Prognostic Meteorological Discussion
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342 FXUS02 KWBC 121858 PMDEPD Extended Forecast Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 258 PM EDT Sat Jul 12 2025 Valid 12Z Tue Jul 15 2025 - 12Z Sat Jul 19 2025 ...Florida to the central Gulf Coast could see heavy rain next week... ...Overview... A typical summertime pattern will be in place much of the medium range period next week with an expansive upper ridge stretched across the Southern U.S. and progressive shallow troughs moving through the northern stream flow. A shortwave will amplify over the northern Rockies by the start of the period Tuesday, drifting east through the northern tier through the rest of the week. This trough will send a cold front through the northern and central U.S. aiding convection over much of the country from the Rockies and eastward. Farther south, weak low pressure near/over Florida drifting west into the Gulf will keep heavy rain threats over the Sunshine State and toward the central Gulf Coast through the latter part of next week. Meanwhile monsoonal moisture increases throughout the week in the Four Corners states to south-central High Plains. Heat in the West early to midweek should lessen by later next week, while warmer than average temperatures affect the Ohio Valley to Northeast Tuesday onward. ...Guidance/Predictability Assessment... Model guidance continues to struggle with the details and timing of shortwaves through the northern stream flow within the low amplitude pattern. The first shortwave digging into the interior Northwest Tuesday showed reasonably good agreement on timing, aside from the 00Z GFS that was slower. This will push eastward across the northern tier through the rest of the week, but there is uncertainty with upstream energy and whether it pushes east to reinforce this trough, or dive a bit south to create a Northwest trough around Thursday. Deterministic and ensemble and AI guidance are all quite variable with this, so started leaning toward the ensemble means. An Alaska/northeastern Pacific upper low or trough will also wreak havoc on the pattern as it moves southeast without much model agreement. The 06Z GFS was quite strong with this upper low late week while the 00Z ECMWF was so weak/shunted east into Canada that there was ridging around Vancouver Island. Ensemble means were at least somewhat agreeable on a British Columbia/Northwest U.S. trough by Friday-next Saturday, so leaned toward the means. The newer 12Z ECMWF and GFS fortunately seem to have some consensus on a trough there. The WPC forecast used a multi-model deterministic blend early in the period. But with the increasing model spread, quickly ramped up the proportion of GEFS and EC ensemble means to almost the total blend by the late period. Maintained relatively good agreement with the previous WPC forecast as well. ...Weather/Hazards Highlights... A surface low pressure system (which the National Hurricane Center is now monitoring with low probabilities of tropical cyclone development) will be retrograding across Florida into the Gulf on Tuesday. Moisture above the 90th percentile is likely to be in place and promote multiple inches of rain in the Florida Peninsula from Monday (short range/Day 3 period) into Tuesday and Wednesday. There was sufficient model agreement in heavy rain amounts to add a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall to the Day 4/Tuesday ERO. By Wednesday/Day 5, the low should be pulling west into the Gulf. Enhanced moisture will remain in place though, and spread into the central Gulf Coast. A Marginal Risk was maintained in the Day 5 ERO for those areas. Heavy rain could linger in the Gulf Coast region into later week as well. Much of the nation from the Rockies eastward will be active with typical summertime convection in a warm and unstable airmass. Enhanced moisture stretching toward a lingering front in the Southeast will maintain convective threats there on Tuesday. Farther north, a cold front moving through the northern/central Plains and eastward will support showers and thunderstorms with ample moisture and instability, resulting in a heavy to excessive rainfall threat. Both EROs on Tuesday and Wednesday feature broad Marginal Risk areas from the northern High Plains eastward into the Upper Midwest and southward towards the Middle Mississippi Valley/Ohio Valley. This issuance also stretched the Marginal into the Appalachians midweek with orographic enhancement of storms in a moist environment. Model guidance varies considerably with placement of heavy rain amounts, so the Marginals are quite broad in order to cover the widespread but low-end threat. In areas like Montana, rain amounts of a couple of inches are reasonably rare (as indicated by Extreme Forecast Index shift of tails and other measures), but the character of the rain looks to be moderate rates for multiple hours rather than very high rain rates, so held off on a Slight Risk there. Other areas may eventually need embedded Slight Risks in future cycles if models converge on placement and amounts of heavy rain. Elsewhere, monsoonal moisture will gradually increase in coverage across the Southwest/Four Corners/southern Rockies region. For Tuesday, continued a Marginal Risk in far western Texas and the Sacramento Mountains (particularly over very sensitive burn scars), with the Marginal Risk expanding westward into southern Arizona by Wednesday. More widespread monsoonal moisture will continue making its way northward in this region later in the week. Hot weather may linger in the Pacific Northwest through around midweek, but temperatures in the northern High Plains will cool dramatically into Tuesday-Wednesday with highs around 15 to 25 degrees below normal. Temperatures look to be a few degrees cooler than average for the south-central U.S. for much of next week as clouds and rain hold temperatures down. The Great Lakes and Northeast will see a return to above normal temperatures on Tuesday, with somewhat widespread Major (level 3/4) HeatRisk showing up in those areas by midweek. Meanwhile the Southeast should be near normal to a few degrees above, for typical summer heat and humidity. Tate/Santorelli Additional 3-7 Day Hazard information can be found on the WPC medium range hazards outlook chart at: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/threats/threats.php WPC medium range 500mb heights, surface systems, weather grids, quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF), excessive rainfall outlook (ERO), winter weather outlook (WWO) probabilities, heat indices, and Key Messages can be accessed from: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst500_wbg.gif https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst_wbg_conus.gif https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/5km_grids/5km_gridsbody.html https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/day4-7.shtml https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ero https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/pwpf_d47/pwpf_medr.php?day=4 https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/heat_index.shtml https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ovw $$