


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Phoenix, AZ
Issued by NWS Phoenix, AZ
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677 FXUS65 KPSR 142320 AFDPSR Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Phoenix AZ 420 PM MST Tue Oct 14 2025 .UPDATE...Updated Aviation Discussion && .KEY MESSAGES... -Dry and tranquil weather conditions will prevail during the remainder of the week with temperatures remaining below normal. -Breezy to locally windy conditions can be expected this afternoon and evening, with the strongest winds confined over southeast California. && .SHORT TERM /Today through Wednesday/... After a very active weather stretch that started late last week, a much quieter weather pattern is finally taking shape across the region. Early afternoon water vapor satellite shows a potent upper trough centered near the central CA coastline with dry southwesterly flow entrenched across the region. This dry air advection has scoured out most of the moisture that has been in place since late last week with the latest SPC mesoanalysis showing PWAT values now ranging between 0.5-0.6". As a result, mostly clear skies are being observed with rain chances now near zero and likely to remain this way for the foreseeable future. With the upper trough in the process of moving onshore, height falls and a tightening of the regional pressure gradient will continue to promote breezy to locally windy conditions this afternoon and evening, with the strongest winds expected across portions of SE CA, particularly across the higher terrain areas. Heading into Wednesday, as the upper trough moves inland through the Great Basin and the pressure gradient weakens, winds will gradually relax. Under the influence of the upper trough, afternoon high temperatures will remain a solid 8-13 degrees below normal during the next couple of days. High temperatures this afternoon will top out in the low 80s across the lower deserts. Even lower afternoon highs are expected on Wednesday with readings only topping out in the mid to upper 70s. Early morning lows will also be below normal with readings bottoming out in the mid to upper 50s across the more rural areas to around 60 degrees across the more urban areas. && .LONG TERM /Thursday through Monday/... The core of negative height anomalies will have lifted into the northern Rockies/plains and weakened substantially during the latter half of the week, albeit with positively tilted troughing lingering into the SW Conus. Persistent westerly flow will ensure further moisture erosion throughout the week while H5 heights hovering below 578dm will keep temperatures sequestered 4F-8F below normal, though larger than expected ensemble numerical spread only yields moderate confidence with temperature potentially warming faster than forecast. Nevertheless by the weekend, there is good model agreement that some form of shortwave ridging will build into the SW Conus with H5 heights possibly exceeding 588dm and temperature rebounding into a near normal range. The majority of ensemble output shows the next Pacific trough early next week remaining north of the forecast area before potentially amplifying downstream over the plains (a very La Nina-like pattern). However, enough membership (including the operational GFS) shows vorticity and strong jet energy digging close enough to the CWA to possibly incur strong, gusty winds and reemergence of below normal temperatures. Regardless, there is little to no model evidence of any better moisture source returning, and the prevailing dry weather should continue. && .AVIATION...Updated at 2320Z. South Central Arizona including KPHX, KIWA, KSDL, and KDVT: No major aviation concerns are expected during the TAF period. Breezy conditions will gradually relax through the remainder of the evening with light winds prevailing overnight. The usual nightly E`shift does not appear certain as W winds appeared to be favored with window of variability during this timeframe. FEW-SCT low clouds with bases 4-6k ft will be present through much of the nighttime hours. Greater cloud coverage may be observed to the east of the Phoenix airspace Southeast California/Southwest Arizona including KIPL and KBLH: Besides some marginal breeziness this evening at both terminals with gusts 20-25 kts, no major aviation concerns are expected over the next 24 hours. Winds will favor a W`rly component through the period with some variability being observed overnight at KBLH. FEW- SCT low clouds with bases around 7-8k ft will be present through tonight before clear skies take over by Wednesday morning. && .FIRE WEATHER... Drier air across western districts will completely sweep through the entire region today and Wednesday bringing the start to a prolonged period of more tranquil weather. While minimum humidity levels will only fall into a 30-50% range the next couple days, values will retreat closer to a 20-35% range during the latter half of the week. Overnight recovery will largely be good to excellent above 50%. Locally gusty winds 20-30 mph will be common today, particularly across western districts, however winds will be far weaker the remainder of the week with limited gustiness. && .PSR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AZ...None. CA...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Lojero LONG TERM...18 AVIATION...RW FIRE WEATHER...18