Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Issued by NWS Sioux Falls, SD
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225 FXUS63 KFSD 021826 AFDFSD Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sioux Falls SD 126 PM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Monitoring potential for severe weather late this afternoon into tonight. Still not a cut and dry forecast with multiple scenarios possible. Favored scenario produces multiple rounds of mostly sub-severe showers/storms, first moving east this morning and another possible midday-mid afternoon. This is followed by a final round of scattered to numerous storms very late afternoon-evening, some of which may be strong-severe, though greater severe threat largely splits the forecast area to the north and south. - Tuesday may be the next chance for severe weather, but will be dependent on recovery from scattered morning convection and timing of a cold front pushing through the region. Favored area for an isolated severe threat is along and east of the MN/IA Highway 60 corridor. - Quiet weather and seasonable temperatures are expected to prevail mid to late week. && .UPDATE... Issued at 1150 AM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 No major changes to the afternoon and evening forecast for thunderstorms. Still some decent agreement on how organized the initial development will become this evening. While far from a great set up for tornadoes, the latest models are indicating some decent low level shear/turning along with CAPE values of 2000-2500 J/kg as well as a fairly low LFC. If any isolated supercells can develop from about the James Valley towards I-29 they should at least have the ability to attain some low level rotation and potentially produce isolated tornadoes. The main threats will be hail to golf ball size and wind gusts to 70 mph. There is still some concern on how much we will recover behind the exiting morning showers and storms but right now clouds are clearing pretty quickly. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 358 AM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 TODAY-TONIGHT: Starting off early this morning with an area of elevated showers and storms moving through the James River Valley, associated with a subtle mid-level wave and warm advection. This area of storms should push east through the I-29 corridor into portions of southwest MN/northwest IA through mid-late morning. Instability is still somewhat limited, so expect most of this activity to remain sub-severe, though occasional lightning and perhaps small hail will be possible. Behind this initial activity, we are still seeing diverging solutions among the various CAMs regarding exactly how things will evolve through tonight. Favored Scenario: We are already seeing additional showers/storms developing over western portions of South Dakota/Nebraska, likely in response to a slightly stronger wave moving out of the Rockies. This trailing activity advances eastward and reaches our western counties by around 12Z, and likewise tracks east through mid-late morning. Continued low level moisture advection and modest heating provide a bit more instability, which could result in some stronger storms capable of producing marginal hail up to quarter size. Focus then turns to the approaching cold front, with still some questions on where along the boundary storms will initiate. Given disruption from the earlier rounds, anticipate initial storms will develop across central Nebraska and farther north toward north central/northeast South Dakota into North Dakota. These discrete cells quickly grow upscale into linear segments which tend to track east-southeast through the evening to early overnight hours. Believe the southern line will be far enough south that it will not impact our forecast area. The northern line is more questionable, with some solutions keeping it well north of our area, while others slide it farther south into portions of the Highway 14 corridor and southwest MN. Despite the aforementioned delay in building instability, this round of storms should bring the primary threat for severe weather, perhaps with large hail up to ping pong ball size with initial storm development, but quickly transitioning to a more dominant strong to damaging wind threat. Alternate scenario: The alternative has minimal showers/storms across the forecast area through the late morning-early afternoon period (behind the ongoing early morning activity), which allows for greater heating and destabilization ahead of the cold front. This could lead to more robust storm development during the evening, with a broader potential for strong to severe storms capable of damaging winds and isolated large hail. However, given the ongoing convection in southwest SD which is on track to slide into our forecast area shortly after daybreak, believe this is a less likely scenario. Given deeper moisture advecting northward through the day, we are still seeing projections for precipitable water values of 1.25-1.50" building north ahead of the cold front. This could lead to pockets of heavier rainfall, and given antecedent conditions across our central and eastern areas which have seen pockets of very heavy rain in recent days, cannot rule out areas of ponding water or isolated flash flooding. Confidence in where this will occur is low, though, especially given the variance in storm evolution as described above. As such, will forgo a Flood Watch for Flash Flooding at this time. However, it may be something for later shifts to consider if the threat for heavy rainfall across our most saturated areas becomes more apparent. MONDAY-TUESDAY: Storms are expected to exit our eastern counties by daybreak Monday, leading to a quiet day with relatively light winds and seasonably warm temperatures topping out in the 80s. Expect to again see some scattered showers/storms develop in the broad warm advection Monday night, in advance of a sharper mid to upper level trough which swings into the northern Plains through the day Tuesday. Broad consensus has the cold front near to just east of the I-29 corridor by peak heating, with modest instability (perhaps as high as 1000-1500J/kg MUCAPE) along with marginal deep layer shear across our east. As a result, could see a few strong to severe storms along/ahead of the cold front during the late afternoon-early evening, before the front pushes east of the forecast area. WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY: Deep northwest flow will prevail across the region mid-late week between a stalled upper low over the Great Lakes and a building ridge across the Rockies. This will suppress deeper moisture/instability to our south, leading to mainly dry conditions with gusty northwest winds during the later morning to afternoon hours. Temperatures will be near seasonal normals with lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s to lower 80s. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY/... Issued at 122 PM CDT Sun Jun 2 2024 The main concerns will be showers and thunderstorms, a few severe. Strong storms and likely a few supercells will develop in central SD, towards the James Valley from about 21z through 2z. This activity should then form into a cluster of storms and move east through the evening and overnight hours with scatterd strong storms towards I-29 from about 1z through 4z then into southwest MN and northwest IA from about 3z through 9z. Outside of the thunderstorms some patchy MVFR ceilings will be possible and some MVFR and IFR fog will be possible late tonight into Monday morning. && .FSD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SD...None. MN...None. IA...None. NE...None. && $$ UPDATE...08 DISCUSSION...JH AVIATION...08