Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS State College, PA
Issued by NWS State College, PA
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015 FXUS61 KCTP 131001 AFDCTP Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service State College PA 501 AM EST Thu Nov 13 2025 .SYNOPSIS... * Breezy with rain/snow showers lingering across parts of western and northern Pennsylvania today * Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms Saturday afternoon and evening; some could be severe in western PA * Temperatures gradually moderate into the weekend before trending colder as gusty winds and lake effect snow showers return on Sunday and Monday && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Clouds have hung tough north of I-80 and across much of northeast PA early this morning, but clear skies across Central and southeast PA will give way to increasing clouds this afternoon with daytime heating. Winds will remain breezy today, with frequent gusts of 20-30mph, and lake effect rain/snow showers should remain confined to northeast PA. Highs today will be a few to several degrees below average, ranging from the upper 30s in the north to lower 50s southeast of I-81. Lighter winds tonight thanks to a weak ridge of high pressure will support cooler temps by Friday morning - between 25 and 35 from northwest to southeast. && .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... Friday trends a bit better than today in all aspects. A bit less cloudy, a few degrees warmer, a little less windy, and a much lower chance for any precipitation. Friday may end up being the nicest day we`ve had all week. Dry weather hangs around Friday night into the first half of Saturday. Then, a northern stream upper trough and attendant a sfc low/frontal system will dive southeast across the Great Lakes and Northeast this weekend, leading to a period of rain later Saturday into Saturday night. Latest guidance depicts decent moisture advection into the western third of Pennsylvania behind a warm front and a combination of ample shear and marginally sufficient instability. Forcing along the cold front could support an isolated risk of damaging winds with any surface based convection, which warrants a Marginal Risk of severe weather from SPC for the western third of the Commonwealth. After the cold front moves through Saturday night, west- northwest winds should ramp up behind it as cooler air filters in. Lake Erie waters are still plenty warm enough and will generate lake effect showers overnight. Rain showers may eventually transition to snow showers by daybreak Sunday. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Breezy to windy conditions will accompany the passage of the frontal system with colder air poised to return on Sunday. The strongest winds will be in the Laurel Highlands, but widespread wind gusts of 20-30mph seem like a good bet for Sunday. The gusty NW flow should send lake enhanced snow showers/bands back into NW PA to close out the weekend and start next week. A northwesterly steering flow would place north central PA under the gun for the most snowfall this time around, as opposed the more WNW steering earlier this week that brought significant snowfall to northwest PA. As usual, snowfall accumulations will generally be confined to west of I-99 and north of I-80, but a few showers could make it into southeast PA. The next system is forecast to eject eastward across the north central Plains and quickly spread precip downstream through the Ohio Valley early next week. Timing across most guidance is well aligned bringing precipitation into the Mid Atlantic on Tuesday. Ensemble guidance favors the bullseye of precipitation dropping into Maryland and Virginia, but there remains some uncertainty with storm track. If the current trends prevail, rainfall totals and precipitation chances would be highest in southern PA. Thermal profiles appear to be supportive of potential mixed ptypes on the front- end of precip depending on speed/time of arrival. && .AVIATION /09Z THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... Upper ridging will slowly build in tonight and Thurs. Lake effect clouds will linger into Thursday, though, before diminishing and lifting N of PA. Clouds are mainly VFR except BFD where IFR could persist throughout the night. Some clearing of clouds across the southwest will ensue shortly, and leave MDT/LNS without much if any cloud cover for the second half of the night. The sfc high to our SW doesn`t advance much tonight or Thurs. Therefore, while the wind gets less gusty tonight due to lack of daytime mixing, they will pick up again 13-14Z and some gusts could touch the 30KT mark, mainly in the southern terminals. Clouds will gradually lift and diminish Thursday afternoon leaving VFR conditions at all terminals. Dry air will take over and no precipitation is expected for PA except for a slight chance of a light lake effect snow shower in the northwest mountains. Outlook... Fri...Mainly VFR. Lighter wind. Sat...WFROPA, but mainly dry and VFR. LLWS poss. Sat PM...CFROPA. -RA and -TSRA, MVFR likely. Sun...SHRA/SN esp NW half. IFR poss. Breezy. Mon...Isold/SCT SHSN NW. Breezy. && .CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Steinbugl/Banghoff NEAR TERM...Banghoff SHORT TERM...Steinbugl/Banghoff LONG TERM...Steinbugl/Banghoff AVIATION...Dangelo/Bowen