Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Bismarck, ND

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362 FXUS63 KBIS 170905 AFDBIS Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Bismarck ND 405 AM CDT Mon Jun 17 2024 .KEY MESSAGES...
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- Widespread showers with isolated to scattered thunderstorms this afternoon through Tuesday. - Isolated to scattered severe storms possible this evening through tonight, with expected hazards of hail up to golf ball size and winds up to 60 mph. Very heavy rainfall is also possible with any storm. - Below normal temperatures expected this week, especially Tuesday and Tuesday night.
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&& .DISCUSSION...
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Issued at 405 AM CDT Mon Jun 17 2024 The forecast area lies under southwesterly flow this morning, becoming increasingly so as deepening Pacific Shortwave begins to travel over the Rockies and across the northern Plains through the early half of this week. A surface low previously over Colorado has been ejected into eastern Nebraska over the last few hours, promoting a sharpening thermal gradient at the surface that will begin to migrate northward through the mid morning. Modest instability along this surface boundary is promoting a widespread area of showers and thunderstorms across southern South Dakota at this time, and the northernmost extent of these showers has begun to tickle our southern counties. The the lack of any real instability over the James River Valley limits our potential for thunderstorms to maybe a few rumbles at most this morning. Winds are generally light and variable at this time, but will begin to strengthen and organize by the mid morning, becoming east northeasterly. Lows are forecast from the lower to mid 40s west, to the mid 50s southeast. At the tip of the upper level shortwave over the rockies, a surface low will organize in southern Wyoming and begin to migrate eastward through the morning. An inverted surface trough associated with this low will be pushed across the western and north central North Dakota through the late morning and afternoon hours today, causing widespread showers over this area to becoming increasingly likely by the late afternoon period. At this time, a surface trough associated with the Nebraskan low will begin to move northwestward across the southern James River Valley. With ample moisture filtering into the low to mid levels ahead of this boundary, model MUCAPE values peak around 2500-2500 along with SFC-3KM Shear up to 50 knots across the south central into the James River Valley late this evening early into Tuesday morning. However, all this instability is very elevated, with model MLCAPE values around 0 and SFC-1KM Shear up to around 20 knots. With these high based storms, the primary concern will be hail up to golf balls in size (1.75 inch diameter), and the occasional gust up to 60 MPH . Due to the elevated nature of this storms, the risk of tornadoes is currently considered low. Of interest is the potential for heavy rainfall with this system, due to the near saturation of the low to mid levels, high PWATs exceeding the 90th percentile, and the alignment of the inciting boundary with the overall flow pattern that would promote training storms. As it stands, portions of the south central have a 30 to 40% chance of exceeding 1.0" of rainfall by Tuesday morning, which could result in some localized flood concerns. Portions of the northwest also have a similar, 30 to 40% chance of exceeding 1.0" of total rainfall through this period as well, though this is for a more drawn out period of persistant stratiform showers. With the slow moving upper level low continuing to push across the northern Plains, showers are anticipated to continue through much of the day on Tuesday. While some thunderstorms will be possible across the north through the afternoon and evening hours as a weak cold fron begins to dig across the International Border, the primary axis of instability will have shifted further to our east on Tuesday and thus severe weather concerns are low at this time. With the cooler airmass becoming situated over the forecast area, high temperatures on Tuesday will dip down into the mid 50s northwest to mid 70s southeast. At the same time, high pressure will begin to develop across the Black Hills late Tuesday afternoon and begin to push eastward across South Dakota Tuesday night. With this setup, there is some potential for frost development across portions the west Tuesday morning, where the ensemble is already forecasting lows broadly in the upper 30s. Late Tuesday night into early Wednesday, the dominate upper level shortwave will gradually be absorbed into a general southwesterly flow pattern that will persist through the end of the workweek. High temperatures through this period will broadly be in the 70s. The occasional shortwave will travel down this southwesterly flow, promoting chances for showers (60 to 80 percent)and thunderstorms (30%)late Thursday through late Friday, with the best chances across the south. A slightly more energetic shortwave wil push through the northern Plains early Saturday through early Sunday, which may be our next best chance to see some stronger storms develop, though confidence remains fairly low this far out.
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&& .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z TUESDAY/...
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Issued at 405 AM CDT Mon Jun 17 2024 VFR ceilings and visibility are expected at all terminals at the beginning of the 06Z TAF period. Isolated to scattered showers will begin to push into the southeast later this morning, though these showers are not current anticipated to impact any given terminal at this time. Winds will continue diminish and become variable through the late morning, before strengthening and organizing to become east northeasterly through the morning hours, then becoming gusty through the afternoon. By the mid to late afternoon today, ceilings will begin to drop while chances for showers and thunderstorms increase through the evening and early overnight hours. By around 00Z, showers will be present at all terminals, with periods of heavier rainfall promoting occasional MVFR visibilities at all terminals. Thunderstorms will move into south central North Dakota through the evening and the end of the TAF period, within the vicinity of KBIS and KJMS. A few strong to severe storms will be possible across the south central North Dakota late Monday afternoon beyond the end of the TAF period, overnight into early Tuesday morning. Hail up to the size of golf balls and winds up to 60 MPH will be possible. Winds will remain moderate from 10 to 15 knots and gusts up to 25 knots at all terminals through the end of the TAF period, generally from the east. Where thunderstorms to develop, gusty and erratic winds are anticipated.
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&& .BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Adam AVIATION...Adam