


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Topeka, KS
Issued by NWS Topeka, KS
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644 FXUS63 KTOP 020859 AFDTOP Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Topeka KS 359 AM CDT Tue Sep 2 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - A few rain showers may be possible this morning. Look for gradual clearing through this afternoon. - Seasonably strong cold front arrives Wednesday afternoon. Thunderstorms will develop along the front and some of the storms may be severe with large hail and damaging wind gusts along and south of I-70. - There may be another chance for showers and thunderstorms Sunday into Monday. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 336 AM CDT Tue Sep 2 2025 Early this morning a broad upper level trough was located across the eastern US. Northwest mid and upper level flow was noted across the Plains on the west side of the upper trough across the eastern US. A weak perturbations embedded within the northwest flow was located southwest of EMP and weak ascent near the perturbation was causing scattered showers across the central and northeast counties of the CWA. An amplified upper trough was located across north central Canada. A closed upper low was located off the coast of WA/OR, cut off from the northern jet stream. The 7Z surface observations showed northeast to east winds across the CWA with the higher dewpoints in the lower 60s across the central and southwest counties of the CWA. A near stationary front was located across southeast NM, east-southeast across south central TX into the northern Gulf of Mexico. Winds are very weak north of the boundary, thus frontolysis may be occurring. Today through Tonight: As the mid level perturbation over eastern KS continues to dig south-southeast into norther OK, we should see the rain chances decrease through the morning hours and skies to become partly cloudy during the afternoon hours. Highs will reach the mid to upper 70s. The amplified upper trough across central Canada will dig southeast into the upper Midwest by 12Z WED. A cold front will push southward across the northern Plains into northern NE and northern IA. Tonight, expect dry condition with mostly clear to partly cloudy skies. Wednesday through Wednesday night: The amplified upper low will dig east-southeast into the northern Great Lakes and a strong northwest upper jet will dig southeast across the Plains with H5 winds increasing to 40-45 KTS. Strong low-level CAA will cause the front to push southward across the northern counties of the CWA by around Noon. Now the question will be is how fast will the front move southward through the afternoon hours and when will deep moist convection develop ahead of the front. The CAMs all have differing solutions on when thunderstorms will develop along the front during the afternoon hours. The 6Z HRRR is much farther north with a slower speed of the front pushing south, with surface based thunderstorms developing along or just north of the I-70 corridor around 20Z. The other 00Z CAMs show the front moving south of I-70 with surface based thunderstorms developing farther south. The environment ahead of the front by mid to late afternoon will have MLCAPES in the 1500-25000 J/KG range and effective shear of 35 to 45 KTS, which will allow for potential supercell thunderstorms development, particularly in the first hour or two of storms developing. If a supercells develop, then there may be large hail risk, with up to 2 inch in diameter hail possible and the potential for a weak tornado or two. The low-level vertical wind shear will be sufficient for some component of stream-wise vorticity in the 0-3km level ingesting into storm updrafts. The hodographs will be slightly curved with southwest low-level winds veering with height to the northwest. However, if the front is moving faster to the southeast these storms may get undercut and any weak tornado potential will cease as the low-level inflow into the mesocyclone will be cutoff. At this time the greatest threat for severe thunderstorms will be in the 20Z-02Z along and south of I-70. The initial discrete storms may be supercells with the primary hazards of large hail and damaging wind gusts and an outside chance of a weak tornado. The discrete supercells may congeal into a line of storms along the advancing cold front by late afternoon, which would place damaging wind gusts as the primmer hazard. Once the front pushes southeast of the CWA during the late afternoon and early evening hours, the severe thunderstorm threat should end. There may be elevated showers and storms north of the front across east central and northeast KS into the early evening hours but these storms will not be severe. Ahead of the front high temperatures should reach into the mid 80s. North of the front along the NE border highs may only reach the upper 70s. Thursday through Friday night: Most of Thursday will be dry behind the first front. A second H5 trough will dig southeast on the west side of the upper low over Ontario Canada and the northern Great Lakes. The richer moisture will be south of the area but stronger ascent ahead of the H5 trough digging southeast across the Plains combined with anisotropic lift will cause showers and a few elevate thunderstorms to develop late Thursday night into Friday. Highs Friday will be much cooler with cloud cover and periods of showers through the day. HIghs will only reach the mid 60s north to around 70 degrees south. The H5 trough will shift east- southeast across the Mid MS River Valley and the secondary cold front pushes southward into OK and north TX. The rains showers will push southeast of the CWA Friday evening. Saturday through Tuesday: The upper low across the northern Great Lakes will shift east across eastern Canada and New England by next Monday. The northwesterly flow will become zonal late Saturday into early next week. Minor perturbations may move east across the Plains along with richer moisture advection for small chances for showers and thunderstorms through Tuesday. The ECMWF keeps the higher rain chances west and south of the CWA. The GFS forecast a more amplified perturbation moving across the Plains Sunday night into Monday. If the GFS solution verifies, we may see a higher chance for showers and thunderstorms Sunday night through Monday. Tuesday may be drier behind a weak front. Highs through the period will be in the lower to mid 70s. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 1231 AM CDT Tue Sep 2 2025 The low IFR/MFVR stratus will remain in place across KMHK through 16Z TUE. At this time forecast soundings show the low stratus remaining west of KFOE and KTOP, with VFR stratus at KFOE and KTOP. There may be a few rainshowers around the terminals through the morning hours. By late morning the cloud cover should scatter out. && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Gargan AVIATION...Gargan