000
FXUS63 KLSX 161745
AFDLSX

Area Forecast Discussion...Updated Aviation
National Weather Service Saint Louis MO
1245 PM CDT Tue Apr 16 2024

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Severe weather will threaten the region today, with particular
  focus in northern/north-central Missouri and west-central
  Illinois. Further south, the threat exists but is more
  conditional.

- Large hail, damaging wind, and tornadoes will all be possible
  where stronger thunderstorms develop, and the area mentioned
  above will have potential for very large hail (up to 2.00") and
  a strong tornado or two.

- Following another round of showers and a few thunderstorms
  Thursday, cooler and drier conditions will take hold through the
  weekend.


&&

.SHORT TERM...  (Through Late Wednesday Afternoon)
Issued at 333 AM CDT Tue Apr 16 2024

A well-defined warm front draped across the Mid-Mississippi
Valley is slowly advancing north. The warm front extends from a
mature cyclone in the central High Plains, with a very long
dryline extending from northwest Nebraska to Texas. On the warm
side of the boundary, MLCAPE values across the bi-state region are
currently analyzed at a meager 500-750 J/kg, and well-capped by
persistent ridging aloft and 850mb warm air advection. Aloft, the
cutoff low ejecting into the Front Range continues to promote
diffluent flow into the Plains. The questions surrounding the
current lack of resident instability and timing for favorable
lifting mechanisms aloft play prominently in the potential for
severe weather today.

It is expected that the front will continue a march northward today
as the low approaches and helps it advance. As the low approaches,
sustained winds and gusts will steadily strengthen. It is still very
unlikely (less than 10% chance) that we realize Wind Advisory
criteria values in any continuous area, largely owing to limited
mixing in the presence of an inversion. That said, non-convective
winds will be gusty throughout the day. The region will be within
the open warm sector of the surface low, but instability will be
slow to recover into the early afternoon. The more impressive
instability will be relegated closer to a moisture plume ahead of
the dryline, which will take some time to reach our forecast area.
The cutoff shortwave will enter the Missouri Valley late this
morning into the early afternoon, sending a wave of stronger PVA to
trigger convection across central/north-central Missouri and begin
our threat for severe thunderstorms. At this stage, most guidance
indicates some degree of capping and marginal instability (750-1000
J/kg). However, that parameter space coupled with deep-layer shear
of 50-65kts, will certainly pose a severe weather threat. The
potential is highest in northern and north-central Missouri and in
west-central Illinois, where mid-level ascent will be strongest.
Further south, while ascent still exists, it is weaker and may not
overcome the limited available instability. The SPC Day 1 Convective
Outlook appropriately highlights the area of not only the best
potential for severe weather, but the highest threat for significant
severe weather, in its Enhanced Risk area. The Slight Risk area (the
rest of the region) will still see a threat, but it is more
conditional and arguably more limited in potential intensity.

Deep-layer shear vectors would indicate discrete supercells at least
initially, and the modest CIN may help keep the convection that can
develop discrete for longer. There isn`t much support behind these
cells growing upscale in the absence of a boundary near the surface.
Model soundings still depict concerning hodograph curvature and
backed surface winds that would indicate a tornado potential that
maximizes across northern Missouri and west-central Illinois. With
increasing effective inflow shear and SRH, potential exists for a
strong tornado or two during the mid/late afternoon as mixed-layer
instability increases and LCLs remain low. Damaging wind is also a
threat at this point, but does not show a higher-end potential.
Large hail may also occur with the supercells, but poor mid-level
lapse rates and instability distribution will limit most hailstone
sizes.

The threats for larger hail (possibly up to 2.00") and damaging wind
increase in the late afternoon, with a lingering tornado threat
(though it becomes more uncertain as the wind profile gradually
becomes more unidirectional). That said, mid-level ascent
deteriorates with time, which leaves not much beyond the weak
dryline to promote new convection. While earlier guidance feature
two distinct rounds of convection: one with the mid-level ascent
and one along the dryline, I`m growing doubtful that the second
trigger will have the force needed to cause a second round of
severe weather in the late afternoon/early evening as the dryline
weakens and diffuses. That said, if it can manage to spark
thunderstorms, they will exist in an unstable environment ripe for
large to very-large hail, damaging wind, and at least some
tornado threat. The best potential for this exists in the
northernmost parts of Missouri and western Illinois. The severe
weather potential gradually wanes after sunset as instability
dissipates, and by 9-10pm, the threat should end.

By sunrise Wednesday, dry west/southwest winds will exist across
Missouri and Illinois. Temperatures will remain (low 70s to low 80s)
as a result, but not like what we`ve seen the last few days. The dry
west wind has potential to drop relative humidity values into the
upper 20s during the peak heating of the afternoon in southeast
Missouri in the Ozarks. While winds approach 15mph in the early
afternoon, they will be weakening as the low departs. As such,
elevated fire danger is not forecast at this time, but that scenario
will be monitored.

MRB

&&

.LONG TERM...  (Wednesday Night through Monday)
Issued at 333 AM CDT Tue Apr 16 2024

Another trough drops southwest from Canada into the northern Great
Plains late Wednesday, helping the cutoff shortwave across the Upper
Mississippi Valley eject into the Great Lakes region. The result of
this wave interaction is broad, anomalous longwave troughing
spanning the northern half of the central CONUS. Closer to home, the
ejection will help advance a weak cold front into the region. Very
little in the way of cooler air will accompany this front, but the
boundary will stall somewhere in the forecast area amidst near-zonal
flow aloft.

A subtle shortwave impulse is evident in deterministic global-scale
models, which will likely (80% chance) interact with the front to
force precipitation. There is some degree of uncertainty as to
whether instability will be in place when forcing maximizes Thursday
afternoon and evening, which translates to a severe weather
potential. Some guidance has weakly-capped instability exceeding
1500 J/kg, while others have nothing at all. Which scenario comes
to fruition depends greatly on where the front ends up. Seeing as
the high-end potential is a noteworthy outlier, we are choosing
not to message the SPC Day 3 Convective Outlook at this time. That
said, if the more unstable solution becomes plausible, strong to
severe thunderstorms would be a concern along and south of I-44 in
Missouri and I-64 in Illinois.

Regardless of how it occurs, this impulse will shunt the front (and
higher precipitation chances) further south. This will also promote
cooler weather across a majority of the region from Friday into the
weekend. The only concern that`s evident from then until low
precipitation chances return to the forecast early next week is the
threat for frost. That potential maximizes Saturday night across
northeast Missouri, however winds don`t look very light during that
time and may inhibit frost formation.

MRB

&&

.AVIATION...  (For the 18z TAFs through 18z Wednesday Afternoon)
Issued at 1233 PM CDT Tue Apr 16 2024

A band of showers and thunderstorms will move across the terminals
this afternoon, affecting UIN, COU, and JEF through 21Z and the
St. Louis metro terminals between 20-23Z. Another round of
thunderstorms will have the potential to affect UIN between
22-01Z. There will be a lower chance of thunderstorms to affect
the all the terminals through 02Z before the threat ends. Any of
the stronger storms will be capable of producing hail, wind gusts
in excess of 35 knots, and MVFR (possible IFR) ceilings and
visibilities.  Outside of the thunderstorms, winds will turn out
of the south gusting to 30 knots before turning out of the
southwest and west late tonight and Wednesday.

Britt

&&

.LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MO...None.
IL...None.
&&

$$

WFO LSX