


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Albany, NY
Issued by NWS Albany, NY
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700 FXUS61 KALY 041530 AFDALY AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Albany NY 1130 AM EDT Fri Apr 4 2025 .SYNOPSIS... Dry and mild today before a wet weekend ensues. Expect rain to overspread the region tomorrow morning with wintry mix in the higher peaks of the southern Adirondacks and southern Greens. Rain turns steady at times Saturday night into Sunday morning before starting to exit. As the front stalls south of I-90, periods of rain showers linger Sunday night into Monday. Then, a strong cold front sweeps through on Tuesday resulting in much below normal temperatures and even some snow showers. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Key Message: - Dry, pleasant day today with seasonably warm temperatures before rain showers arrive from west to east towards sunrise. Discussion: A nice spring day is shaping up across eastern NY and western New England today as our boundary remains positions well to our south and west to northwest winds advect a much drier air mass into the region and Canadian high pressure builds eastward into NY. Forecast soundings suggest boundary mixing depends towards 850 hPa this afternoon and given increasing afternoon sun, agree with the previous forecaster`s thinking that temperatures will end up on the higher end of the envelope. Most should up in the upper 50s to low 60s with mid-60s in the mid-Hudson Valley and NW CT. Dew points will turn dry today in this regime dropping well into the 20s and we adjusted dew points towards as well. Westerly winds shift to the northwest this afternoon and remain a bit gusty reaching up to 25-30mph. Heading into tonight, upper level ridging and subsidence amplifies overhead in response to a sfc low and associated warm front advancing northeastward out of the Ohio Valley. This will effectively maintain dry conditions through at least the pre- dawn hours with clouds also remaining thin through at least Midnight. Light winds and the delay to thicker cloud coverage will allow temperatures to cool into the 30s to low 40s before the leading edge of the warm air and moisture advection finally pushes into eastern NY by 09 - 12 UTC. Similar to the previous forecast, chance and likely POPs for rain initially arrive in the western Mohawk Valley, northern/eastern Catskills, and western/southern Adirondacks during this window while areas to the east only have chance POPs. The higher peaks of the southern Adirondacks look to see rain/snow mix or mainly wet snow due to wet-bulbing effects. && .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... Key Messages: - Widespread rainfall begins late tonight with a low to medium (20 to 60%) probability of 0.01" of freezing rain at the highest elevations of the Southwest Adirondacks and Southern Greens through tomorrow morning. - Periods of rain continue through at least Sunday morning before tapering off Sunday afternoon, yielding a weekend total of 0.5" to 1" of rainfall regionwide. Discussion: By this evening, the aforementioned surface high and upper-level ridge will slide overhead before beginning their departure to the east. Clouds will begin to increase ahead of an incoming surface wave and upper-level shortwave with low temperatures falling to the 30s and 40s. Rain will begin to overspread the region late tonight/early Saturday morning from west to east as the surface wave deepens into an area of low pressure and warm air advection and isentropic lift increase ahead of its attendant warm front. Some wet snow will likely mix in at the higher elevations of the Southwest Adirondacks and Southern Greens at onset with surface temperatures at or near freezing and small pockets of dry air near the surface providing a wetbulb effect. However, as warm air advection continues to increase, a low to mid-level warm nose will develop and snow could transition to freezing rain. There is a bit of uncertainty in this element of the forecast, however. With the aforementioned high sitting just off to our east by precipitation onset early Saturday morning, southeast winds will help to dam cold air up against southeastward-facing slopes of the Southwest Adirondacks and Southern Greens. While this seems probable with probabilities of temperatures falling to 32F or lower ranging from 50 to 90% in these areas, forecast soundings are not completely in agreement in their depiction of the depth of the warm nose. Timing wise, the window of potential freezing rain looks to fall between 6 AM and 10 AM with the highest probability potentially falling between the hours of 8 AM to 10 AM such that the warm nose has time to grow deep enough to support this precipitation type. Therefore, to convey the uncertainty of the forecast, at the highest peaks of the Southwest Adirondacks and Southern Greens where temperatures will remain at or just below freezing during this time, input snow with a slight chance of freezing rain from 6 AM to 8 AM and snow with a chance of freezing rain from 8 AM to 