Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Amarillo, TX

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271 FXUS64 KAMA 092333 AFDAMA Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Amarillo TX 633 PM CDT Thu May 9 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SHORT TERM ... (This evening through Friday night) Issued at 110 PM CDT Thu May 9 2024 Current GOES-16 water imagery depicts a closed mid to upper low over the Four Corners Region with some moisture that has split off from a highly positive tilted trough that has encompassed much of CONUS, expanding from the coast of CA up through the Great Lakes Regions. This closed low is progged to bring showers and thunderstorms to CO and north to northeastern NM overnight tonight. Although confidence is low at this time, there is a chance that some of the shower activity can bleed into far western portions of the combined Panhandles tonight. Through tomorrow the aforementioned upper level trough will continue to bring rain chances to much of NM. Then again, tomorrow night the far western combined Panhandles will once again have around a 20 PoP with this activity potentially bleeding into the western FA. For now surface winds remain northerly to easterly with cool daytime temperatures expected for tomorrow with highs in the upper 60s to the west and 70s to the east. Low level moisture will start to increase a bit going into tomorrow as well with H7 theta-e picking up, and dewpoints rising into the lower 40s. This will help set things up for rain potential over the weekend when the aforementioned upper level trough begins to overtake the combined Panhandles and much of West Texas. 36 && .LONG TERM ... (Saturday through next Wednesday) Issued at 110 PM CDT Thu May 9 2024 The panhandles has a high chance of seeing active weather for the weekend and next work week. Initially this will be in the form of a broad trough to weak closed low sitting over the desert SW with a weak ridge over the southern plains. This setup will allow return moisture to push into the panhandles from the SE during the weekend. Some moisture will already have pushed into the panhandles from the N earlier which combined with the return flow will allow the whole panhandles the opportunity to see rain and thunderstorms. This doesn`t guarantee that all spots will see rain as these showers will be scattered in nature, so some spots may see several rain showers and other spots none. Saturday will have a lesser chance for the rain along with lesser amounts as the moisture will have just arrived and the dynamics and instability for the trough being less as it is far away. Sunday will see higher moisture as this will be second day of return flow along with higher instability and dynamics as the trough/closed low passes over the southern plains. This will create more extensive rain showers and thunderstorm coverage which will be capable of producing higher rainfall amounts. The instability and dynamics are supportive of causing isolated strong to even severe storm in the panhandles with hail and winds being the most likely threats. The weekend will have a high chance of being on the cooler side as the the moisture cause extensive clouds and the system passes cooler air over the region. The start of next work week will see the trough/closed low push eastward out of the southern plains. This will shift the upper level flow to be more out of the NW allowing for several small trough to push into the southern plains. Some limited moisture has a moderate chance of arriving with these troughs allowing for rain showers and thunderstorms during each of their passages. However there is a fairly large amount of uncertainty in this pattern evolution so this forecast may change. This would mainly center around the amount of moisture available to cause either more extensive or lack of rain showers and thunderstorms, and the amount of instability for how intense these showers and thunderstorms would be. Next work week looks to be an overall warmer period even with the passage of the series of troughs. SH && .AVIATION...
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(00Z TAFS) Issued at 626 PM CDT Thu May 9 2024 VFR conditions will prevail at all TAF sites over the next 24 hours with winds mainly out of the north to northeast in the 5 to 15kt range. No vis or cig restrictions expected. There may be a shower in the next 3 to 6 hours at the KDHT area, but do not expect any terminal impacts if a shower does occur. Weber
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&& .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
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Amarillo TX 75 48 72 50 / 0 10 10 10 Beaver OK 76 46 76 47 / 10 10 10 0 Boise City OK 68 45 67 46 / 20 30 20 10 Borger TX 79 50 77 52 / 0 10 10 0 Boys Ranch TX 77 49 73 50 / 10 10 10 10 Canyon TX 75 47 72 50 / 0 10 10 10 Clarendon TX 75 49 74 52 / 0 0 10 0 Dalhart TX 71 44 68 44 / 10 20 10 10 Guymon OK 73 45 74 47 / 10 10 10 0 Hereford TX 76 47 72 49 / 0 10 0 10 Lipscomb TX 77 49 77 50 / 0 0 0 0 Pampa TX 75 48 74 50 / 0 10 0 0 Shamrock TX 77 50 76 51 / 0 0 0 0 Wellington TX 78 51 77 53 / 0 0 0 0
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&& .AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...None. OK...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...36 LONG TERM....98 AVIATION...89