Prognostic Meteorological Discussion
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
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843 FXUS02 KWBC 080742 PMDEPD Extended Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 342 AM EDT Mon Jun 8 2026 Valid 12Z Thu Jun 11 2026 - 12Z Mon Jun 15 2026 ...Significant heat wave is expected for the East late week with hot conditions back into the south-central U.S. as well... ...Severe weather and heavy rain threats across the Upper Great Lakes/Ohio Valley/Mid-Mississippi Valley... ...Overview... A broadening upper trough across the northern tier of the U.S. will push a front to its east and south, providing a focus for severe thunderstorms and heavy rain across the Upper Great Lakes/Ohio Valley as the forecast period begins Thursday. The front is forecast to stall across the central U.S. by late week and trigger additional rounds of thunderstorms in the southern/central Plains and Lower/Middle Mississippi Valley through the weekend and early next week. Meanwhile, a mean upper ridge ahead of the trough will support the first significant heat wave of the season shifting into the eastern U.S. late week and over the weekend. Then into early next week, warm temperatures may surge into the Pacific Northwest with upper ridging on the backside of the trough, though this remains uncertain. ...Guidance/Predictability Assessment... Late this week, the upper-level pattern primarily consists of a shallow upper trough atop the north-central U.S., mean ridging over the East, and subtropical ridging in the southern U.S. that will be persistent. The trough will gradually push a front ahead of it as it moves east through the Great Lakes/Northeast into the weekend, with some timing differences remaining in the model guidance. 00Z models are generally a bit farther southeast with the base of the trough through the Great Lakes region by early Saturday compared to the previous cycle. The depth of the trough will play a role in where the back end of the front sets up generally west-east across the central U.S. to focus thunderstorm chances, and these details will take additional time to resolve. Another uncertain aspect of the forecast is the pattern across the Northwest over the weekend into early next week, namely the battle between an eastern Pacific upper ridge and energy dropping south on the western side of the broad trough forming a possible shortwave that could retrograde. Dynamical and AI guidance have been waffling with the positioning of this energy. The dynamical EC/GFS runs from the 12/18Z cycle indicated considerable shortwave energy hanging back into the Northwest, keeping the ridge mainly offshore in the Pacific. Meanwhile the AI models from 12/18Z and the 00Z cycles are showing the energy farther east nearer the trough, which allows more ridging atop the Pacific Northwest. The most recent 00Z GFS/ECMWF trended toward the AI type solution. However, the opposite happened last night, where the AI guidance was showing a stronger Northwest shortwave and the 00Z (June 7th) guidance trended toward that. So not confident enough yet to say this is a real model trend, and will continue to monitor. This has sensible weather impacts like temperatures in the Northwest. It also plays a role in the potential for the trough to dig in the Rockies/High Plains and vicinity early next week (GFS seems most aggressive with that potential). The WPC forecast for fronts/pressures was based on a multi-model blend of the 00Z guidance early in the forecast, with increasing proportions of the GEFS/EC ensemble means as the period progressed to about half by Day 7 amid increasing spread. ...Weather/Hazards Highlights... A cold front is forecast to push across the Midwest on Thursday and provide a focus for thunderstorms in a moist and unstable environment. Flash flooding is a possibility with potentially repeating rounds of convection, and a Slight Risk is in place across portions of the Mid-Mississippi Valley and western Ohio Valley in the Day 4/Thursday ERO. The Storm Prediction Center is calling for a risk of severe weather in a similar area as well. The front will push eastward into Friday and could produce locally heavy rain in parts of the Appalachians Friday, and a Marginal Risk is indicated there for the Day 5/Friday ERO. Meanwhile, the front will start to lay flat across the central U.S. and meander near south-central parts of the Plains and Mississippi Valley to the Tennessee/Ohio Valleys, allowing for the Marginal to stretch across those regions. The generally west to east oriented front is forecast to meander in the central U.S. for multiple days. Thus thunderstorms will be common in that region into the weekend, with heavy rain potential and additional flood risks especially if rounds of rain repeat over similar areas. Scattered thunderstorms that tend to be diurnally driven are likely in the Southeast (including Florida) and potentially expanding into the Mid-Atlantic for multiple days. Elsewhere, the northern Rockies and High Plains may see some precipitation, dependent on the evolution of shortwave energy. The mean upper-level ridge over the eastern U.S. is expected to bring the first significant heat of the summer into late week, as temperatures reach 10-15 degrees above average. The heat looks to reach its peak across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Friday, and several record highs and record warm minimum temperatures could be set, before gradually moderating by the weekend. See WPC`s Key Messages for more. Subtropical ridging across the southern tier will yield hot conditions there as well, generally a few degrees above already warm averages. The Desert Southwest can expect temperatures well into the 100s, while heat indices should be over 100 in the southern Plains to Lower Mississippi Valley. Into early next week, upper ridging possibly reaching the West Coast could bring well above average temperatures particularly to the Pacific Northwest. This potential is still uncertain due to model spread, however. 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, excessive rainfall outlook, winter weather outlook probabilities, heat indices and Key Messages are at: 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 $$