


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Wilmington, NC
Issued by NWS Wilmington, NC
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531 FXUS62 KILM 171858 AFDILM Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wilmington NC 258 PM EDT Tue Jun 17 2025 .SYNOPSIS... Warm and humid summertime weather will continue with temperatures above normal for most of the week. Frontal passage will lead to a slight uptick in rain chances late Thursday into Friday. Strong ridge of high pressure over the eastern U.S. will lead to a warming trend Sunday into next week, with a potential for increased heat risk Monday and Tuesday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Return flow around Bermuda high continues to feed in plenty of warm and moist air. Dewpoints remain in the 70s and pcp water values will continue near or above 2 inches. CAPE values upwards of 3 to 4k j/kg both this afternoon and again on Wed, leave the atmosphere primed for convection. With that being said, the H5 ridge was expanding northward enough to help keep shwrs and storms more limited and sub- severe for the most part, and also should die out each evening as daytime heating ends. The ridge expands a bit farther north on Wed which should help to limit convection a bit more. The main forcing mechanism to get any convection going will be along the sea breeze boundary, inland Piedmont and localized boundaries or outflows that develop. Any storms that develop will produce a brief period of very heavy rain, possible lightning and cannot rule out a wet microburst or brief stronger wind gust. They should also collapse fairly quickly. Winds should remain SW with a slight backing and spike upwards in the aftn sea breeze. Models show winds holding up enough overnight to avoid fog but can not rule out a bit of stratus near sunrise. Overnight lows will be in the mid to upper 70s in a continued warm and muggy air mass. The building ridge will produce further h5 height rises into Wed aiding in some well above normal temps, reaching 2 to 3 degrees higher than today, mainly between 90 and 95. Looks like the heat indices will be between 99 and 103, remaining below Heat Advisory criteria of 105. Therefore will hold off on Heat Advisory for now, but a slight uptick in temps or dewpoints could change that. Overall, hot and humid weather will continue. && .SHORT TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... Mid level ridging will be weakening during the day Thursday as a trough approaches from the west. Expect partly cloudy skies and widely scattered storms Thursday afternoon, with high temps in the low 90s. Combined with persistent dewpoints in the 70s, heat indices are likely to eclipse 100F but stay below the 105F criteria for a heat advisory. A weak surface front is forecasted to move across the area late Thursday/Thursday night, with scattered storms developing ahead of and along the front into overnight hours. Don`t expect much in the way of widespread rainfall, and QPF is rather meager around 0.1-0.25". Low temps both Wednesday and Thursday nights in the low to mid 70s. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... 500mb trough and associated PVA will be delayed behind the surface front, moving across the area sometime on Friday. This will aid in scattered storms developing on Friday before mid level dry air moves in from the west later in the day. Highs near normal around 90F Friday. Near normal temps continue Saturday, with mid level ridge beginning to build in from the west and 500mb ridge approaching from the west. Could see a few storms Saturday afternoon, mainly along the sea breeze. The main feature of the long term period will be a large ridge building over the eastern US Sunday into early next week. Latest deterministic guidance has the 500mb ridge at around 600 dam centered over the Ohio River Valley, which is almost 2-3 standardized anomalies above normal according to NAEFS and ENS. Locally, this will begin a warming trend into next week. NWS HeatRisk maps highlight chance for parts of our area to reach an extreme risk of heat-related impacts next Monday, and a similar risk likely for Tuesday, with current forecasted high temps in the mid 90s and summertime dewpoints. && .AVIATION /19Z TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... High confidence in mainly VFR conditions across SE NC and NE SC through the 18Z TAF period. A ridge aloft will limit coverage and intensity of convection this aftn and again on Wed, but local effects such as the sea breeze and inland trough will continue to help produce mainly isolated to widely scattered shwrs/tstms. Have included Prob 30 groups for ILM, FLO and LBT for a brief sub-VFR TSRA mainly between 18z and 22z. Extended Outlook...A front will produce periods of sub-VFR in shwrs/tstms late Thurs into Fri. Otherwise, brief restrictions due to widely scattered to scattered thunderstorms are possible. && .MARINE... Through Wednesday...Return flow around Bermuda High will continue to produce SW winds mainly in the 10 to 15 kt range, but expect a spike in winds each aftn in sea breeze near shore. Winds on Wed will increase a bit as gradient tightens with some gusts to 25kts. Persistent southerly push will keep sea up to 3 to 4 ft but can not rule out some 5 fters. A minimal longer period SE swell will mix in. Wednesday Night through Sunday...Southwest wind 15-20kt prevail across the local coastal waters Wednesday night through Thursday night before a front moves offshore and off to the east early Friday. Winds become relatively light, around 10 kts or less, behind the front during the day Friday. Continued light winds through Sunday alternating between westerly and southerly, as high pressure slowly builds in. Seas around 4 ft Wednesday night through Thursday night lower to around 2 ft for late Friday through Sunday, with a continued mix of SE swell and S wind wave. Best chance of thunderstorms over the waters will be Thursday night, ahead of the frontal passage, and again Friday afternoon/evening as westerly mean winds advect any storms offshore. && .ILM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...Beach Hazards Statement until 8 PM EDT this evening for NCZ106- 108. SC...Beach Hazards Statement until 8 PM EDT this evening for SCZ054- 056. MARINE...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...ILM NEAR TERM...RGZ SHORT TERM...VAO LONG TERM...VAO AVIATION...RGZ MARINE...RGZ/VAO