Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Indianapolis, IN
Issued by NWS Indianapolis, IN
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830 FXUS63 KIND 081251 AFDIND Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Indianapolis IN 851 AM EDT Mon Jun 8 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Scattered/numerous showers, few t-storms/downpours arrive today with greater coverage in PM...isolated flooding possible - Humid and very warm this week...nearly daily rain chances continue through Friday...readings near 90F Wednesday-Thursday - Late this weekend: slightly milder, lower rain chances && .FORECAST UPDATE... Issued at 851 AM EDT Mon Jun 8 2026 Surface analysis this morning shows warm and humid southerly flow in place across Central Indiana. This was due to low pressure over western KS, and strong high pressure was found over Upstate NY. Water vapor shows an upper trough over the middle Mississippi river valley. A tropical plume of moisture was found streaming northward ahead of the trough across TN/KY and IN. A band of showers over SW Indiana was streaming north toward LAF and IND. This afternoon, the wave of showers to the southwest is expected to push north across the area. Additional showers and storm development is also expected. Forecast soundings show deep saturation arriving this afternoon, with some limited instability through the afternoon. Convective temperatures appear to be around 80, with CAPE over 1200 J/KG. PWATs are suggested to be over 2 inches...very moist...which will result in some heavy downpours with showers and storms. HRRR suggests storms developing and increasing in coverage through afternoon hours. However precising timing and locations are a bit more uncertain. Thus the ongoing forecast of high pops this afternoon appears on track, although constant rain is not expected. && .DISCUSSION (Today through Sunday)... Issued at 344 AM EDT Mon Jun 8 2026 Humid and at times rainy midsummer style pattern to continue this week as central Indiana sits south of rather active, yet retracted jet that will maintain generally south-southwesterly flow through at least the mid-week. Near to short term will additionally feature weaker-forced but rather broad short wave upper trough lifting from Middle Mississippi Valley this morning, across Indiana today and tonight. Broad ascent coupled with ribbon of Gulf moisture hosting precipitable water values at times in excess of 2.00 inches through dawn Tuesday will promote scattered to widespread showers and potential for areas of heavy rainfall, especially south/west of Indianapolis. Held off on any headlines at this time given great confidence in heavy rainfall over southwest and probably south-central zones whose past 11-day rainfall totals are mainly zero to maybe 0.40 inches. Greater flooding concern for NW counties / E-central areas that have picked up mainly 2.00-4.00 inches of rain over past 1-2 days...namely from Lafayette south to I-74 corridor west of Metro (Saturday) and to a lesser extent NE/E of downtown Indianapolis (Sunday). Lower confidence in appreciable additional rainfall through early Tuesday for these areas, with greatest chances of heavy rainfall south of US-36 over to the I-65 corridor. Previous discussion follows for mid to late week timeframe: Tuesday... The upper trough will still be in place over Ohio on Tuesday and models continue to suggest some lingering lower level moisture during the morning hours. This could lead to some very light rain showers as through the morning, particularly across the eastern parts of the forecast area. Much better clearing is expected to arrive by afternoon as the trough axis exits farther east. Forecast soundings at that time suggest a dry column on Tuesday afternoon, but warm temperatures in the upper 80s. Tuesday Night... There is low confidence for precipitation on Tuesday Night at the moment. Models are showing sufficient low and mid level saturation overnight as a poorly defined upper wave passes, amid what should be ridging building in the wake of the departed trough. The lower levels appear unorganized also, just depicting warm and humid southerly flow in place. Thus will continue to keep some mention of pops in the forecast due to model trends, but confidence is low. Wednesday... More warm and humid SW flow will be in place on Wednesday with little in the way of forcing available other than diurnal heating. Forecast sounding suggest typical afternoon and evening instability showers will be possible given the warm and humid air mass. Will include pops for now. Low confidence. Thursday and Friday. The commencement of the long-term period on Thursday and Friday features central Indiana deeply embedded within a progressive, moisture-rich warm sector. Recent global deterministic runs of the GFS and ECMWF, along with support from the GEFS and EPS ensemble means, show a consensus that a stagnant subtropical ridge off the Carolinas will keep the local area under a regime of steady low- level warm air advection and moisture convergence. Boundary layer moisture will be robust for mid-June, with surface dewpoints progged to consistently reach into the upper 60s and lower 70s. Strong diabatic heating operating on this high theta-e airmass will lift afternoon maximum temperatures into the upper 80s and lower 90s on Thursday, yielding highly unstable atmospheric profiles. Soundings show MLCAPE values exceeding 2000 to 2500 J/kg during peak afternoon heating. While mid-level lapse rates remain somewhat modest, the lack of significant convective inhibition means that isolated to scattered pulse-type thunderstorms will easily trigger along any remnant mesoscale outflow boundaries. A more organized severe weather and heavy rainfall threat materializes by late Thursday into early Friday as a deeper mid- level trough pivots out of the Upper Midwest and pushes a cold front toward central Indiana. This synoptic feature will provide the necessary large-scale dynamic ascent and wind shear to organize the highly unstable environment. Forecast models indicate 0-6 km bulk shear vectors increasing to 35 to 45 knots, shifting the convective mode from unorganized pulse cells into a forward-propagating linear structure or robust multi-cell clusters. Damaging straight-line winds and isolated large hail will be the primary hazards with any severe cores ahead of the front. Furthermore, precipitable water values are projected to climb toward 1.75 to 2.00 inches, which sits well above the 90th percentile for early June. These high moisture profiles indicate extreme precipitation efficiency, and any training convective elements ahead of the slow-moving boundary will pose a localized flash flooding threat, particularly across areas with saturated antecedent soils. Saturday and Sunday. A pattern shift then takes place late Friday night into Saturday morning as the surface cold front clears the southern counties of Indiana. Strong anticyclonic building will commence as a sprawling 1024 mb Canadian high pressure system drops southward across the Great Lakes. Robust cold air advection will take hold through Saturday morning, driven by a sharp northwesterly wind shift. Deep- layer subsidence and dry air entrainment will rapidly clear out the tropical moisture plume, forcing precipitable water values down to under 0.75 inches by Saturday afternoon. There are some signs of another system towards Sunday with the Canadian model and its ensembles showing a mesoscale driven system, but confidence is very low at this time, especially considering how far it lies from the other global models. && .AVIATION (12Z TAF Issuance)... Issued at 739 AM EDT Mon Jun 8 2026 Impacts: - MVFR CIGs in scattered -SHRA, arriving SW to NE within 12Z-16Z - Periods of -SHRA/few TSRA through afternoon, isolated downpours possible. Discussion: VFR conditions across the terminals this morning are expected to quickly deteriorate to MVFR. An upper trough will be working across the state. Plentiful moisture, daytime heating and upper forcing across the area will allow for shower and thunderstorm development this afternoon. Confidence for rain and storms through the day is high, but confidence for precise timing and locations is low. Thus large windows of VCSH and VCTS will be used through the day. Areal coverage of showers and storms will diminish this evening as heating is lost, but as the upper trough will still be in the vicinity, a few showers and storms will still be possible. && .IND WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ UPDATE...Puma AVIATION...Puma DISCUSSION...AGM