Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Cleveland, OH
Issued by NWS Cleveland, OH
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687 FXUS61 KCLE 220544 AFDCLE Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cleveland OH 144 AM EDT Sat Aug 22 2026 ...06z TAF Aviation Forecast Update... .WHAT HAS CHANGED... Forecast remains on track. Low chance for precipitation in NW OH late this evening with widespread showers and thunderstorms expected Saturday afternoon and evening with a low end severe threat. && .KEY MESSAGES... 1) Showers and thunderstorms expected late tonight and, with greater coverage, Saturday afternoon and evening with a marginal risk (level 1 out of 5) for severe weather. 2) Lingering showers in NE OH and NW PA likely Sunday through Monday with below average temperatures expected across the region. && .DISCUSSION... KEY MESSAGE 1... High pressure continues to build off to into Eastern Canada through the end of the today as a surface low pressure system enters the Western Great Lakes. This system will bring widespread precipitation and severe weather potential to the region Saturday afternoon into the evening. Ahead of this system, a shortwave is expected to move through the Southern Great Lakes that will generate some low end potential for showers and thunderstorms mainly for Western and North Central Ohio. Through the early morning there may be some lingering showers across Western Ohio that will be dissipating as the move eastward into the mid morning hours. This could inhibit the overall severe weather threat later in the afternoon and evening depending on how quickly the showers dissipate and cloud cover clears. Ahead of the surface cold front, there will be a pre-frontal that will move through the region and be the support for severe weather to develop off of. Models have been in decent agreement of the timing of storms starting in North Central Ohio in the late afternoon and moving eastward through the late evening. There will be decent instability in the form of around 1500 J/kg of MLCAPE with low level lapse rates of 7.0-7.5 C/km. Though, the limited amount of shear will be a limiting factor for severe weather potential as there will be around 20-30 knots of bulk shear. The main threats for this system will be damaging winds within downbursts with a secondary threat of large hail possible. The cold front will pass through late Saturday evening into early Sunday morning, though with the atmosphere being worked over with the pre-frontal trough, severe weather is not expected with the passage. Overall precipitation accumulation has remained on track with previous forecast runs with between 0.25" and 0.75" expected, with the higher end amounts across Northeastern Ohio and Northwestern Pennsylvania. Flash flooding potential is on the lower end for this system, though a quick inch or two of rain is possible in the stronger storms that could bring some nuisance flooding. Overall, the severe weather threat and widespread precipitation is expected to end before daybreak on Sunday. KEY MESSAGE 2... Behind the cold front passage early Sunday morning there will be a lingering trough that sets up across Eastern Lake Erie that persists through Monday. A much cooler Canadian high pressure will begin to build into the Western Great Lakes on Sunday as well that will usher in unseasonably cooler temperatures. With the lake relatively warm still, lake effect showers are likely across the primary snowbelt region. Showers will persist through Monday with chances decreasing into Tuesday as upper level ridge builds in to the Ohio Valley that will shift flow across Lake Erie to be more westerly than northwesterly. Temperatures as a result of the Canadian high pressure building in will drop to be below average for Sunday and Monday before beginning to rebound Tuesday. Highs across the region on Sunday will be in the upper 60s in Northwest Pennsylvania to the mid 70s in Northwestern Ohio. Monday, temperatures will be a few degrees cooler before everyone warms back up into the mid 70s on Tuesday. Overnight lows will be down into the mid to low 50s Sunday and Monday before they rise back up to near normal. && .AVIATION /06Z Saturday THROUGH Wednesday/... The primary concerns and possible impacts for our local aviation weather at area airports will be the potential for a round of scattered convection this afternoon into the early evening. There is a marginal risk for a couple strong to severe storms ahead of an approaching cold front later today. There is some isolated convection with a warm front early this morning which could impact CLE briefly between 06z and 09z with VCTS or -TSRA. There will be a lull in shower and storm chances through late this morning. The cold front will start to move into NWOH around midday to early afternoon. There are PROB30 groups for a 5 to 6 hour time window from west to east between 16z this afternoon to 01z this evening. Any heavier showers and storm that impacts a TAF site will likely have a brief period of MVFR to IFR visibility reductions and ceilings with CB around 3K feet near the frontal passage. The convection should move eastward out of the NEOH and NWPA after 00z Scattered lake enhanced rain showers will likely develop around CLE, YNG, and ERI later this evening into the overnight with possible MVFR ceilings and visibility at times. Winds will start out from the south or southwest this morning 5 to 10 knots. Southwest winds will slightly increase 8 to 12 knots by midday through the afternoon/evening with gusts up to 20 knots possible. Any isolated strong to severe convection may have some isolated higher wind gusts up to 45 knots this afternoon. Winds will switch from the west-northwest late this evening and overnight 5 to 10 knots. Outlook...Non-VFR conditions will be likely Sunday through Monday morning with lake enhanced rain showers and isolated thunder possible for areas downwind of Lake Erie in Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania. && .MARINE... Onshore flow out of the northeast ends this evening, turning offshore tonight less than 10kts and wave heights coming down below 1ft. A cold front approaches Saturday with increasing storm chances, and passage across the lake expected in the evening. Winds become northwesterly 15-25kts through Sunday night with wave heights climbing to 3-6ft and will likely need a Small Craft Advisory for the central and eastern basins. With this being a cooler airmass over the warmer lake, waterspouts could become an issue during this same time frame. Winds ease and become offshore midweek, bringing wave heights down. && .CLE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...None. PA...None. MARINE...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...23 AVIATION...77 MARINE...77