Prognostic Meteorological Discussion
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
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682 FXUS02 KWBC 111959 PMDEPD Extended Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 259 PM EST Tue Nov 11 2025 Valid 12Z Fri Nov 14 2025 - 12Z Tue Nov 18 2025 ...Overview... A southern stream upper low will be traversing the Southwest and northern Mexico late this week into the weekend, bringing widespread precipitation to those areas. Rain and possible thunderstorms are forecast to move into the south-central U.S. by around Sunday and possibly the east-central U.S. into Monday as this feature lifts through the region. Upper ridging ahead of this system will lead to much warmer than average temperatures across the central and then eastern U.S. into the weekend. Meanwhile in the northern stream, an upper trough will push a surface low/frontal system across the Great Lakes and Northeast over the weekend, leading to rain and snow. Yet another trough moving into the West should bring precipitation chances to the Pacific Northwest and farther east into the Intermountain West early next week. ...Guidance/Predictability Assessment... Models and ensembles continue to show pretty good agreement on the large scale pattern, but some differences in the details that could be impactful to sensible weather. An upper low looks to break off of a larger scale trough off the West Coast by Friday, sliding across the Southwest this weekend, and then lifting into the central U.S. as it weakens. There are some differences in the placement/timing of this system, especially next Monday-Tuesday as it reaches the Central U.S. and prompts development of precipitation across the central/south-central states. The northern stream system shows acceptable agreement as it swings through the Great Lakes and Northeast this weekend/Monday. For the most part, a general model blend of the ECMWF, GFS, and CMC sufficed for Days 3-5/Friday-Sunday. Bigger differences arise next Monday as the next trough approaches the West Coast regarding timing and stream separation. The ECMWF is less enthusiastic about stream separating versus the GFS and CMC both of which show another cutoff low off the California coast. The ECMWF and CMC are faster with northern stream energy through the Northwest, with the GFS advertising a more amplified pattern overall for the CONUS by next Tuesday. For Days 6 and 7, opted to use greater weighting of the ensemble means in the blend, which also maintains relatively good continuity with the previous WPC forecast as well. ...Weather/Hazards Highlights... The tail end of an atmospheric river may impact southern California Friday, while the cutoff developing upper low provides dynamical support for ample precipitation, mostly rain, across the Southwest. Precipitable water values will likely be over the 95th percentile for this time of year, and some modest instability exists ahead of and underneath the deep upper low. Precipitation should initially be mostly rain even into parts of the Mogollon Rim until the upper low passes over. Marginal Risks of excessive rainfall are in place for parts of southern California into Arizona on Day 4/Friday and Day 5/Saturday for isolated flooding concerns with this system, especially for the more sensitive burn scar areas. Rain and thunderstorms are likely to spread east into the Southern and Central Plains into the Lower and Middle Mississippi Valley by Sunday. There is more model spread by Monday, but rain generally should continue shifting east into the Ohio Valley stretching to the central Gulf Coast. Some lake effect precipitation could continue across the Northeast on Friday, but broader precipitation chances are likely to come into the northeastern quadrant of the CONUS over the weekend as a low pressure system moves through. Some snow is likely in the Interior Northeast, especially in higher elevations, with possible early morning rain/snow mix for areas even closer to the coast. Periodic precipitation is likely across the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West into late week, with higher elevation snow. By Sunday, precipitation chances should ramp up into northern California and farther inland as well, as broad upper troughing approaches. Troughing looks to move through the West early next week and could spread precipitation across the Intermountain West once again, though the details remain uncertain. Precipitation could be moderate or heavy at times. Temperatures are forecast to be warmer than average for mid- November across the central U.S. on Friday. The Northern Plains should see the most anomalous temperatures, as highs soar into the 60s and 70s, around 20-25 degrees above normal. 80s will be widespread across Texas with 70s in the rest of the Plains and into the Mid/Lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast. Temperatures should cool in the north-central U.S. over the weekend, but remain warm farther south and spreading eastward (though with lesser anomalies). By the workweek the upper low/trough will generally cool temperatures, though the Gulf Coast states could stay a few degrees above average. Meanwhile the rounds of troughing in California to the Southwest will lead to below average highs there most days. Santorelli/Tate Additional 3-7 Day Hazard information can be found on the WPC medium range hazards outlook chart at: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/threats/threats.php WPC medium range 500mb heights, surface systems, weather grids, quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF), excessive rainfall outlook (ERO), winter weather outlook (WWO) probabilities, heat indices, and Key Messages can be accessed from: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst500_wbg.gif https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst_wbg_conus.gif https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/5km_grids/5km_gridsbody.html https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/day4-7.shtml https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ero https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/pwpf_d47/pwpf_medr.php?day=4 https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/heat_index.shtml https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ovw $$