


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
Issued by NWS Dodge City, KS
Versions:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
434 FXUS63 KDDC 160502 AFDDDC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 1202 AM CDT Wed Jul 16 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Hot Today with temperatures near the century mark in some areas. - Increasing thunderstorm chances (50-80%) late Wednesday. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 329 PM CDT Tue Jul 15 2025 Convection chances this evening are very low. Ensemble based probabilities for lighting are only about 5-10 % from Syracuse to Scott City between about 7 pm and 11 pm MDT. If any storms occurs , lightning and moderately gusty winds (20-40 mph) are the main expected impacts in those areas. There a high level smoke plume on satellite (and modeled by the HRRR vertically integrated smoke fields) coming out of Arizona Grand Canyon fires that should make for an interesting sunset and maybe even lower the visibility in a weak haze for a day or two. A balmy overnight expected with temperatures ranging from the upper 60s west. And in the low to mid 70s in the Lower Plains. A large area of high pressure over the Northern Plains will gradually move equatorward over the short term, pushing a cold front across Kansas and western CO on Wednesday. This will likely create (50-80% coverage) moderate intensity rain showers and thunderstorms as early as mid afternoon Wednesday and extending through the overnight, ending altogether sometime Thursday morning. Highest precipitation probabilities are focused over west central Kansas (upwards of 80 percent chance as the convective allowing models develop various renditions of a forward propagating MCS) while the lower probabilities (20-50%) area found across the Red Hills region. In general, at DDC, we are not looking for heavy rain accumulations. There is about a 10% chance of an inch of rain while about a 40% chance for a quarter of an inch through Thursday morning. Thunderstorms are again possible each day from Thursday through the weekend. About a 60 % chance for thunderstorms on Thursday evening over the western counties, shifts eastward over the next few days into the weekend decreasing to around the 30 and 20 percent chance thresholds. The Cold frontal influence as well as evening Thunderstorms on Thursday will limited temperatures to the 70s and low 80s in the afternoon, with the coolest overnight temps in the low 60s by Friday morning. Thursdays max will be dictated by the placement or timing of the front, for instance at DDC the high temp 75th and 25th percentile NBM values fall at 84 degrees and 77 degrees. Heat Risk build back up through early and mid next week as lows are limited to the 70s and highs get back into the upper 90s and low 100s F. It is not a particularly windy period as the NBM percentile mean gusts are capped at around 15 to 20 knots most days. By Monday, areas southeast of a Hays to Elkhart line will be under a moderate category heat risk (level 2 of 4) and he heat risk should expand and increase into midweek as more areas hit 100F. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 1201 AM CDT Tue Jul 15 2025 An outflow boundary/cold front will cross the I-70 corridor between 06z and 08z as an area of thunderstorms crosses north central Kansas. This boundary will become nearly stationary between Dodge City, Garden City and Hays late tonight and through Wednesday, creating a favorable area for widely scattered thunderstorms late today and early tonight. South of this boundary overnight and Wednesday the winds will be southerly at near 15 knots. North of the boundary the winds will initially be northeasterly, gradually shifting to east southeast at 10 to 15 knots. BUFR soundings indicate cloud cover overnight and early Wednesday will be between 8000 and 12000 feet AGL. Isolated to widely scattered afternoon thunderstorms may develop later this afternoon, initially occurring between Hays, Dodge City, and Garden City. After 00z Thursday, the chance of thunderstorms will increase as VFR ceilings lower to 3000 to 5000 feet AGL. && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ DISCUSSION...Russell AVIATION...Burgert