


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Portland, ME
Issued by NWS Portland, ME
948 FXUS61 KGYX 031022 AFDGYX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Gray ME 622 AM EDT Wed Sep 3 2025 .SYNOPSIS... A disturbance moving through Quebec will bring chances for showers and isolated storms this afternoon, mainly north of the foothills. A trough swinging into the Great Lakes will send a cold front towards New England, bringing increasing chances for showers Thursday night into Friday. Another front approaches for Saturday perhaps allowing for more substantial rainfall and thunderstorms over a wider area. High pressure moves in early next week. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TODAY/... 620 AM Update...Just minor changes to align with observations early this morning as the forecast remains on track. Pockets of dense fog developed overnight and are present currently in the Midcoast area. This will clear in the next couple hours giving way to clear skies and building instability away from the coast. Previous Discussion... Impacts and Key Messages: * No significant weather impacts are expected. The few showers that had developed in northern New Hampshire late last evening have dissipated and fog will begin to fill into the Connecticut River Valley through the early morning hours. Nighttime microphysics satellite at this hour is also starting to show signs of fog development on the Midcoast as well. Fog clears these locations early on this morning giving way to clear skies across the area. Temperatures climb into the mid- to upper 70s areawide, with valley locations touching 80. The latest HREF suggests daytime heating will aid in the development of 300-500 J/kg of CAPE in the mountains and foothills, with the coastal plain and southern New Hampshire staying more stable with the onshore flow. As a result, an approaching shortwave combined with orographic lift initiates showers and thunderstorms in the mountains during the afternoon and evening hours. The latest CAMs suggest some of these may spill into foothills, but lack of any additional synoptic forcing should keep them from developing any further south. Shear only around 20kts and lapse rates only around 6 C/km should preclude any kind of a severe threat, but this is sufficient enough for a stronger storm to form. Forecast soundings suggest low freezing levels and steep low level lapse rates which mean those storms that do grow taller may be capable of producing small hail and gusty winds. && .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/... Impacts and Key Messages: * No significant weather impacts are expected. Tonight: With loss of daytime heating and subtle 500mb height rises, any showers and storms will dissipate after sunset with skies clearing early on in the night as well. This should lead to another night with some degree of radiational cooling. As a result temperatures should fall into the mid- to upper 40s north of the mountains and in the valleys, and into the low to mid 50s south of the mountains. Continued southerly flow increases low level moisture and looks to develop marine and coastal fog, with radiation fog in the valleys. Thursday: Once daytime mixing clears out any fog Thursday, it will be a mostly clear day. Deep mixing will once again allow some drier dewpoints to mix down and drop relative humidity values into the 35-45% range. On the coastal plain, where continued southerly flow continues to advect moisture onshore, dewpoints and relative humidity values will remain higher. Temperatures climb into the mid- to upper 70s areawide once again, with valley locations touching 80. As a front makes its approach Thursday afternoon and evening, a tightening pressure gradient looks to kick up some breezy southerly wind gusts in the range of 15 to 20 mph, with some 25 mph gusts not out of the question. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... Early morning long term update...The 01z NBM and various other ensembles and deterministics are in reasonable agreement through the weekend although details need to be worked out going forward. A cold front approaches Thursday night with a chance of showers and perhaps a thunderstorm but the timing with with respect to diurnal heating will likely only allow a weakening line of showers to move through overnight into Friday morning. A more substantial threat for showers and thunderstorms appears to be possible with the next short wave trough which arrives Saturday during a more favorable portion of the day for heating and subsequent instability. Previously... The ridge then shifts east as a cold front approaches through late week before eventually crossing late Saturday into Saturday night. Increasing southerly flow and moisture advection will continue chances for fog and stratus moving in at night and possibly continuing over portions of the Midcoast during the daytime Friday and/or Saturday. In addition, this will be our best chance of measurable rainfall this week with multiple rounds of showers possible from Thursday night through Saturday evening. Diving a little deeper...the highest of the shower chances during these couple of days look to be Thursday night into Friday morning as a shortwave crosses and then again Saturday ahead of the front, although showers are still possible at other times. Rainfall amounts are uncertain, but ensembles continue to advertise the highest probabilities for seeing more than 0.50" of rain across western and northern NH into the western ME mountains. Global models remain pretty consistent in bringing the cold front through the area late Saturday and into Saturday night with showers gradually coming to an end as drier air begins to move in. The exception will be in the mountains, where more clouds and upslope showers may linger into Sunday. Temperatures will be slightly cooler with mid-upper 60s in the mountains to low 70s to the south. Conditions continue to dry out early next week with high pressure building into the Northeast. Daytime temperatures look to remain fairly similar to those of Sunday. Monday night has the potential for excellent radiational cooling if we can get the surface high overhead as currently being advertised. && .AVIATION /10Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Short Term...Fog clears from impacted terminals early this morning, with VFR prevailing through the day. Showers and thunderstorms develop in the afternoon, mainly in the mountains and foot hills with HIE the most likely terminal to have these in the vicinity. Fog returns tonight and may be more widespread along the coast. Similarly, once it clears Thursday morning, ceilings will return to VFR with lower ceilings beginning to approach from the west Thursday evening. Long Term...A cold front approaches the region Thu night, bringing multiple opportunities for showers and possibly thunderstorms Thursday night through Saturday. Ahead of the front, there will be increasing chances for IFR to LIFR fog and low stratus, especially at RKD, AUG, and PWM. The front crosses late Saturday into Saturday night with mostly VFR Sunday, except there may be a few showers and MVFR ceilings near HIE on Sunday. && .MARINE... Short Term...Wind gusts and seas remain below SCA criteria through the day Thursday as high pressure remains over the waters. Winds will be generally southerly through this period with gusts generally less than 15 kts, increasing to 15-20kts Thursday afternoon. Expect seas to be generally 2-3ft through the day Thursday. Long Term...SCA conditions are possible Friday and/or Saturday as southerly flow increases ahead of a cold front. In addition, the potential for marine fog will increase across the waters. The front crosses Saturday evening into Saturday night with winds turning west to northwest for Sunday. High pressure builds across the Northeast early next week, keeping conditions under SCA levels. && .GYX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ME...None. NH...None. MARINE...None. && $$ NEAR TERM...Baron SHORT TERM...Baron LONG TERM...Combs/Ekster