Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Albany, NY

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824 FXUS61 KALY 252035 AFDALY AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Albany NY 435 PM EDT Sat May 25 2024 .SYNOPSIS...
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Mainly dry conditions persist this afternoon into tonight, but a few scattered showers are possible tonight with the passage of a weak disturbance. Sunday will be primarily dry before showers and thunderstorms develop later in the afternoon and evening mainly south of Albany. Unsettled conditions continue into the start of the work week as a low pressure system brings widespread rain to the region. Isolated to scattered showers will then be possible through midweek before a drier pattern sets in Thursday and Friday.
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&& .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY/...
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Beautiful, late May weather continues this afternoon with high pressure dominant at the surface and a shortwave ridge axis displaced just to our east aloft. Plenty of sunshine still exists across the region despite encroaching high clouds courtesy of convection that has developed upstream along a surface boundary. As such, temperatures have risen into the mid/upper 70s to near 80 in valley areas with low 70s in the Southwest Adirondacks and Southern Greens. A few showers are approaching Herkimer County this afternoon, but plenty of dry air present in the low levels should keep precipitation light. Throughout the remainder of the afternoon and into tonight, clouds will increase as the upper ridging deamplifies and flattens in response to an approaching weak shortwave aloft and weak low pressure system and wind shift boundary at the surface. Scattered showers and some embedded rumbles of thunder will be possible as a result this evening into tonight. Thunder chances will be more likely before midnight when SBCAPE will generally be between 300-600 J/kg with limited CIN. But as the evening goes on and the cap increases in strength, thunder chances should dwindle significantly. Low temperatures tonight will be fairly mild with plenty of cloud cover across the region. Values will be in the mid 50s to low 60s. Modest height rises occur beginning tomorrow morning with another shortwave ridge building in across the region and the aforementioned disturbance shifting east. Clouds are anticipated to decrease throughout the day as subsidence acts to dry out the mid and upper levels. Therefore, breaks of sunshine will help to warm temperatures into the mid/upper 70s to low to possibly mid 80s in valley areas with pockets of low 70s above 1500 ft. Ridging aloft will remain dominant across the region into tomorrow afternoon, but another shortwave disturbance associated with a low pressure system moving into the western Great Lakes will start to approach from the west. With this surface cyclone comes an eastward-extending warm front that looks to remain just to our south. While clouds will begin to increase for areas south of Albany tomorrow afternoon, conditions should remain primarily dry outside of some isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms. Models have seemed to decrease the coverage of showers and thunderstorms with latest guidance likely due to the seemingly slower track of the low and upper shortwave. However, with SBCAPE ranging from 500-1000 J/kg and weak isentropic lift ahead of its warm front, continue to message slight chance to chance of showers and thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon south and east of Albany. No severe thunderstorms are expected at this time with an overall lack of shear and strong forcing.
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&& .SHORT TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/...
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Sunday night, any showers and thunderstorms that develop should generally taper off with the loss of diurnal heating. However, dry conditions will not prevail for long. As the aforementioned surface cyclone continues to track north and west toward the US/Canada border, it will gradually deepen, strengthening cyclonic flow in its associate upper-level trough. Southwesterly flow will strengthen and isentropic lift will increase as its warm front begins to lift northward. Rain is therefore expected to spread across the region from southwest to northeast, becoming widespread by Monday afternoon. While this will generally be a stratiform rain, some embedded rumbles of thunder are possible with weak instability (~200-500 J/kg) present across much of the area. Rain will persist through Monday, beginning to wane by Monday evening and becoming reduced to scattered showers by Monday night. Persistent cyclonic flow with southerly winds will ensure clouds and showers stick around through Tuesday morning. Low temperatures Sunday night will range from the mid/upper 50s to low 60s. Highs Monday will be a little cooler than today with mid/upper 60s to mid 70s. Monday night lows will be in the upper 50s to low 60s with pockets of mid 50s in the mountains.
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&& .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/...
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Skies begin to clear from south to north as we enter the system`s dry slot Tuesday afternoon. However, some additional showers will be possible mainly north and west of Albany throughout the day Tuesday as the system`s cold front sweeps through the region. Then, as the low continues to deepen and sink south through Tuesday night and into Wednesday, another batch of showers will be brought on by the secondary, back door cold front that will progress through the region. Some rumbles of thunder are possible once again within these showers, but instability generally looks weak so kept only slight chance in the forecast. The aforementioned system begins to pull away Thursday afternoon, yielding height rises across the region as an upper- level ridge builds eastward from the Midwest. A large surface high will accompany it, creating dry conditions for Thursday night through the remainder of the long term period. However, a newly inflicted cooler airmass will make temperatures feel cool in comparison to recent days. Highs Thursday will be widely in the 60s with mid/upper 50s at higher elevations with low 60s to low 70s expected Friday. Then, things warm up a bit Saturday with temperatures moderating back to the upper 60s to mid/upper 70s.
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&& .AVIATION /19Z SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...
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SKC to few clouds well above 12000 feet into this evening. A weak front will bring scattered showers and thunderstorms to the region between 00Z-06Z, with the best chances at KGFL, KALB and KPOU. Including PROB30 for IFR visibilities and MVFR ceilings in thunderstorms in those areas but less coverage around KPSF, so only including VCSH there. Once the showers and thunderstorms end, cloudy sky through daybreak with ceilings trending to MVFR at all TAF sites. Visibilities should be VFR. After about 14Z, ceilings will lift to around 5000 feet and broken clouds above 5000 feet should hold through Sunday afternoon with some intervals of scattered clouds. Light and variable winds into this evening should become near calm through the night and then light and variable again Sunday morning and afternoon. Outlook... Sunday Night: Low Operational Impact. Slight Chance of SHRA. Memorial Day: High Operational Impact. Breezy. Definite SHRA...TSRA. Monday Night: High Operational Impact. Breezy. Definite SHRA...TSRA. Tuesday: Low Operational Impact. Slight Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Tuesday Night: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Wednesday: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Wednesday Night: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Thursday: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA.
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&& .ALY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CT...None. NY...None. MA...None. VT...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Gant/JPV NEAR TERM...Gant SHORT TERM...Gant LONG TERM...Gant AVIATION...NAS