Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Quad Cities, IA IL

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574 FXUS63 KDVN 231735 AFDDVN Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL 1235 PM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Cool weather is expected today with highs only in the upper 60s to low 70s and a bit of rain possible in the south. - Low confidence in the forecast regarding late this week into next weekend as an upper low interacts with the tropics in a blocking pattern. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY/... Issued at 202 AM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 While the cold front is moved through the entire CWA, the dry air is still only in the northwest 2/3rds of the CWA early this morning. While showers have moved out, the southeast counties continue to see dewpoints in the upper 50s to low 60s, while the northwest is seeing lower to mid 40s! Low clouds continue in the southeast counties as well, holding up temperatures into the low 60s at 2 AM, while the northwest is falling into the mid 40s to around 50 at this time. The moisture in the south looks to help light rain chances again today, as another wave moves through Missouri. While significant rains will be well south of us, there is enough forcing from that wave to bring light rain chances as far north as Highway 34 today, mainly in the afternoon. Tonight, this wave is forecast to allow a closed low pressure from the surface to 850mb, and that should bring stratiform rains in our southeast 1/2 of the CWA tonight into early Tuesday. There are several CAMS, as well as the GFS, that bring moderate rainfall up as far north as the Quad Cities tonight, and all of those models show a stronger 850mb low moving from northeast Missouri through Chicago. This is quite a bit farther north than earlier runs, and is most favored if convection doesn`t form to our south tonight, and that seems unlikely. Still, a potential wet night is in store in our southeast 1/2 with amounts of 0.05 to 0.30 possible. For now, were not going with high pop/low qpf yet, but this could be the favored mode for tonight. The cloud cover in the south today will keep locations coolest south, warmest north, but with temperatures ranging from the upper 60s to low 70s, it`ll be a pleasant airmass in all locations. Tonight, with greater cloud cover, lows mainly in the 50s are forecast. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY/... Issued at 202 AM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 Some sprinkles may be possible Tuesday as an upper low moves over the region, but any activity would be very light. This low is more likely to bring cloud cover and hold temperatures down a bit. For now, we`re going with upper 60s to low 70s again. Wednesday into Thursday morning, we`re confident on dry, pleasant weather, as ridging north of the southern closed upper low is positioned over the area. This upper low is expected to phase with a tropical low Thursday night and Friday. While confidence on that phasing, as well as any Fujiwara interaction will be low until that storm actually takes shape, the broad long range forecast shows at least some persistent rain chances Thursday night through the weekend, along with temperatures in the 70s. The NBM mean continues to show rather light QPF in this interaction, as do most members of the GEFS output. However, there continue to be some that show potential for a widespread rainfall event. Time will tell on how these systems interact, and locking into any one model on a interaction like this would be way too early give this model spread. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/...
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Issued at 1220 PM CDT Mon Sep 23 2024 A tale of two aviation forecasts exists today. The first will be the easy ones, focusing on CID and DBQ. These locations will see a mix of clouds and sun today, but cloud cover should remain above 3000 ft, with light easterly winds between 5-10 KTs. Overnight, we will see a slight uptick in clouds, with winds becoming light and variable. VFR conditions should prevail through much, if not all of the TAF period for these locations. MLI and BRL will pose some problems through today and tonight. Currently at BRL, we are already observing an overcast MVFR deck, hovering around 2000-2500 ft. This will continue through the evening, with cigs dropping further (1000-1500 ft) as rain starts to move into the area. Better chances for rain will begin around 03z in our south, possibly reaching as far north as MLI around 06z. Confidence is low on the northern extent of the rain, but confidence is higher on at least observing MVFR cigs at MLI similar to BRL. These cigs will continue through the night, with winds also becoming light and variable at these terminals. By 12-15z, we will see the rain chances start to decrease as the surface low moves out, scattering the cigs. From there, winds will be light and out of the north throughout the forecast area.
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&& .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...None. IL...None. MO...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Ervin LONG TERM...Ervin AVIATION...Gunkel