


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS St. Louis, MO
Issued by NWS St. Louis, MO
Versions:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
835 FXUS63 KLSX 160345 AFDLSX Area Forecast Discussion...Updated Aviation National Weather Service Saint Louis MO 1045 PM CDT Sun Jun 15 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms are expected through Wednesday, with some of the thunderstorms Tuesday night and Wednesday capable of becoming strong to severe. - Confidence is high (90% or greater) that most, if not all, of the area will see afternoon temperatures reach 90 degree or greater by the end of next Sunday. && .SHORT TERM... (Through Late Monday Night) Issued at 216 PM CDT Sun Jun 15 2025 The CWA is beneath weak northwesterly flow aloft as a shortwave noted in water vapor imagery digs into the Mid-South. This wave`s surface reflection can be seen in regional radar and satellite imagery spinning over southwestern Missouri. As this surface reflection drifts east-southeastward through the remainder of the day, SBCAPE of around 1,500-2,000 J/kg ahead of it across southeastern Missouri will allow for isolated showers and weak thunderstorms where updrafts can overcome an inversion in the mid- levels. Deterministic guidance varies in the strength and erosion of this inversion through the remainder of the afternoon, so confidence is medium in convection (40% chance or less). The better chances (60%) for showers and thunderstorms comes overnight as forcing from the shortwave and its surface reflection glance southeastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois. Some deterministic soundings show subtle hints at patchy fog across portions of the CWA late tonight and early tomorrow morning, though cloud cover from the passing wave is expected to limit sufficient surface cooling for widespread fog development like the last couple of nights. Tomorrow, the northern portion of the shortwave will drift eastward into the Ohio Valley as it becomes sheared out. Enough lift will be present over southeastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois to keep the chance (50-70%) for scattered showers and thunderstorms going through the afternoon. Cloud cover over this portion of the CWA will keep temperatures in the low to mid-80s, with upper 80s expected elsewhere in the CWA. Elmore && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday through Next Sunday) Issued at 216 PM CDT Sun Jun 15 2025 The extended forecast period will start out fairly active, with multiple potential rounds of storms Tuesday through Wednesday. On Tuesday, the aforementioned shortwave will become increasingly elongated over the Southeast, as subtle upper-level ridging builds into the Middle Mississippi Valley in its wake and ahead of a trough digging across the Plains. Deep southerly to southwesterly flow will boost temperatures and push afternoon highs to around 90 degrees for much of the CWA for possibly the first time this year, with NBM probabilities for 90 degrees or greater topping out around 90% for portions of Missouri south of I-70. These temperatures will pair with dew points forecast to reach the low 70s to produce SBCAPE values of at least 2,500 J/kg during the afternoon per guidance consensus. While this instability will wane somewhat during the evening with the setting sun, confidence is high that the atmosphere will remain sufficiently unstable as convection develops across the Central Plains, congeals into a MCS, and tracks eastward toward the CWA. The timing and track of this MCS is highly variable among guidance, with faster solutions supporting it impacting the CWA as early as Tuesday evening, and slower solutions not showing it moving into the area until Wednesday morning. When the storms enter the CWA will determine their ability to be strong to severe, with earlier solutions having a greater potential to be severe thanks to higher instability and shear earlier in the night. What happens with this Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning MCS dictates the parameter space present across the CWA when the aforementioned trough pivots into the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, sending a cold front through the Middle Mississippi Valley. Along and immediately ahead of the front during the afternoon, guidance consensus is that deep-layer shear will be plentiful, with generally 40-45 kts shown. This is more than sufficient for rotating updrafts, though the occurrence of such storm structures will hinge on if the atmosphere can destabilize after the overnight or early morning convection. If it can not, then the severe threat will be locally lower and/or confined to small portions of the CWA. If instability can build, the forecasted shear profile supports initially discrete supercells that would quickly grow upscale into clusters or line segments given deep-layer shear is roughly parallel to the cold front. Hail would be the main concern, followed by damaging wind gusts given relatively dry low-levels, though poor low-level lapse rates may limit this threat to some degree. These lapse rates and LCLs forecast to be at or just above 1 kft will limit a tornado threat, and weak 0-3 km shear (20 kts) will restrict mesovortex development in any line segments. In the wake of the front on Thursday, deep northwesterly flow on the backside of the trough will keep temperatures seasonable for the last day in the foreseeable future. Friday into early next week, guidance consensus is that an expansive ridge will build across central and eastern portions of the CONUS, supporting sustained warm air advection and pushing temperatures above 90 degrees (90% chance or greater) this weekend. Elmore && .AVIATION... (For the 06z TAFs through 06z Monday Night) Issued at 1042 PM CDT Sun Jun 15 2025 A little light rain is moving through metro St Louis at the moment, but it`s falling out of a high level cloud layer and is not expected to cause visibility restrictions. VFR conditions should prevail. Additional showers and thunderstorms are possible through the day Monday, but they are likely to stay over southeast Missouri away from the TAF locations. Thus VFR conditions are expected to continue through Monday. Kimble && .CLIMATE... Issued at 320 AM CDT Sun Jun 15 2025 St Louis still hasn`t reached 90 yet in 2025. This puts 2025 in the Top 20 all time latest dates of the first 90 degree temperature, and the latest in at least 30 years (Jun 19, 1995). The all time latest first 90 degrees was July 4 in both 1961 and 1912. Records began in St Louis in 1874. Columbia has also not yet seen a 90 degree reading in 2025. The latest date of first 90 degrees on record was July 14, 1904. Records began in Columbia in 1890. Quincy reached 90 degrees on May 15 of this year. Based on the current forecast, our next best chance to see 90 degrees is Tuesday, June 17. Kimble/Pfahler && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...None. IL...None. && $$ WFO LSX