Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Jackson, KY

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675 FXUS63 KJKL 241125 AFDJKL AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Jackson KY 725 AM EDT Tue Sep 24 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - A potential for showers and thunderstorms will persist through much of the next several days, bringing eastern Kentucky some much needed rain. - The remnants of Potential Tropical Cyclone 9, currently forecast to strike the Florida Panhandle as a hurricane late Wednesday, may impact eastern Kentucky with an increased chance for a widespread, soaking rain event late in the week. However, any flooding potential is likely to be mitigated by the quick movement of this system. - Seasonably warm temperatures will average just a few degrees above normal through the week. && .UPDATE...
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Issued at 725 AM EDT TUE SEP 24 2024 A band of showers and thunderstorms is currently moving through central Kentucky. Kentucky mesonet has recorded some reasonably strong wind gusts to around 30 mph from some of the stronger thunderstorms. This will continue to head eastward and into our area through the day. Updated the forecast package to lower afternoon highs a little across our north. Latest model guidance coming in suggest original temperatures were just a bit too high. With clouds and precipitation already moving into those areas this morning, this line of thinking would make sense. No other changes other than to load in the most recent hourly data.
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&& .SHORT TERM...(Today through Wednesday) Issued at 531 AM EDT TUE SEP 24 2024 A nearly stationary frontal zone continues to lie along the Ohio River this morning, just to our northwest. Aloft, a trough will move eastward into the Ohio Valley today, weakening as it slides eastward in response to a stronger trough dropping southward into the Missouri Valley. However, this trough is still strong enough to increase wind fields over the Commonwealth as it lifts northeast into the region by late today. Strengthening winds aloft in combination with a developing 30-40kt H850 southwesterly jet nosing its way into the area will result the development of 40-50 kts of bulk shear across eastern Kentucky, southeast Ohio, and West Virginia by this afternoon along with increasing diffluent flow aloft. Models also show MLCAPE climbing to between 1000-2000 J/kg across eastern Kentucky this afternoon. This will set the stage for the potential of strong to severe thunderstorms over the region today, conditional on how exactly how much sunlight and heating we are able to achieve. Consequently, the Storm Prediction Center has placed our area in a Slight risk for severe weather today. In addition, the Weather Prediction center has our area in a Marginal risk for excessive rainfall. Storm motions are 30 kts or greater today. Freezing levels are generally around 13 kft and PWATS max out at around the 75th percentile, climatologically. Thus conditions are not ideal for flooding issues. All things considered, feel that any hydro issues will be localized, and more dependent on how organized convection becomes and the potential of training/back building of storms over a specific locations. Regional radar mosaic shows a band of showers and thunderstorms moving into central Kentucky this morning. This main band will likely entering our Bluegrass counties over the next 2-3 hours, with additional convection poised to track across the rest of the area through the remainder of the day. H850 temps of 16-17 C will drop to between 14-15 C by tomorrow. This will lead to afternoon highs of around 80 today, dropping into the low to mid 70s tomorrow, aided by clouds and rain cooled processes .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Monday) Issued at 531 AM EDT TUE SEP 24 2024 There continues to be two large scale features which will interact with each other and dominate our weather during the long term period. One of these is a large closed low which will start the period centered near the Missouri bootheel. The other is a tropical system which will evolve from the area of unsettled weather currently near the Cayman Islands. The flow around the upper low will initially be drawing on deep moisture being pulled north from the gulf. With this, precip is expected to be ongoing over at least the southern part of the JKL forecast area at the start of period, and this scenario should last into Thursday. The tropical system, expected to reach hurricane status, is currently forecast to make landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida on Thursday. It is still expected to be captured in the flow around the upper low and move rapidly north, with its remnant circulation reaching the vicinity of eastern KY on Friday. Our POP will increase from the south on Thursday night as it approaches, with rain expected area wide on Friday. The persistent feed of deep moisture (precipitable water of 1.5-2") drawn north by the closed low may result in significant rainfall of more than an inch Wednesday night into Thursday, particularly in our southern counties. Precipitable water should further increase to above 2" as the tropical system remnants move through. However, the system will be moving swiftly north northwestward and crossing the Appalachians-- both factors which will limit excessive rainfall potential. While hydro problems won`t be ruled out Wednesday night through Friday, we are currently primarily in marginal excessive rainfall outlooks from WPC. Once the tropical system passes by, both the GFS and ECMWF show a dry slot curling around the upper low and moving over eastern KY Friday night into Saturday night. This will limit precipitation, but some convection capped in the mid levels may occur, and at least a slight chance of precip has been maintained during this time. The upper low finally wobbles slowly eastward Sunday through Monday. Although its exact track and how quickly it weakens and gets absorbed back into the prevailing westerlies aloft are uncertain, it is probable that deep moisture associated with the low will move back over our region and bring at least scattered showers. && .AVIATION...
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(For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Wednesday morning) ISSUED AT 725 AM EDT TUE SEP 24 2024 A band of showers and thunderstorms is currently moving through central Kentucky. Kentucky mesonet has already recorded some wind gusts to around 30 mph from some of the stronger thunderstorms. This initial line will continue to head eastward and into our area through the day. Models/guidance suggest additional convection can be expected on and off through the day, even after this initial line has made it through, making for a busy day. Storm motion for these storms is around 30 kts. So storms will be impacting terminals for only short periods of time. Winds will be out of the southwest, between 5-10 kts. Locally, erratic and stronger winds will be possible in the vicinity of storms.
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&& .JKL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ UPDATE...RAY SHORT TERM...RAY LONG TERM...HAL AVIATION...RAY