Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Brownsville, TX
Issued by NWS Brownsville, TX
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922 FXUS64 KBRO 050009 AAA AFDBRO Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Brownsville TX 609 PM CST Wed Dec 4 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SHORT TERM... (Tonight through Thursday night) Issued at 251 PM CST Wed Dec 4 2024 An area of low pressure along or just inland of the Coastal Bend with its associated frontal boundary stretching south just off the Texas coast. The low lifts northeast across the NW Gulf tonight filling in as it moves along the northern Gulf coast Thursday while the frontal boundary extends southwest becoming draped across the County Warning Area (CWA). Clouds linger and lower overnight with some patchy fog potentially reforming by sunrise. Lows not as cool with upper 50s to near 60 north and west and low to mid 60s for the Mid and Lower RGV. Near 70 degrees looks on the mark for SPI. For the coastal beaches tonight will keep any coastal flood statements or advisories nil at this time. Offshore pressure gradient weakens with winds and seas continuing to lower. The local coastal flood matrix with a predicted MHHW water level of 0.3 maintain water levels just below statement levels during the high tide cycle of 8 PM-Midnight. A high risk of rip currents will be maintained through Thursday. Surface high pressure builds north of the front and weak mid-level ridging moves over Texas Thursday providing a temporarily reprieve of total overcast an grey conditions. Rain chances do not go away completely Thursday with only slight chances, mainly along the coast and the Lower RGV expecting a 20% chance for most of the daytime hours. Farther west, and in most of the CWA, some breaks in the overcast Thursday allow for temperatures to warm up a bit with model consensus in the upper 60s to near 70 for the Northern Ranchlands to mid 70s for the RGV. Rain chances go up substantially Thursday night with the mid-level ridge being pushed east as a an upper low settling. Weak disturbances and overall increasing ascent within the southwest flow, deep moisture and the frontal boundary nearby should be sufficient for likely Pops of 60% areawide Thursday night. Rainfall amounts of around one-tenth of inch is showing up in the latest QPF with low-medium probability (20-40%) of higher amounts 0.25 inch or greater after midnight Thursday night/Friday morning. && .LONG TERM... (Friday through next Wednesday) Issued at 251 PM CST Wed Dec 4 2024 The overall pattern for the long term starts with a closed low over AZ. Early in the weekend, the low will become a positively tilted trough and dig south, bringing southwesterly flow aloft to deep south Texas. This will keep temperatures mild and bring unsettled weather, in tandem with the meandering coastal low in the western Gulf. The interactions between these systems will bring chances of rain. QPFs daily through Sunday are as high as 0.25 inches, primarily along the coast, although low confidence in forcing mechanism timing leaves us with low to moderate PoPs (20-50%) Friday through Sunday. For festivities planning, rain chances this weekend - especially overnights and along the coast - are elevated. Guidance disagrees on when the chance of rain is highest. Right now, Friday has the highest agreement between models in the sense of... It Could Rain. The highest chance is in the northern ranchlands (50%), with a low chance in the Lower Vally (20-30%). Showers may be brief but heavy pop-ups. To begin the workweek, the trough formerly over AZ will eject a cold front - likely to be dry - although confidence in speed, depth, and trajectory between guidance is not high. ECMWF guidance moves the front much quicker than North American/GEFS. GEFS is anticipating much less moisture loss following fropa, which will play a factor in the high temperatures reached early next week. Following the front early next week, a benign pattern with surface high pressure is expected for the remainder of the period keeping temperatures mild and rain chances low. High uncertainty in temperatures for the beginning of the period. Models on Friday are all over the place - NAM expecting around 60, Euro expecting mid 60s, NBM expecting around 70, GFS expecting 80. The location of the coastal trough on Friday and Saturday will be the biggest factor in the temperatures felt early in the period. The coastal low parking offshore will bring northerly flow, keeping temperatures mild, however if the low situates itself inland (like GFS anticipates), southerly flow will dominate and rise temperatures. A majority of the models don`t anticipate the high to drop below 60, nor rise much beyond 77. && .AVIATION... (00Z TAFS) Issued at 544 PM CST Wed Dec 4 2024 MVFR Conditions are expected over area airports this evening going into tonight due to low cloud ceilings (between 1200 and 1900 feet) that remain over the area. Overnight, conditions are are expected to become IFR between 09z-10z and there is the potential for ceilings to get down to LIFR during intermittent periods between 09-14z. There could also be some patchy fog or mist in addition to the lower ceilings. Winds are expected to be light and variable this evening into tonight, shifting to a more northerly direction and slightly increasing (around 5-8 knots) between 06z and 09z. There is a small window of LLWS (25-30 knots) at around 2000-3000 ft from 00z to 06z above the inversion particularly at BRO, but confidence was too low to include in the TAF package. && .MARINE... Issued at 251 PM CST Wed Dec 4 2024 Tonight through Thursday night...pressure greater remains strong over the Gulf waters with a low pressure area analyzed just inland of the Texas coastal Bend. Buoy 42020 continues to observer Small Craft Advisories (SCA) conditions with South winds of 20-25 knots and seas 10-11 feet as of Noon. Pressure gradient is expected to weaken later this afternoon as the low fills in and lifts northeast over the NW Gulf tonight. Seas will be slow to subside ahead of the diminishing winds and the SCA for the Gulf waters will be extended until at least 10 PM. Thursday and Thursday night a frontal boundary to be draped across the coastal waters most of Thursday before dropping just south of the waters tomorrow night. High pressure builds to the north and east of the region providing moderate north to northeast winds and a moderate sea. Although not anticipating SCA`s Thursday night, there is a low probability (10-30%)of seas exceeding 6 feet after midnight (Thursday night/Friday morning). Scattered to widespread showers to continue through the period. Friday through next Wednesday...Moderate to light northeasterly flow Friday morning will diminish through the day and leave favorable conditions for Friday night. Showers reducing visibility and degrading conditions temporarily are possible through the weekend, as high as 70% on offshore waters on Friday and decreasing to 30-40% through Monday. A cold front is expected to move through early next week, which could again increase winds and elevate seas. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BROWNSVILLE 66 75 66 78 / 10 40 50 50 HARLINGEN 62 75 61 74 / 10 20 60 50 MCALLEN 63 75 62 71 / 0 10 60 40 RIO GRANDE CITY 60 72 58 68 / 0 10 70 50 SOUTH PADRE ISLAND 69 74 70 76 / 20 50 60 50 BAYVIEW/PORT ISABEL 65 74 65 76 / 10 40 60 50 && .BRO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...Small Craft Advisory until 10 PM CST this evening for TXZ455. High Rip Current Risk through Thursday afternoon for TXZ451-454- 455. High Surf Advisory until 6 PM CST this evening for TXZ451-454- 455. GM...Small Craft Advisory until 10 PM CST this evening for GMZ150-155- 170-175. && $$ SHORT TERM...59-GB LONG TERM....69-HK AVIATION...55-MM