Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Tucson, AZ
Issued by NWS Tucson, AZ
148 FXUS65 KTWC 292028 AFDTWC Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tucson AZ 128 PM MST Sat Jun 29 2024 .SYNOPSIS...Active monsoon pattern this weekend into early next week bring daily chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some storms will generate strong winds and locally heavy rainfall. && .DISCUSSION...Latest visible satellite imagery early this afternoon is still showing quite a bit of mid level clouds across most of southeast Arizona as an MCV is pushing north from Santa Cruz/SW Cochise County. This cloudiness has kept temperatures from warming up as quickly as usual today and depending on how much persists into the mid afternoon hours, may keep Tucson below 100 degrees today. It`ll be a close call. Not much on radar at this time with just a few light showers mainly east of Tucson. Given the placement of the MCV and subsidence behind it as the MCV pushes north, convective development is on the slow side today. Latest HRRR shows a few storms mainly west of Tucson through the afternoon and this is where more abundant solar insolation has occurred today. Elsewhere, a continuation of some scattered shower activity with perhaps an embedded thunderstorm or two that could produce brief heavy rain. All in all, certainly a much quieter afternoon period than what we experienced yesterday. Heading into this evening and the overnight hours, our focus shifts toward the disturbance currently seen on WV imagery over Chihuahua that is pushing to the west-northwest. This will help trigger convection across NE Sonora/NW Chihuahua early this evening that will push to the northwest later in the evening and overnight hours. The convection will be aided by the deep layer lift from the aforementioned disturbance, along with outflow boundaries acting on elevated CAPE. Don`t be surprised if you hear rumbles of thunder in Tucson in the midnight to 3 am time frame. This area of convection will also help reinforce the deep moisture over our area. Latest HRRR/CAMs show convection winding down around or shortly after 12Z. Sunday into Sunday night is shaping up to be a very active period. Sunday morning cloud cover should diminish fairly quickly as 15 to 20 kt southeasterly flow aloft pushes clouds from the overnight convection away and allows the atmosphere to reload. The combination of increasing instability (MLCAPE at or above 1000 J/KG in many locales), and another disturbance approaching aloft will set the stage for widespread shower and thunderstorms Sunday afternoon into evening. Most of the forecast area is at risk for these storms, though the focus for the strongest storms and greatest flash flood risk will be from western Cochise County to points westward including Tucson Metro and into the Tohono O`oodham Nation. HREF 3 hour QPF 40km neighborhood probabilities exceed 70% for 1 inch or and around 10% for 3 inches or more near the Tucson Metro. WPC has the area referenced above already outlined in a slight risk for excessive rainfall and that continues to look good. Greatest concern for flash flooding will be due to storm mergers/clustering as individual storm motion will be around 15 mph. Later shifts will need to consider hoisting a Flash Flood Watch for portions of the forecast area. There is also a threat for strong gusty outflow winds Sunday afternoon into evening, especially from Tucson and point north and westward where DCAPE values exceeding 1500 J/KG will assist in the development of these strong outflows. HREF members are all in agreement of this scenario with strong outflows pushing NW across Pinal County which would result in areas of blowing dust. This is also something we`ll be monitoring. The disturbance that is expected to result in the widespread convection Sunday will move to our north by Monday with the flow aloft a bit more from the south to southwest. We`ll have to see just how worked over the atmosphere is and how much subsidence there is on Monday for less convective activity. Given the flow pattern, the focus will tend to be on areas from Tucson eastward. The active and moist pattern will continue into the middle of the week and through July 4. However, it`s a little bit challenging to discern the more active days/locations at this time. By Friday and into next weekend as the high aloft reestablishes itself and strengthens to our north, our flow pattern will be more from the NE/ENE and this would be more favorable to bring storms in off the Mogollon Rim/Gila Mtns, a pattern we have yet to see this monsoon. && .AVIATION...Valid through 01/00Z. SCT-BKN clouds at 8-12k ft AGL thru the fcst period. SCT-SHRA/-TSRA with brief MVFR conds nr storms, most likely between 30/03Z and 30/11Z and then again aft 30/20Z. SFC winds 10 kts or less with the occasional afternoon gusts, except stronger due to gusty outflows from storms. Aviation discussion not updated for TAF amendments. && .FIRE WEATHER...Relatively deep moisture will stick around through the forecast period. This will bring scattered thunderstorms and showers this afternoon and especially tonight with an uptick in thunderstorms Sunday afternoon/evening. Next week will see daily chances of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Strong erratic gusty winds of 40 mph or higher can be expected with any storm development, along with locally brief heavy rainfall. Outside of thunderstorm winds, 20-foot winds will generally be 15 mph or less each afternoon with the occasional gust of 20 mph. Min RHs will generally be around 20% in the valleys and 30s in the mountains with good overnight recoveries. && .CLIMATE...The triple-digit high streak for Tucson, which currently stands at 33 consecutive days, is at risk today thanks to yesterdays two brief heavy rain events that hit the airport and cloud cover. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...None. && $$ Visit us on Facebook...Twitter...YouTube...and at weather.gov/Tucson