evening, becoming more southerly overnight into the end of the valid TAF period. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 12Z MONDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: Low to Medium this morning, then becoming High after the erosion of fog. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Improving conditions may vary from the forecast after daybreak as fog scatters and lifts. EXPERIMENTAL TABLE OF FLIGHT CATEGORY OBJECTIVELY SHOWS CONSISTENCY OF WFO FORECAST TO AVAILABLE MODEL INFORMATION: H = HIGH: TAF CONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. M = MEDIUM: TAF HAS VARYING LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY WITH MODELS. L = LOW: TAF INCONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. DATE SUN 09/22/24 UTC 1HRLY 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 EDT 1HRLY 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 CRW CONSISTENCY M M M M M H H H H H H H HTS CONSISTENCY M L L H M H H H H H H H BKW CONSISTENCY L L L H H H H H H H H H EKN CONSISTENCY M M M M L L H H H H H H PKB CONSISTENCY L L L M L H H H H H H H CKB CONSISTENCY H H H H L L H H H H H H AFTER 12Z MONDAY... Brief IFR possible in any heavier showers and thunderstorms Monday afternoon through early Wednesday morning.
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&& .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...Dense Fog Advisory until 10 AM EDT this morning for WVZ009>011- 017>020-028>032-039-040-521>526. OH...Dense Fog Advisory until 10 AM EDT this morning for OHZ076. KY...None. VA...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...MEK/JP NEAR TERM...MEK SHORT TERM...JP LONG TERM...JP AVIATION...MEK