Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Quad Cities, IA IL

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645 FXUS63 KDVN 232341 AFDDVN Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL 641 PM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Near normal temperatures to start the week will become slightly above normal by weeks-end, with most in the upper 70s. - Light precipitation will be seen tonight and into Tuesday morning, with chances dropping off until late in the week. - Much uncertainty remains on the forecast from Friday and through the weekend, owing to interactions between a potential tropical system and cutoff upper low. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY/... Issued at 142 PM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 Weak wave and attendant surface low currently draped over Missouri, forecast to progress northeast slowly though the day and night, as a deeper wave quickly digs in from the north. This stronger wave will bring in much dryer air through midweek. Although, prior to that, the weaker wave will pass through tonight, bringing the chance for precipitation as it exits. The rain will be far from widespread and heavy, with the main areas seeing the bulk of the precipitation south of Interstate 80 and east of the Mississippi River. Current guidance favors anywhere between 0.10-0.25" of rain for those that see the scattered showers. Isolated thunder cannot be ruled out, owing to some low MUCAPE, but confidence remains low. Cloudiness tonight will help moderate temperatures a bit, with most remaining in the mid-upper 50s. Tomorrow, with the surface low in close proximity still, we will continue to see clouds throughout much of the area. Through the day, cloud coverage will start to scatter out and clear from northwest to southeast. Precipitation chances will be limited to those east of the Mississippi River tomorrow, with much of the area being dry by noon. Conditions tomorrow will be very similar to those seen today, with widespread temperatures near 70 and a light breeze. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/... Issued at 142 PM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 Midweek will remain quiet, as the wave that digs into the region Tuesday filters in much dryer air. Dry air and a northerly wind will result in beautiful weather, with temperatures in the mid 70s and mostly clear skies. Confidence in this for Wednesday and Thursday remain high, with decreasing confidence as we progress to the week`s end and the weekend. Towards the end of the week, the forecast grows more uncertain. Guidance is hinting at the potential for quite the tropical low to develop over the Gulf of Mexico, with a northerly trajectory. This will interact with the forecast cutoff low over the southeastern US, which resulted from the wave digging in our area Tuesday, bringing us the beautiful weather. How these two systems interact remains uncertain. A lot of this will be determined by the track of the potential tropical cyclone, which will be directly impacted by the cutoff low over the same area. Thus, we will have to monitor how these two features interact. Although, the farther east that the potential tropical system stays, the dryer the weather would seem for us. We will remain under largely easterly flow due to this pattern, which isn`t quite favorable for moisture return. Guidance seems to have followed this thinking in the last couple of runs, as they keep us dry through part of the weekend. The wildcard remains the path of the potential tropical system and its post-tropical counterpart. As the last discussion alluded to, we may see a Fujiwara interaction with the upper low and potential tropical system, which can work to pull the post-tropical low counter- clockwise around the cutoff low, bringing a larger pool of moisture towards our forecast area. Thus, that scenario would result in precipitation chances for the area. Latest forecast trends are trending a little wetter, which would be a result of the second scenario. Unfortunately, much uncertainty exists though, especially with the fact that we still have yet to see a tropical cyclone form. Thus, stay tuned for future updates. Aside from potential precipitation chances this weekend, the long term looks to remain near normal, temperature-wise. Any increase in cloud cover due to the weather system(s) may lead to impacts to temperatures. So, plenty of unknowns lie ahead of us. One thing that I can mention is that we are not expecting widespread heavy rain, nor severe weather, at this moment. While this is subject to change, confidences in any severe weather locally remains low. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/...
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Issued at 641 PM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 We continue to expect a mixed bag in terms of flight category impacts over the next 18 hours. A trough of low pressure is expected to support increasing chances of showers tonight, mainly across our southeastern areas, including the BRL and MLI TAF terminals. Confidence remains highest for MVFR/IFR conditions for BRL, but more uncertain on IFR conditions for MLI. CID and DBQ appears to be too far northwest to really get into the low stratus and showers, but we will have to watch just how far this stratus deck reaches. If showers can become heavy enough, MVFR visibility reductions appear most likely. Easterly winds this evening will become more variable overnight, becoming more northerly during the daylight hours Tuesday, around 5 to 10 knots.
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&& .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...None. IL...None. MO...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Gunkel LONG TERM...Gunkel AVIATION...Schultz