Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Jackson, KY

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086 FXUS63 KJKL 010000 AAA AFDJKL AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED National Weather Service Jackson KY 800 PM EDT Sun Jun 30 2024 .KEY MESSAGES...
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- A short-lived break from the heat and humidity is forecast tonight through Monday night behind the cold front, quickly followed by a return of sultry conditions mid to late week. - An active period of showers and thunderstorms may occur Wednesday through Friday. The greatest probability for showers and thunderstorms appears to be on Thursday, Independence Day. Heat indices will return to near 100 degrees for many locations during this time.
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&& .UPDATE...
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Issued at 740 PM EDT SUN JUN 30 2024 23Z sfc analysis shows a welcomed cold front settling into the area. This has pushed the bulk of any convection out of eastern Kentucky with just a few lingering showers found in parts of the Cumberland Valley. Clearing skies follow along with the potential for fog - mainly in the valleys, though inbound drier air will mitigate the worst of it. Currently, temperatures vary from the mid 80s in the west, as they have rebound from the cooling brought by the earlier storms, to the low 70s with the lingering showers in the far east. Meanwhile, on stiff northerly winds of 5 to 10 mph and a few higher gusts, dewpoints are running in the pleasant upper 50s north while still in the sticky low 70s south. Have updated the forecast mainly to usher the last of the convection out of the area while also fine tuning the fog threat later tonight. Did also include the latest obs and trends for the T/Td/Sky grids. These adjustments have been sent to the NDFD and web servers along with a freshening of the zones, HWO, and SAFs.
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&& .SHORT TERM...
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(This evening through Monday night) Issued at 323 PM EDT SUN JUN 30 2024 The cold front continues to move southeast across the region, producing scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms. Significantly drier air moves in later this evening and continues through the overnight into Monday morning. This will make it hard for widespread fog to develop overnight as dewpoint depressions will likely remain sufficiently high. However, would expect the sheltered deeper valleys will still see at least patchy fog development, especially where rain has fallen today. Cooler and dry conditions will occur Monday as upper ridging builds across the Midwest and an upper trough exits the Mid- Atlantic coastline, with surface high pressure nosing across the area from the northeast. This will support highs only reaching the mid to upper 70s. Cloud cover should be minimal; however, there is some indication of an area of low stratus clouds moving south- southwest into the area from West Virginia in the morning before burning off in the early afternoon. Otherwise, a few wispy high clouds may be seen later in the day from the next system. Dry northeast low-level flow Monday evening becomes southerly by Tuesday morning indicating increasing warm advection through the overnight. As upper ridging continues to build over the area, temperatures should drop under optimal radiational cooling conditions Monday evening after sunset, with lows in the upper 40s to mid 50s across the area Monday night into Tuesday night. Fog should be a lot more widespread in the valleys Tuesday morning than Monday morning given a stronger low-level inversion and warm advection above the surface, closer to what is typical this time of year. .LONG TERM...(Tuesday through Sunday) Issued at 253 PM EDT SUN JUN 30 2024 Models continue to be in good agreement with main synoptic feature and pattern through the extended. At times, a moderately amplified but progressive flow with generally weak to moderate wind fields shout out a continuation of our summer time conditions through the period. Ridging over the eastern CONUS gradually breaks down as shortwave energy carves off the top through the first 24-48 hours of the extended. Thereafter, flow aloft takes on a more zonal flavor with an occasional passing short wave or minor trough. At the surface, New England high pressure will drift out into the Atlantic, allowing a frontal zone to develop across the Midwest. A series of weak surface waves will track through the Great Lakes along this baroclinic zone, effectively dropping and lifting a frontal boundary southward and northward in response to each passing wave of low pressure. With the zonal pattern aloft keeping the steering flow generally west to east, the boundary gradually drifts southward but never quite makes it through our area until possibly at the very end of the forecast window. After a seasonably warm (highs in the mid to upper 80s) and relatively comfortable (surface Tds in the upper 50s to lower 60s) start to the extended on Tuesday, our sensible weather will generally be warm and muggy through the remainder of the period under a very typical summer like pattern. With a frontal zone to our north through a good part of the extended, and an occasionally passing disturbance aloft, we should expect to see a chance for showers and thunderstorms just about every day. However, with the lack of strong ridging over the region and flow generally more from out of the Deep South, temperatures will be much more typical of this time of the year, or 80s versus the 90s experienced over the past couple or few weeks. This will result in a bit lower heat indices through the period as well, with peaks averaging in the 90s versus around 100 degrees or higher. Surface dew points in the upper 60s to mid 70s will still make for some typically sticky summer like weather. Not seeing much in the way of hazards through the period. There will be at least a climatologically low 20-30% or higher PoP each day through the period. The best chance for rain and possibly more organized convection will be during those period of time that the frontal zone manages to dip southward, close enough to eastern Kentucky to fire off convection, first Thursday...possibly into Friday, and then again Saturday. Overall rainfall totals will be localized with the hit and miss type convection we typically see in the summer time. On average, QPF forecasts are not that impressive, with ensemble probabilistic 24 hour averages showing only a 25-35 percent chance of a half inch or more of rainfall during any 24 hour period. Rest assured though, PWATs will be high enough (~90th percentile of climatology) for some localized heavy rainfall with any passing thunderstorms. Freezing levels will be quite high (15-16 kft) and with relatively weak wind fields, mean storm motions will be at or less than 10-15 kts through the period. Consequently, any thunderstorms will be capable of producing locally heavy rainfall.
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&& .AVIATION...
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(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Monday evening) ISSUED AT 800 PM EDT SUN JUN 30 2024 VFR conditions are expected through the night and into Monday morning in all but the most sheltered deeper valleys as dry air moves into the region. At this time, fog is not expected to impact TAF sites. While, VFR conditions are expected to hold Monday morning it should be noted that there is some chance for low stratus clouds to affect northeast parts of the area early in the day, which may persist through mid morning before clearing out. Confidence is too low to mention this in the TAFs at this time, though, and would primarily only impact KSJS and possibly KJKL. Winds will tend to switch to the north for a time this evening at 5 to 10 kts before diminishing to light during the night. Look for winds to then engage from the northeast at 5 to 10 kts on Monday.
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&& .JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ UPDATE...GREIF SHORT TERM...CMC LONG TERM...RAY AVIATION...CMC/GREIF