


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Portland, ME
Issued by NWS Portland, ME
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833 FXUS61 KGYX 090922 AFDGYX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Gray ME 522 AM EDT Wed Jul 9 2025 .SYNOPSIS... A cooling trend starts today with a chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Chances for afternoon showers and storms stay in the forecast through Thursday. High pressure will bring a dry period Friday into the weekend with increasing temperatures. Shower activity and possible heat returns the beginning of next week. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TODAY/... 520 AM Update...Mainly just freshened up PoPs as the area of showers that moved through southern New Hampshire overnight will be exiting off the coast over the next hour. Lack of instability kept these as run of the mill showers with light rates. Isolated light showers will continue in the mountains and foothills through the morning before coverage increases this afternoon. Previous Discussion... Impacts and Key Messages: * Showers and thunderstorms today may contain brief downpours. With many locations saturated from recent rainfall, minor localized flooding is possible. Backdoor cold front continues to march thru NH overnight. East of the front cooler temps but a still moist air mass will support low clouds and some patchy fog. The most dense fog should remain over the waters however. The front has also undercut the instability...with convection expected to remain elevated thru morning. Showers continue to percolate along the gradient between the remaining elevated instability and stable air to the north. The 09.00z GYX sounding showed around 600 J/kg MUCAPE locally...but the OKX sounding was over 3000 J/kg. So as long as we keep southwest winds aloft...some advection of this instability will continue overnight. That should be good enough to warrant PoP remaining in the forecast overnight...but slowly diminishing to chance/slight chance by morning. We also still have PWAT values near 2 inches...so any convection is going to be capable of brief torrential rain. 1 to 2 inches per hour is possible with any shower. If a flood threat were to evolve it would be because the heaviest showers start to train in the same location. The frontal boundary remains stalled south of the area which will continue forcing for showers and thunderstorms this morning and this afternoon. CAMs continue to suggest the possibility of more robust convection reaching southern New Hampshire early this morning currently being driven north by a cold pool. With PWATs still around 2 inches, these could contain heavy rainfall rates, but this is also an area that didn`t see much rain yesterday so flooding issues may be limited especially if they remain progressive. This will remain true as shower and thunderstorm coverage increases again this afternoon. THe HREF is still modeling PWATs around around 1.5", but as long as showers/storms stay progressive we shouldn`t see many issues. Corfidi vectors are more around 20kts tomorrow so there isn`t a threat for training like there was yesterday and overnight. Tomorrow will begin a cooling trend as high temperatures top out in the 70s across much of the area with warmer temperatures in the 80s holding on in the Connecticut River Valley. && .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/... Impacts and Key Messages: * Trends for Thursday will have to monitored as there is potential for strong thunderstorms to enter our CWA. Tonight: A trough digging into the area will support scattered showers overnight. With PWATs still modeled at 1-1.25" any more robust showers could contain brief downpours, but the progressive nature of them should preclude any flooding issues. Otherwise, a cool night in the lower 60s is expected. Thursday: The trough will swing through during the day Thursday into the evening providing the forcing for showers and afternoon thunderstorms. The latest runs of the CAMs suggest a sharp CAPE gradient on the boarder of Vermont and New Hampshire with maybe a couple hundred joules of CAPE making it into western New Hampshire. Shear also looks modest, on the order of 30-40 kts, so some stronger storms look possible. SPC currently has western New Hampshire in a Marginal risk which seems appropriate as this set up looks marginal at best, but the trends will be worth monitoring. With PWATs still around 1.5" WPC also has western New Hampshire in a marginal risk, but storm motion once again looks progressive, so while brief downpours are likely in thunderstorms, flash flooding should not be an issue. Thursday will be the coolest day this week with temperatures in the low to mid 70s areawide (maybe a little warmer again in the Connecticut River Valley). && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... Evening update... No significant changes to the long term forecast with the inclusion of the latest NBM. The first part of the weekend continues to look dry with deep layer ridging building over the region. After that we will see another trough approach the region early next week bringing back afternoon showers and thunderstorms through midweek. Temperatures will also trend back above normal toward midweek. Previous Discussion... Impacts and Key Messages: * Summer pattern with periods of showers and thunderstorms * No strong signals for any significant severe or flash flooding thunderstorms at this time. Front is expect clear the area by Friday morning with some lingering daytime instability showers possible in the mountains, but westerly flow is expected. Ridging is expected for most of the weekend with building heat once again, but looking dry at this point for Saturday. The second shortwave trough will approach the area by late Sunday, with some timing difference is the ensemble guidance. There is a chance for thunderstorms late Sunday, but timing of this feature is plus or minus 18hrs at this point, so will see how things trend. Overall looks like a descent summer weekend, albeit a little warm. Shower activity chances and heat likely to build the beginning the next week as temperatures trend back above normal for the heart of summer. && .AVIATION /09Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Short Term...MVFR will be the prevailing condition today with maybe some terminals able to break out into low VFR for a bit. Showers and thunderstorms will be in the area in the area as well, but will be widely scattered with low probabilities of any one terminal seeing restrictions so there is no inclusion in the TAFs at this time. Low MVFR ceilings or IFR fog is possible tonight as abundant low level moisture remains in the area. Thursday may be a similar situation with persistent MVFR ceilings and a better chance for afternoon thunderstorms. Long Term...Showers and thunderstorms expected on Thursday with clearing for Friday through Saturday with VFR conditions expected. && .MARINE... Short Term...Wind gusts and seas remain below SCA criteria through Thursday as high pressure looks to nose in over the waters. Fog development is likely tonight with onshore flow. Thunderstorms may move over the waters Thursday afternoon. Long Term...Conditions are expected to remain below SCA conditions through this period. Thunderstorms are possible over the coastal water Thursday evening. && .GYX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ME...None. NH...None. MARINE...None. && $$ NEAR TERM...Baron/Legro SHORT TERM...Baron/Legro LONG TERM...Baron/Dumont