Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Albany, NY
Issued by NWS Albany, NY
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029 FXUS61 KALY 050801 AFDALY AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Albany NY 401 AM EDT Fri Jul 5 2024 .SYNOPSIS... With a warm and humid air mass in place and a nearby frontal boundary around, some showers and thunderstorms are possible for today. There will be a continued threat for showers and thunderstorms tonight into Saturday as a cold front moves across the region, with hot and muggy conditions remaining in place. Rain-free weather will return for Sunday into Monday, although temperatures will continue to be above normal. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 PM THIS EVENING/... As of 400 AM EDT...Surface boundary remains stalled over the region this morning. Areas south of the front are seeing a light southerly flow, while northern areas are fairly calm. All areas are fairly warm and muggy to start the day, with dewpoints around 70 F. Aloft, the flow is out of the west-southwest, with an upper level disturbance well upstream of the area over the Midwest. The weak surface front will remain stalled over the area through much of the day today, but may start to slowly lift northward as a warm front towards the early evening hours. IR satellite imagery shows fairly widespread clouds in place, mostly mid level clouds. MRMS shows some spotty showers are ongoing, especially for western New England. They showers should be pushing off to the east, so most areas will be starting the day rain-free, although it will be muggy with some patchy fog possible and a partly to mostly cloudy sky. While the morning will start off dry, there will be a threat for some showers and thunderstorms by afternoon, especially for southern areas. CAMs suggest that a cluster of showers and thunderstorms (currently over the Upper Ohio Valley) may spread towards southern areas by afternoon, although they differ on the exact placement and strength of this activity. If enough breaks of sun occurs, there could be enough instability around (about 1000 J/kg) to allow for a locally strong storm, although storms will be fairly brief due to poor lapse rates aloft. There will be some shear aloft as well, although it`s fairly top-heavy and will depend on if a storm can get tall enough. Can`t totally rule out a rogue strong wind gust today with a wet microburst when a storm collapses, but main threat may wind up being heavy downpours, as high PWATs/dewpoints could lead to high rainfall rates and some localized flooding of urban or poor drainage. This will be especially true if any location sees more than one shower or storm. While there will be a lot of clouds to start the day, there should be enough breaks to allow for partly sunny skies by the mid to late morning and into the afternoon hours. This will allow for temps to reach well into the 80s for most valley areas. Along with dewpoints in the 70s, this will make for heat index values into the low 90s. Values should be just shy of advisory criteria, but it will be close and anyone spending time outdoors should use caution to avoid heat related illnesses. && .SHORT TERM /6 PM THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... As the stalled frontal boundary lifts northward for tonight, some additional showers and storms will be possible. CAMs show a variety of different solutions for tonight as well, although western and southern areas may have the highest coverage. With the nocturnal timing, surface inversion should help prevent the threat for any strong winds, but heavy downpours will continue to be a threat. Lows will remain mild and muggy near 70 with plenty of clouds around. On Saturday, there may be some morning convection that is moving west to east to start the day after daybreak, but skies should clear out enough for a partly sunny sky by the mid to late morning hours. With another warm and very humid day (dewpoints into the mid 70s), it will be yet another day where heat index values may be close to advisory criteria in valley areas. It will probably be just short, but definitely high enough where caution should be encouraged to all spending a lot of time outdoors. In addition, there will be a threat for some additional shower and t-storms in the afternoon or evening ahead of the advancing weak surface cold front, although coverage looks fairly low, and the highest threat may be for eastern areas (Taconics into western New England). As with Friday, the main threat looks to be heavy downpours, although a rogue severe storm can`t be totally ruled out, as the upper level shortwave lifts from the upper Great Lakes and into southern Canada, so there may be some decent dynamics not too far from the area. The threat for precip will be winding down on Sat night as the surface cold front pushes eastward. Lows will fall into the 60s, although it will still be fairly humid with a partly cloudy sky. On Sunday, it still looks fairly warm, despite being behind the front. Dewpoints look a tad lower than Saturday, but still pretty sticky with values well into the 60s to near near 70. The main difference compared to Saturday will be that no precip is expected and skies will feature more sun, with a mostly sunny sky. Highs should reach well into the 80s once again, with a few spots topping out around 90. Heat index values may reach into lower 90s again for some areas. It will be dry on Sunday night with a mostly clear sky. This may allow for lows to fall a little more than the last few nights (especially in the Adirondacks), with lows ranging from the upper 50s in northern areas to the upper 60s in the Capital Region. