Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Burlington, VT

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126 FXUS61 KBTV 210537 AFDBTV Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Burlington VT 137 AM EDT Fri Jun 21 2024 .SYNOPSIS... Our hot streak will come to an end with temperatures returning to seasonable levels to end out the week. Additional thunderstorm chances are expected over the weekend with the best chances occurring Sunday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/...
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As of 127 AM EDT Friday...Main concern for the rest of the overnight/early morning hours will be patchy dense fog. Other than a few lingering showers across northern VT/Northeast Kingdom, precipitation has pretty much ended across the region. Clouds have thinned out as well, especially over central/southern regions. Sky cover`s been a bit more persistent along the international border, but still seeing some breaks further upstream. Lots of low-level moisture and little to no flow combined with clearing has allowed patchy fog to develop, especially in the favored valley locations across central and southern VT. With variable cloud cover, expect fog may be a bit variable in nature. Temperatures will generally remain in the 60s through daybreak, with a few locations possibly dipping into the 50s. Overall the forecast has this covered, but did expand fog coverage a bit, along with making tweaks to sky cover and PoPs to match the latest trends. No other changes were needed. Previous discussion...High pressure located in the Atlantic Ocean continues to draw warm, moist air into the forecast area from the west/southwest this afternoon and evening, and mid level westerly winds will be strongest across the international border where deep layer shear is most significant. A cold frontal boundary will be dropping through this evening from north to south, continuing to trigger showers and thunderstorms as well as putting an end to our three day heat wave. As the front clashes with our warm, humid air mass in place, this will be the focus of convection this evening. Deep layer shear as a whole is meager, but precipitable water values are impressive, up to around 2 inches in some spots. Modeled MLCAPE values are 2000-3000 J/kg. The main concern with these storms will be damaging wind gusts and hail, which has already been reported across portions of the forecast area this afternoon. In addition to severe concerns, we are also monitoring the thunderstorms for heavy rain over the same area, as this could result in isolated flash flooding. The storms are expected to be slow moving along the stalling front, which would allow a heavy storm to drop an impressive amount of rain in one spot before moving on under high pwat conditions. Expected rainfall amounts will vary depending on where thunderstorms occur, but generally thinking 0.20-1.00". Thunderstorm threat should end around 8 PM this evening as we lose daytime heating and instability. Low temperatures will fall into the 60s for most tonight, which will be much cooler than it has been the last few nights, but still a good 5-10 degrees above average. Thick moisture at the surface will result in patchy fog in the classic valley locations and those that received plenty of rain from the showers and storms today. Tomorrow will be cooler than today, returning our highs back to around seasonable levels in the upper 70s to mid 80s. Showers and thunderstorms are expected to return tomorrow, mainly for the southern half of the forecast area along the frontal boundary. Severe weather is not anticipated tomorrow. Rainfall amounts should be up to a half an inch. Tomorrow night, this frontal boundary will be stalled out just to our south, which again will be where most showers set up. Lows will fall even farther tomorrow night into the mid 50s to mid 60s, still about 5 degrees above climatological normals. Once again, there is the potential for some fog with the stationary boundary and low level moisture.
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&& .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT/... As of 410 PM EDT Thursday...Active weather with showers and thunderstorms continues on Saturday, with potential impacts more towards excessive rainfall than strong thunderstorms with limited instability. Temperatures have trended a bit cooler for Saturday associated with northerly low level flow, clouds, and showers. Highs may be only in the upper 60s to low 70s in much of northern New York and Vermont. However, south of a surface front a chance of thunderstorms is indicated. In this region, which may include much of south central Vermont into portions of the Adirondacks, daytime heating and moist boundary layer air would support tall skinny CAPE that could result some showers that can produce frequent lightning along with torrential rain. However, even showers on the cool side of the front will be capable of torrential rain with high precipitable water, deep cloud layer depths in a very moist air mass. Given suddenly wetter antecedent conditions, potential for flash flooding may be elevated. The orientation of the front, largely draped west to east, will likely act as a focus for additional showers and thunderstorms back across the eastern Great Lakes Saturday night while the front bulges northward in our region. As such, despite relatively cool air on Saturday, it may not cool off much overnight. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... As of 410 PM EDT Thursday...Sunday is set up to be potentially a significant severe weather day as a strong cold front approaches from the west. Most model guidance brings upper level support through our region during the afternoon hours coincident with an unseasonably strong surface low lifting through the St. Lawrence Valley, putting our region in the system`s warm sector. Amongst the global model clusters, three of the four scenarios for Sunday produce ingredients for severe weather Sunday afternoon, which would include organized thunderstorms given the deep layer shear and moderately high CAPE expected. The one scenario that does not suggest an active day, driven by many GEFS members, shows very little instability due to a lot more ongoing showers. Mid level flow looks to be southwesterly near 40 knots at 700 millibars, with increases in upper level winds coinciding with peak heating as heights fall. After this cold front crosses the region, humidity should trend downward to more comfortable conditions on Monday. The next opportunity for severe weather then may follow for Wednesday as another strong cold front may pass through the region. Below normal temperatures finally may arrive for Thursday following that frontal passage. && .AVIATION /06Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
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Through 06Z Saturday...Variable conditions expected through 12z Friday due to patchy fog, then trending toward VFR thereafter. Ample low level moisture, light winds, and partly to mostly clear skies have allowed patchy dense fog to develop. Overall expect this to be transient as cloud cover will be variable, so have gone with TEMPO groups at all terminals. KMPV/KSLK/KRUT will have the best chances of visibility dropping below 1SM and ceilings AOB 900 ft, but just about all sites have a chance of IFR or LIFR conditions through 12z. Scattered showers develop after 15z, mainly over southern VT, and have gone with -SHRA at KRUT through much of the afternoon. MVFR visibility possible in any showers. Otherwise, VFR to prevail through the remainder of period from 12z onward, though patchy fog may once again develop as we head toward 06z Sat. Light to calm winds will become north/northwest around 5 kt 14z-00z, then trending toward calm. Outlook... Saturday: Mainly VFR, with areas MVFR possible. Chance SHRA, Slight chance TSRA. Saturday Night: Mainly MVFR, with local IFR possible. Chance SHRA, Slight chance TSRA. Sunday: Mainly MVFR, with local VFR possible. Definite SHRA, Chance TSRA. Sunday Night: Mainly VFR, with areas MVFR possible. Chance SHRA, Slight chance TSRA. Monday: Mainly MVFR, with areas VFR possible. Likely SHRA, Slight chance TSRA. Monday Night: Mainly VFR, with local IFR possible. Chance SHRA. Tuesday: VFR. NO SIG WX.
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&& .EQUIPMENT... Our radar KCXX is currently down. Time of return is unknown at the moment. && .BTV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... VT...None. NY...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Storm NEAR TERM...Hastings/Storm SHORT TERM...Kutikoff LONG TERM...Kutikoff AVIATION...Hastings/Neiles EQUIPMENT...Team BTV