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236
FXUS64 KEWX 180549
AFDEWX

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX
1249 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2019

.AVIATION...
TSRA line has cleared DRT and is quickly translating across
AUS/SAT/SSF early this morning ahead of a cold front. Expect
IFR/MVFR visibilities from brief heavy rain and variable wind gusts
between 35-40 knots at the terminals before the line exits.
Extrapolation of current line motion shows the line clearing the
terminals before 07-08Z and will plan on amending TAF to clear TSRA
out based on radar trends. West to northwest winds in the 5-11 knot
range will linger through sunrise as ceilings rise/scatter to VFR. As
the cold front pushes across the region mid to late morning, expect
north to northwest winds to increase into the 15-20 knot range with
stronger gusts in the 25-30 knot range. Forecast soundings indicate
some moisture lingering between FL035-070 and this may be enough to
result in some clouds later today, which may affect how much
mixing/how strong afternoon wind gusts are. Expect winds to fall
below 10 knots after sunset as the gradient relaxes.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 705 PM CDT Wed Apr 17 2019/

AVIATION... /00Z TAFS/
New cell forming south of Dryden would suggest a slight delay in
convective activity around DRT, despite explosive storm growth
expected in the next 1-2 hours. It`s position is well lined up the
the dryline which would take about 2 hours to move that far ESE.
Other cells forming over the Burro mountaintops could spread NE
slightly earlier. Meanwhile CI Probabilities over the capped shower
activity east of I-35 have occasionally spiked over 60 percent, but
the view on satellite and out the window with ragged cloud tops does
not suggest that the cap will break ahead of the organized storm
clusters to the west. Meso model trends and slow onset of
destabilization would suggest that the beginning of the squall lines
rolling into the I-35 terminals will be at or after midnight. Severe
threats will be addressed about an hour or two in advance of the
cells moving into the I-35 Terminals. but only about 30-45 minutes
lead time can be expected at DRT where the storms are more isolated.
Rapid improvements can be expected after 08Z at SAT/SSF and 09Z at
AUS. Gusty winds and fair skies should round out the end of the TAF
periods with models showing the winds not picking up significantly
until around 15Z or later.

PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 305 PM CDT Wed Apr 17 2019/

SHORT TERM (Tonight through Thursday Night)...
Current surface observations across Texas show the dryline extending
across West Texas (roughly from a Childress to Snyder to Ozona line),
and the cold front pushing south across the Texas Panhandle, having
just made it through Amarillo. It is this cold front that will spur
on the thunderstorms expected tonight into Thursday morning. Current
short-term forecast soundings and the aircraft soundings from AUS and
SAT show the atmosphere still mostly capped across South Central
Texas.

With the capped atmosphere currently storms should hold off through
the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening hours. With the
dryline moving east and the front pushing rapidly south the front
will overtake the dryline and be the lift that South Central Texas
needs for storms. There is plenty of moisture in place with dewpoints
in the upper 60s and 70s. The HRRR and other high resolution
forecast models show storm initiation between 7pm and 9pm across the
Edwards Plateau. When storms do initially form the discrete storms
will have a very good chance of producing large hail to do the
environment with 2500 to 3000 j/kg of instability/CAPE. All of the
models show these discrete storms forming into a line of storms as
they approach the hill country between 10pm and 1am. With 50 knots or
more of bulk shear in place the severe weather threat will continue
as the line approach the I-35 corridor. With the transition into a
linear MCS the threat will also transition from a large hail threat
to a damaging straight-line wind threat within bowing sections of the
line. The line should approach the I-35 corridor between about 11pm
and 2am. Based on all of this a good portion of the Hill Country and
I-35 corridor have been included in the Enhanced Risk from the Storm
Prediction Center, with most of the area in a significant hail hashed
area as well. Basically our entire area is in the slight risk, again
mainly for the large hail and the damaging wind threat. There is a
low risk of tornadoes, but the main risk will be more to the NE
towards the ArkLaTex region.

As the storms push east of I-35 a new threat will be introduced.
While rainfall totals across the area will generally be 1/4 of an
inch to 1 inch, there has been increasing signals that parts of the
area east of I-35 could see isolated totals as high as 2-3 inches.
This could cause some localized minor flooding issues, especially in
areas that have seen decent rains of late. The line of storms will
continues its eastward progression and be east of the area by morning
rush hour on Thursday.

In the wake of the line of storms and cold front a drier airmass
filters in for Thursday. As skies clear strong north and northwest
winds increase. Some portions of the Rio Grande Plains could be close
to wind advisory criteria. In addition, with the lower relative
humidity values dropping down to 20-30 percent elevated to near
critical fire weather conditions are expected across the Rio Grande
Plains and Edwards Plateau. For the rest of the area afternoon highs
will be a few degrees below normal from the mid 70s to low 80s.
Overnight lows Thursday into Friday will also run a few degrees below
normal in the low to mid 50s.

LONG TERM (Friday through Wednesday)...
In the wake of the upper trough that will bring storms tonight into
Thursday morning northwest flow will build in aloft on Friday with
sunny skies continuing. With northerly flow aloft and at the surface
highs Friday will continue to run a few degrees below normal along
the I-35 corridor, with near normal temps along the Rio Grande in the
mid 70s to mid 80s. Southerly flow returns Saturday morning as an
upper level ridge works across Texas. Highs for the weekend will warm
into the 80s area wide, and should flirt with 90 degrees along the
Rio Grande Plains. Clouds return on Monday ahead of the next trough,
with continued seasonal temperatures. All of the long range models
(GFS, Canadian, and ECMWF) show the trough approaching Tuesday, and
moving across the OK/TX Red River Valley Wednesday into Thursday.
With the approaching trough and the moist atmosphere rain chances
begin Monday night and increase through the day Tuesday. Similar to
the system moving through today a cold front will approach Tuesday
night and Wednesday further enhancing rainfall.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Austin Camp Mabry              75  54  76  53  81 /  10   0   0   0   0
Austin Bergstrom Intl Airport  75  53  76  51  81 /  10   0   0   0   0
New Braunfels Muni Airport     76  52  78  52  82 /  10   0   0   0   0
Burnet Muni Airport            72  52  75  51  81 /  10   0   0   0   0
Del Rio Intl Airport           82  55  85  58  89 /   0   0   0   0   0
Georgetown Muni Airport        73  52  75  51  81 /  10   0   0   0   0
Hondo Muni Airport             79  52  82  53  85 /   0   0   0   0   0
San Marcos Muni Airport        76  52  77  51  81 /  10   0   0   0   0
La Grange - Fayette Regional   77  53  75  51  81 /  20   0   0   0   0
San Antonio Intl Airport       77  54  80  54  83 /  -    0   0   0   0
Stinson Muni Airport           77  55  80  54  83 /  -    0   0   0   0

&&

.EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.
&&

$$

Aviation...Huffman
Short-Term/Long-Term...YB