Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Cleveland, OH

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413 FXUS61 KCLE 230207 AFDCLE Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cleveland OH 1007 PM EDT Sun Sep 22 2024 .SYNOPSIS... A warm front continues to lift northeast across the area this afternoon before an associated cold front pushes east tonight into Monday. Additional disturbances will impact the area through Wednesday before high pressure returns for the end of the week. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/...
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955 PM Update... Made only some timing changes to the POPs with the showers moving through, and minor adjustments to the overnight lows. Rainfall amounts have been on the light side this evening, but some wetting rains have occurred in northwest Ohio. Generally looking at around a tenth to perhaps two tenths for most locations. Previous Discussion... A weak low pressure centered over Michigan continues to move a warm front northeast across the area this afternoon. Behind this front, increased WAA and predominately clear skies has allowed temperatures to surge into the mid to upper 80s for much of the area. The exception to this is near the lakeshore that is being impacted by a lake breeze and in far northwest Pennsylvania. Upstream of the CWA, showers and thunderstorms have become more widespread ahead of an approaching cold front. There are weak reflectivities over the western tier of counties, however with limited low level moisture (dewpoints in the 50s) all of this precipitation is evaporating before reaching the surface. It will take a bit for the column to become saturated, allowing for showers to truly initiate in the area closer to 21Z. There remains a potential of a few thunderstorms across western counties, but given the dry and fairly stable antecedent conditions, not expecting anything widespread. In any thunderstorms that develop, the primary concern will be gusty winds at the surface with locally heavy rainfall. Overnight lows will remain mild, dropping into the mid-60s. Showers will gradually diminish from west to east late tonight into Monday as a cold front moves east across the area. On that back end of the low, northwest flow across Lake Erie will result in the potential for scattered, light lake enhanced showers across the snowbelt areas, but with marginal 850-mb temperatures confidence is low on timing and extent. Highs on Monday will be much cooler than recent days, only climbing into then low to mid 70s with widespread cloud cover expected. Another low pressure system will begin to impact the area at the tale end of this period. Showers will initially impact the southwestern tier of counties, gradually spreading northeast late Monday into early Tuesday. Not expecting any thunder with these showers given the diurnally unfavorable environment, but cannot rule out a few locally heavy showers. Monday night lows will drop into the low to mid 60s with the warmest temperatures isolated to the lakeshore.
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&& .SHORT TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/... Unsettled but relatively low-impact weather is expected this period. A weakening shortwave and associated surface low will lift northeast into the Great Lakes Tuesday and Tuesday night. This will first lift a warm front across the area Tuesday morning into the early afternoon. The low`s trailing cold front will start pushing into northwestern Ohio Tuesday evening, though with the low lifting northeast while weakening this front will be weakening as it pushes east. The front will likely still be slowly working east-southeast across the area on Wednesday before clearing by Wednesday night. There will be opportunities for showers and thunderstorms Tuesday into Tuesday night, both with the lifting warm front and along and ahead of the approaching cold front. There is some disagreement regarding how quickly the surface low will begin to weaken and fill, with the European model on the stronger side of the envelope and the NAM on the weaker side. While the NAM appears to be an outlier among the operational models there are some ensemble members that also have a weaker system with less QPF. This leads to enough uncertainty to keep peak POPs for Tuesday and Tuesday night in the 70-80% range for now (as opposed to continuing to push up towards 100%). Also went with a blended approach for QPF Tuesday and Tuesday night with generally 0.40-0.80" of QPF in the forecast for that period, highest across parts of northeastern Ohio. There is some room for both POPs and QPF to trend up if we see increasing confidence in a stronger solution ala the 12z European model. We should see a general lull in activity overnight Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, though with the cold front still working through the area some hit or miss shower activity may persist. Expect to see some increase in coverage of showers (and possibly a bit of thunder) across our southeastern counties along/ahead of the cold front with heating Wednesday afternoon, though forcing will be weak so coverage should have a hard time increasing beyond "scattered". The front should take any showers with it as it exist southeast into Wednesday night. In terms of potential hazards with any of the thunderstorms Tuesday into Tuesday evening, forecast soundings may support localized training of heavy rainfall with unidirectional deep-layer flow, seasonably high precipitable water values, and humid profiles with tall/skinny instability. However, we need the rain so suspect it will mainly be beneficial with just a low probability for a localized flooding issue if training occurs over an especially prone (i.e. urban) area. With questionable amounts of heating and weak mid- level lapse rates, most guidance suggests it will be difficult to see more than about 1000 J/KG of MUCAPE with MLCAPE values struggling to exceed 500-750 J/KG. While effective deep-layer shear of 25-35 knots could support organized convection, the poor thermodynamics are expected to limit or preclude severe potential. Highs on Tuesday will range from the upper 60s across interior northwest PA to the low to mid 70s across most of northern OH. Lows Tuesday night will struggle to dip below 60 in the relatively humid airmass. Highs will be in the 70s on Wednesday, with lows Wednesday night expected to range from the mid 50s to lower 60s. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... A somewhat uncertain long term forecast as the local area will be beneath a small ridge axis aloft between a cut-off low over the south-central CONUS and a longwave trough over the northeast. The ridge axis will generally encourage drier weather, though guidance disagrees on whether or not the cut-off to our southwest can try drifting east through the weekend. There`s enough uncertainty that we carry some low-chance (30%) POPs across our southwestern zones at times at the end of this week into the weekend, with silent 20% POPs elsewhere. Temperatures will continue to lean milder than average for this period unless the forecast trends rainier. && .AVIATION /00Z Monday THROUGH Friday/... Off and on showers over the next few hours with low pressure moving through the region and a cold front tracking through 12Z Monday. Ceilings will lower to MVFR and eventually IFR during the overnight hours, lingering through much of the day Monday. TOL IFR in -SHRA as has been seen at that terminal already, but will keep other terminals at MVFR for their visibilities in -SHRA. Winds behind the cold front after 12Z give or take a couple hours will turn northwesterly at 10kts. Outlook...Non-VFR possible in scattered showers and thunderstorms and low ceilings tonight into Monday. Non- VFR likely Monday night through Tuesday in showers and thunderstorms and low ceilings. Non-VFR conditions may linger through Wednesday. && .MARINE... A small area of low pressure will pass near or over Lake Erie on Monday. A warm front will lift across the lake ahead of it tonight into early Monday, shifting east winds to the south at 10-15 knots. Winds will quickly turn more north-northwesterly from west to east on Monday behind the passage of the low, with speeds of 10-15 knots continuing. Another low will lift out of the lower Ohio Valley and into the central Great Lakes Tuesday into Tuesday night. A warm front will lift across the lake on Tuesday, shifting winds to an easterly and then southeasterly direction ahead of the low. Speeds will increase to 10-15 knots with the warm frontal passage, with some brief 15-20 knot speeds possible east of Conneaut. Winds will gradually turn west-northwesterly Wednesday and Wednesday night as the trailing cold front moves through, though with the system generally weakening am not expected much of a push of wind with the cold front. Winds turn turn east-northeast Thursday into the weekend as the lake becomes situated between a cut-off low well to our southwest and high pressure to the north. Speeds should remain modest through Thursday night. A period of 15-20 knot east-northeast flow is in the forecast Friday into Saturday, with a brief period of stronger flow possible depending on the intensity of the cut-off low. Overall, it will be choppy at times through midweek but conditions should remain below small craft criteria. There is some potential for small craft headlines around the end the week. && .CLE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...None. PA...None. MARINE...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Campbell NEAR TERM...Campbell/26 SHORT TERM...Sullivan LONG TERM...Sullivan AVIATION...26 MARINE...Sullivan