


Area Forecast Discussion
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Issued by NWS
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557 FXUS64 KLUB 110521 AFDLUB Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 1221 AM CDT Sat Oct 11 2025 ...New KEY MESSAGES, SHORT TERM, LONG TERM, AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... Updated at 1221 AM CDT Sat Oct 11 2025 - Breezy and warm conditions are expected today and Sunday. - Cooler temperatures, with increasing chances for showers and thunderstorms, arrive late Sunday through Tuesday. - Drier and warmer conditions are forecast through the end of next week. && .SHORT TERM... (Today and tonight) Issued at 1221 AM CDT Sat Oct 11 2025 03Z upper air analysis depicts an amplified pattern over North America, with a well-defined, subtropical ridge centered over northern Mexico; and a neutrally-tilting, shortwave trough digging into the Chehalis River Valley. A subtle vorticity maximum was analyzed on water-vapor imagery over the Desert Southwest, with several baroclinic-leaf-like structures advecting poleward over the southern Rocky Mountains. (These features will have implications in the long-term forecast.) The mid-level vortex of the subtropical ridge was misaligned from 250 mb, and was rotating over the S TX Brush Country, or more specifically near DRT, as seen on the 11/00Z RAOB. Bands of cirrus were beginning to advect over portions of W TX, and will continue to expand and thicken throughout the course of the short-term period as the plume of large-scale ascent over the Desert Southwest gradually shifts eastward. Low-level flow remained backed to the south and southeast, as observed by the 11/00Z RAOBs at WFOs AMA and MAF, which kept the boundary-layer somewhat moist despite the deep mixing that has since decoupled. At the surface, a weak anticyclone was located along the Red River Valley near the I-35 corridor, with a broad, persistent fetch of southeasterly winds continuing to advect through the CWA. Farther north, a north-south-oriented, quasi-stationary front was located along the lee of the central Rocky Mountains, which connects to a surface low near LAA. The quasi-stationary front then bends eastward into KS, which will remain north of the CWA as it will eventually undergo warm-frontogenesis. Surface winds will veer poleward later this morning, as the lee cyclone in southeastern CO deepens and generates a strengthening isallobaric response beneath the ejection of the leading shortwave trough. Southerly winds between 15-25 mph will be common across the Caprock, while diminishing slightly across the Rolling Plains. High temperatures will be similar to Friday, with mixing heights capped near 700 mb due to veered/westerly flow advecting across the apex of the weakening subtropical ridge. Cirrostratus will continue to thicken throughout the day, which will also aid in preventing warmer temperatures from coming to fruition and keep RH reductions in check this afternoon. Winds will remain breezy heading into tonight while also veering southwestward, with the resultant effects of adiabatic compression expected to keep lows in the middle 60s for most of the CWA by Sunday morning. Sincavage && .LONG TERM... (Sunday through Friday) Issued at 1221 AM CDT Sat Oct 11 2025 By Sunday, the leading shortwave trough will have ejected into the northern Great Plains, while series of smaller-scale perturbations translate through the cyclonic flow that extends into the southern Great Plains. The development of a longer-wave trough over the western U.S. will also cause the subtropical ridge to substantially dampen, with its apex shifting eastward and over the Middle MS River Valley. Surface flow will remain veered to the southwest area-wide Sunday, with similar high temperatures expected once again. However, moistening of the mid- and high-level isentropes will occur as the armada of shortwave perturbations eject over the southern Great Plains, resulting in a thickening of cloud cover and highly-elevated convection. Virga showers will be possible area-wide throughout the day Sunday, followed by an increasing potential for elevated showers and thunderstorms during the overnight hours Sunday into Monday. NBM continues to handle this scenario well, with PoPs confined to the Caprock prior to sunset Sunday and expanding area-wide. Trailing the ejection of the leading shortwave trough over the northern Great Plains will be a synoptic cold front, which is forecast to slow in its southward progression Monday as the subtropical ridge begins to amplify once again. A temperature gradient of nearly 20 degrees remains forecast Monday, with the coolest temperatures across the northern zones. Although FGEN will be weakening, the contribution of low-level FGEN beneath the belt of DPVA aloft will foster the potential for rounds of fast-moving showers and storms across most of the CWA Monday. The alignment of the cloud-layer flow relative to the position of the weakening front will favor the potential for training; however, the fast storm motions will mitigate the flash flooding potential despite PWAT values between 3-4 standard deviations above the mean, as indicated in the recent NAEFS/ENS guidance. The potential for fast-moving showers and storms will last into overnight hours into Tuesday morning, with the intensity of convection gradually waning as frontolysis is completed. PoPs are forecast to diminish by late Tuesday, as the subtropical ridge will continue to amplify and become centered over S TX, shifting the cyclonic flow northwest of the CWA. Drier and warmer conditions are then reflected through the middle and end of next week. Sincavage && .AVIATION... (06Z TAFS) Issued at 1221 AM CDT Sat Oct 11 2025 VFR will prevail at all sites through this TAF period. Initially light winds will increase and turn south-southwesterly by late morning, then become breezy this afternoon. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...09 LONG TERM....09 AVIATION...30