Preliminary Forecasts
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
834 FXUS02 KWNH 130753 PREEPD Preliminary Extended Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 252 AM EST Thu Nov 13 2025 Valid 12Z Sun Nov 16 2025 - 12Z Thu Nov 20 2025 ...Overview... Multiple rounds of troughing are forecast to move through the western U.S. next week, bringing periodic rain and higher elevation snow. A surface low moving through and exiting the Northeast Sunday could bring some wintry precipitation behind it. Then a low pressure/frontal system will spread some precipitation (mostly rain) to the Mississippi and Ohio Valley Monday and stretching across the south-central U.S. into the Appalachians Tuesday as the front starts to stall. Increasing lift aloft could yield heavy rainfall for the southern Plains/Lower Mississippi Valley into midweek. Temperatures should be warmer than average for the central U.S. Sunday, but become more limited to the southeastern quadrant of the lower 48 during the workweek, to the south of the stalling west-east oriented front. ...Guidance/Predictability Assessment... Model guidance begins the period Sunday in good overall agreement with the primary features, namely shallow but broad troughing centered over the Great Lakes and a deepening Northeast surface low, warm upper ridging over the High Plains, and a southern stream closed low in the central Great Basin/Southwest. The southern stream low exhibits some model spread as it lifts into the central High Plains or vicinity Monday and opens into a shortwave, and spread continues to increase as it moves eastward. GFS runs have been quicker to track the upper low and its surface low reflection eastward and weaken it compared to other dynamical and AI guidance. ECMWF and CMC were more favorable with this system. Upstream, troughing moving through the eastern Pacific into the West early next week shows model spread in terms of timing and potential for splitting northern and southern streams. The 12Z CMC was most aggressive in showing a fast northern stream trough by Monday and southern stream upper low development well west into the eastern Pacific compared to other guidance. The 00Z CMC still favors a low splitting into the southern stream, but not as far west as the 12Z run. Recent GFS/ECMWF runs are generally at least agreeable enough to blend with their ensemble means for a phased trough (with some chance of an upper low to form within it). Yet another trough could progress toward the Pacific Northwest by Wednesday-Thursday. The WPC forecast used a multi-model blend favoring the ECMWF early in the forecast period. As the period progressed, eliminated the GFS (not favored in the central/eastern U.S.) and CMC (not favored in the western U.S.) in favor of the ensemble means. The means comprised half the blend Day 6 and a bit more Day 7 amid increasing spread. ...Weather/Hazards Highlights... As the period begins Sunday, the initial southern stream closed low will lift across the interior West. As it does so, it should gradually lose the deeper moisture connection, but widespread precipitation is likely across the West. Modest precipitation (mostly rain even into parts of the Mogollon Rim) is forecast to march across Arizona with the associated cold front, but the quick movement and less significant moisture anomalies should keep flooding potential lower than Marginal ERO levels. Farther north into the Intermountain West, snow is likely in the higher elevations, with some heavy amounts possible in the San Juans and central Rockies. Another round of troughing should reach the West Coast later Sunday into Monday and promote additional precipitation. Any atmospheric river accompanying the frontal system moving into the West should be much weaker than the system during the short range period. However, plan to have a Marginal Risk in the ERO for Day 5/Monday for the Transverse Ranges of southern California, as this area tends to be sensitive due to terrain enhancement of precipitation and burn scars, and heavy rain is expected there just a day or two before. Continue to monitor for changes to the forecast. Rain and higher elevation snow will continue tracking east into Tuesday, and yet another possible upper trough may bring additional precipitation to the West Coast by Wednesday. Precipitation could be moderate or heavy at times. Precipitation chances are likely across the Northeast Sunday into Monday with and behind a relatively deep surface low pressure system pulling away. Light precipitation is also forecast with westerly flow over the Appalachians. Gusty winds are possible in these areas as well. A frontal system emerging into the central U.S. on Monday should start to spread rain into the north-central Plains, Middle Mississippi Valley, and Ohio Valley, with perhaps some snow/mix on the northern edge of the precipitation shield. The front is currently forecast to stretch across the southern Plains to Mississippi Valley and Ohio/Tennessee Valley on Tuesday, bringing rain chances there and into the southern/central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic. Initial forecasts show that as another front approaches the High Plains midweek along with troughing aloft, deeper moisture may reach the stalling front and produce heavy rainfall across the south-central U.S. along with potential thunderstorms. Continue to monitor for changes to the forecasts as the details remain uncertain. Temperatures are forecast to be warmer than average for much of the central to southern U.S. on Sunday. Highs in the 60s should reach the central High Plains, around 10-15 degrees above average, while highs in the 80s will be common across Texas, Louisiana, and Florida with 70s across the rest of the Southeast. The southern Plains to Southeast can expect temperatures to remain warmer than average through much of next week to the south of the west-east oriented front. There are some model differences in frontal position that will be the dividing line between near normal to above normal conditions, so the temperature forecasts will continue to be refined. Meanwhile the rounds of troughing in California to the Southwest will lead to below average highs there most days. 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 $$