10 AM. Advisories may be needed in the near future for portions of these areas given the 20 to 60% probabilities for at least 0.01" of ice accretion, but after discussion with neighboring offices, we decided that there was too much uncertainty to consider their issuance at this time. After 10 AM, any lingering mixed precipitation should transition to plain rain and periods of such, becoming moderate at times, will continue throughout the day Saturday as the aforementioned warm front nears the region. High temperatures will be cooler than today with widespread 40s and upper 30s at higher elevations. By Saturday night, the primary surface low moves overhead, allowing the warm front to pass through and rain to continue as lows will generally be above freezing, ranging widely from the mid 30s to low 40s. Some wet snowflakes could mix in at the highest elevations of the Southwest Adirondacks and Southern Greens where temperatures near freezing but accumulations will be minimal. Rain continues into Sunday as the low moves east from overhead and its attendant cold front moves through the region. Widespread rain will become more scattered and showery in nature by Sunday afternoon before dry conditions are reinforced Sunday night. Highs Sunday will range widely from the 40s to 50s with pockets of upper 30s in the Southwest Adirondacks before low temperatures fall to the 20s and 30s in the wake of the departing front. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... Key Messages: - High confidence in below normal temperatures beginning next Tuesday. 30-60% chance of one inch of snow in mountain areas Monday night into Tuesday. Winds become strong/gusty on Tuesday. Discussion: On Mon, a front will be positioned to our south and east and moving farther away during the day. A few rain/snow showers could linger into the morning, but otherwise most of the day looks dry with near normal temperatures. Mon night into Tue a vigorous upper level trough approaching from the upper Great Lakes is forecast to become negatively tilted as it tracks into the lower Great Lakes by early Tue morning. This will result in rapid cyclogenesis, with guidance indicating the primary cyclone developing just north of our area and eventually tracking east into northern New England on Tue. So the main forcing looks to occur from a trailing cold front, with mainly scattered valley rain/snow and mountain snow showers. NBM probs indicate a 30-60% chance of > 1" snow in mountain areas. Some valley areas could see a dusting. As the cyclone deepens, northwest winds will become quite gusty on Tue as well. Temperatures will be at least 10 degrees below normal. Cold/breezy and dry conditions expected Tue night into Wed, although winds don`t look quite as strong as the system pulls farther away. Both high/low temperatures should be around 10 degrees below normal. High pressure then moves east across the area Wed afternoon into Wed night bringing continued dry but cool conditions. Some moderation should occur on Thu, as the high shifts east off the coast and a warmer southerly flow develops. && .AVIATION /15Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... Through 12z Saturday...VFR conditions are expected to prevail through the 24 hour TAF period. BKN mid level clouds will be around for a few more hours this morning, then just BKN high level cirrus clouds expected through around 06z-08z. Mid level clouds will then increase ahead of the next system approaching from the west but remain at VFR levels. Winds today will become north-northwest later this morning and increase to 10-15 kt with gusts of 15-25 kt developing. Winds will gradually subside to less than 5 kt tonight. Outlook... Saturday Night: High Operational Impact. Breezy. Definite SHRA...RA. Sunday: High Operational Impact. Likely SHRA. Sunday Night: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of SHRA...SHSN. Monday: Low Operational Impact. Slight Chance of SHRA...SHSN. Monday Night: Moderate Operational Impact. Breezy. Chance of SHRA...SHSN. Tuesday: Moderate Operational Impact. Breezy. Chance of SHSN. Tuesday Night: Low Operational Impact. Breezy. NO SIG WX. Wednesday: Low Operational Impact. Breezy. NO SIG WX. && .FIRE WEATHER... While RH values today are expected to drop to 30- 40% in the Hudson Valley, wind gusts will generally remain in the 15- 20 mph range or lower, except for around the Capital District where more frequent gusts to around 20 to 25 mph are possible this afternoon. Nevertheless, given the limited overlap of stronger winds and lower RH values, combined with the recent precipitation, the potential for fire spread today does not look to be high enough to warrant SPS issuance at this time. Widespread rain is expected late tonight into the weekend, which should further mitigate any fire weather concerns through early next week. && .ALY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CT...None. NY...None. MA...None. VT...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Gant/Speciale NEAR TERM...Speciale SHORT TERM...Gant LONG TERM...JPV AVIATION...JPV FIRE WEATHER...Gant/Main