


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI
Issued by NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI
391 FXUS63 KMKX 221943 AFDMKX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 243 PM CDT Fri Aug 22 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Widely scattered showers and a few storms tonight into early Saturday morning with a cold front. - Much cooler, less humid and breezy from later Saturday into early next week. - Some waterspouts are possible Sunday into Monday across the northern portions of Lake Michigan. && .SHORT TERM... Issued 243 PM CDT Fri Aug 22 2025 Tonight through Saturday night: A cold front will push southeast across the area mainly later tonight into early Saturday morning, exiting the far southeast by later in the morning. There is weak instability (less than 500 J/kg of mean layer CAPE) and modest at best upward vertical motion with the front. CAMs continue to show widely scattered showers and a few thunderstorms possible with the frontal passage, which seems reasonable. Will keep PoPs around 20 percent for this activity in the forecast for mainly later tonight into early Saturday morning. West northwest winds are expected behind the front Saturday afternoon and night, and will become brisk, as the pressure gradient tightens with the deepening low well to the northeast of the region. This will allow for cold air advection to develop and begin to bring in cooler temperatures. Saturday should still have highs in the lower to middle 70s, before lows drop into the lower to middle 50s for Saturday night. In addition, stratocumulus clouds within the developing cyclonic flow at 500 mb should develop, as several vorticity maxima rotate through the region. Wood && .LONG TERM... Issued 243 PM CDT Fri Aug 22 2025 Sunday through Friday: The 500 mb low will remain to the northeast of the region Sunday into Tuesday, allowing for cyclonic flow to linger over the region. Several vorticity maxima will rotate through at times, with forecast soundings showing stratocumulus clouds and perhaps scattered showers at times. Temperatures will be much colder, as cold air advection continues on brisk west northwest winds. Highs should be in the middle 60s to around 70 each day, with lows in the middle to upper 40s away from the lake. These values have been well supported by the NBM and ensemble trends over the past several days. The 500 mb low will gradually weaken later in the week, allowing for a ridge axis to slowly shift east across the northern Plains. This should allow temperatures to slowly modify closer to seasonal normal values by the end of the week. There may be some precipitation possible in the middle or later portions of the week, though it is too uncertain at this time to mention in the forecast. Wood && .AVIATION... Issued 243 PM CDT Fri Aug 22 2025 Expect scattered to broken cumulus with 3500 to 4000 foot AGL bases into this evening, with some high clouds moving through as well. Light southwest winds are expected, though a southeast lake breeze may try to reach the Milwaukee and Kenosha terminals by 00Z Saturday. A cold front will push southeast across the area mainly later tonight into early Saturday morning, exiting the far southeast by later in the morning. Widely scattered showers and a few thunderstorms are possible with the frontal passage. West northwest winds are expected behind the front Saturday afternoon and night, and will become gusty at times. In addition, scattered to perhaps broken stratocumulus clouds in VFR category should develop. Wood && .MARINE... Issued 243 PM CDT Fri Aug 22 2025 High pressure around 30.1 inches will linger today and begin weakening. South to southwest winds are expected across the lake today, becoming breezy across the northern two thirds of the open waters this afternoon. A strong cold front will then move northwest to southeast tonight into Saturday morning. Expect widely scattered showers and a few thunderstorms along this front. Winds shift to become west northwest and brisk Saturday through Monday, as low pressure strengthens to around 29.5 inches in northeastern Ontario. Winds may reach Small Craft Advisory levels at times Saturday afternoon into early next week. There will be a potential for waterspouts across the northern half of the lake Sunday and Monday, as enough low level instability with favorable delta T values within the cyclonic flow aloft help support the waterspout risk. This risk may spread across the southern half of the lake as well. Wood && .MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...None. LM...None. && $$ Visit us at weather.gov/milwaukee Follow us on Facebook, X, and YouTube at: www.facebook.com/NWSMilwaukee www.x.com/NWSMilwaukee www.youtube.com/NWSMilwaukee