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... The extended forecast period begins Monday with dry conditions anticipated across eastern New York and western New England courtesy of upper-level ridging aloft accompanying high pressure at the surface. It will, however, be another hot day with highs looking to reach the upper 70s/mid 80s at higher elevations and upper 80s to low 90s in large valley areas. Dewpoints will be slightly elevated, especially in the Hudson Valley where mid to upper 60s appear likely, which could make conditions fair on the uncomfortable side. However, at this time, heat indices look to remain below advisory criteria in the low 90s. Monday night into Tuesday, the upper ridging begins to weaken as an upper-level disturbance and associated frontal system strengthens upstream and slides eastward. Simultaneously, the surface anticyclone shifts south and east away from the region to allow a surface trough to build in in its wake. Some light, scattered showers are possible with this initial disturbance mainly for upslope areas (Eastern Catskills and Western Adirondacks) west of the Hudson on Tuesday morning. However, as the axis of the upper trough digs further into the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes regions throughout the day and the surface trough strengthens ahead of the primary low and attendant cold front, showers and embedded rumbles of thunder will become more widespread. There still remains some uncertainty regarding timing, but general consensus indicates a greater spatial coverage by Tuesday afternoon/evening. Showers look to continue Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, gradually becoming less widespread as the upper trough weakens and the cold front tracks through by Wednesday afternoon. Some embedded rumbles of thunder will remain possible Tuesday night, but with the loss of daytime heating and models indicating limited instability, they may be few and far between. Some additional showers and rumbles of thunder will be possible Wednesday night into Thursday morning as we remain under cyclonic flow. However, tranquil weather will return for most Thursday afternoon into Thursday night as dry air is ushered in behind the departing system. High temperatures Tuesday will be similar to Monday with upper 70s to mid 80s at higher elevations and upper 80s with pockets of near 90 elsewhere. Wednesday and Thursday will then be cooler with mid/upper 70s to low 80s above 1000 ft and mid and pockets of upper 80s in the valleys. Low temperatures Monday night and Tuesday night will range primarily in the 60s with pockets of near 70 in the Hudson Valley. Wednesday night and Thursday night will see temperatures fall to the upper 50s to mid/upper 60s. && .AVIATION /08Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... Through 06z Saturday...VFR conditions prevail at all terminals this morning with the exception of KPSF where visibility falls within the MVFR category and the ceiling has been bouncing between VFR and MVFR. These conditions are not anticipated to persist, but are likely in association with some vicinity showers that could be causing some nearby mist/light fog. The KENX radar shows widely scattered, very light showers throughout the area this morning but no real impacts have been noted at any of the terminals outside of a mention of -RA at KALB which will likely not make it to the next ob. Throughout the 06z TAF period, mainly VFR conditions are anticipated across the terminals until later this afternoon when a weak boundary looks to bring some scattered showers and thunderstorms. Based on the latest guidance, KPOU/KPSF/KALB look to be the terminals with the greatest probability to be impacted so PROB30 groups were included here between 18-01z. At least MVFR conditions are likely to accompany these storms, with IFR conditions also possible. However, confidence is not high enough at this lead time to include IFR conditions within the TAFs. Will make adjustments with future iterations where necessary. Upon the conclusion of convective activity, VFR conditions should return and prevail for the remainder of the 06z TAF period. Winds throughout the 06z cycle will begin calm to light and variable before increasing to sustained speeds of 3-6 kt out of the south to southwest. Outlook... Saturday Night: Low Operational Impact. Slight Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Sunday: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Sunday Night: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Monday: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Monday Night: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Tuesday: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Tuesday Night: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...TSRA. Wednesday: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...TSRA. && .ALY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CT...None. NY...None. MA...None. VT...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Frugis NEAR TERM...Frugis SHORT TERM...Frugis LONG TERM...Gant AVIATION...Gant