Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Charleston, WV
Issued by NWS Charleston, WV
Versions:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
195 FXUS61 KRLX 301900 AFDRLX AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Charleston WV 200 PM EST Sun Nov 30 2025 .SYNOPSIS... High pressure starts the work week off dry on Monday. More wintry weather is possible Monday night into Tuesday in an active and chilly pattern. High pressure Wednesday/Thursday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH MONDAY/... As of 200 PM Sunday... One last line of showers along the cold front crossing this afternoon represents the end of the precipitation associated with the weekend system. Any last pockets of freezing/sub- freezing temperatures over higher elevations should be eradicated by the time that line of showers crosses there in the next hour or two. Strong, gusty winds shift to the west and continue behind the cold front this afternoon, and then diminish tonight as a polar-arctic high builds toward the area. Moisture trapped below the post frontal inversion will keep clouds around well into Monday morning, before day time mixing and enough drying can break them up. Just then, high cloud will be lowering to mid cloud and thickening ahead of the next system Monday afternoon. Temperatures dropping well down into the 20s tonight, teens over the higher mountainous terrain, can result in slick spots where any moisture lingers. Temperatures Monday recover to highs from the mid 40s south to the upper 30s north and 30s over the higher terrain, above freezing for all but the very highest terrain, but still on the order of 5 to 10 degrees below normal for the beginning of December. && .SHORT TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... As of 200 PM Sunday... This period brings our next rendezvous with winter weather. Models remain consistent with surface cyclogenesis over the southeastern states in response to the approach of the next southern stream short wave trough. The key here is southern stream, and with only weak phasing with the northern stream, the air mass with the polar-arctic high that crosses Monday will be marginally cold enough for snow even with a synoptically correct track, southeast of the area, for the crystalline hydrometeors. With the track close enough to the central Appalachians for lee cyclogenesis over the middle Ohio Valley, the classic warm wedge effect sets up, with snow and/or a wintry mix changing over to rain Monday night and Tuesday, at least across the lowlands along and southeast of the Ohio River. The event may actually start out as just rain across the southern coal fields. There may be a transition zone with freezing rain in the middle Ohio Valley overnight Monday night. At least Winter Weather Advisories may be needed for snow and/or freezing rain across portions of the middle Ohio Valley. The mountains are where things get trickiest, with a more classic setup for cold air damming along and southeast thereof, compared with this weekend. There, at least Winter Weather Advisories may again be needed for snow and ice accumulations. While the highest precipitation amounts with this system will fall southeast of the forecast area, precipitation within the forecast area will be more widespread and heavier than with the weekend system, potentially resulting in greater winter weather impacts. There may be a transition back to snow before precipitation ends Tuesday night, especially in the mountains, where precipitation lingers longest. Temperatures with the system bottom out in the 20s in the mountains, and the northern and western lowlands, and low 30s over the southern coal fields, Monday night, then recover to just the 30s for most locations on Tuesday, before dropping back into the 20s in the wake of the system Tuesday night, teens over the higher terrain. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... As of 200 PM Sunday... This period may bring yet another rendezvous or two with winter weather. High pressure mainly of polar-pacific origin provides dry, modestly cold weather Wednesday. A cold front crosses early Thursday, with little if any precipitation. A polar-arctic high in the wake of the front brings in somewhat colder air, again marginally cold enough for mixed wintry precipitation when the next southern stream system tracks mainly southeast of the area Friday into next weekend. Upslope flow behind the system, and then another southern stream system following right on its heels, possibly as soon as Sunday, make teasing out a dry interlude next weekend difficult. Temperatures remain modestly below normal through the long term, the coldest day being Thursday and coldest night Thursday night, behind the early Thursday cold frontal passage. && .AVIATION /18Z SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... As of 200 PM Sunday... MVFR stratocumulus persisting in the wake of a cold front crossing the area this afternoon was lifting into a VFR deck across the southern lowlands, CRW and HTS, and may do so farther and farther north during the rest of the lowlands afternoon, reaching PKB and CKB. Any VFR ceilings should settle back to MVFR tonight that will then persist well into Monday morning, before lifting into a VFR cumulus deck and scattering out come early Monday afternoon. One nuance in the forecast was IFR fog earlier at BKW, which was thinning out, and the IFR stratus there, which should lift into a low MVFR deck by 00Z. West winds gusting up to around 25 kts behind the cold front this afternoon, will gradually diminish tonight, and be calm to light and variable overnight tonight and Monday as surface high pressure crosses. Moderate northwest flow aloft this afternoon will gradually diminish tonight, and then become light anticyclonic Monday, as high pressure also crosses aloft. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: High. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Timing of ceiling category changes could vary. IFR ceilings cannot be ruled out in the mountains overnight tonight into Monday morning. EXPERIMENTAL TABLE OF FLIGHT CATEGORY OBJECTIVELY SHOWS CONSISTENCY OF WFO FORECAST TO AVAILABLE MODEL INFORMATION: H = HIGH: TAF CONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. M = MEDIUM: TAF HAS VARYING LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY WITH MODELS. L = LOW: TAF INCONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL. UTC 1HRLY 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 01 02 03 04 05 EST 1HRLY 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 00 CRW CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H M M H H M HTS CONSISTENCY H M H H H H H M M H H H BKW CONSISTENCY H H H H H M H H H H H H EKN CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H PKB CONSISTENCY H H M H H H H H H H H H CKB CONSISTENCY H H H H H H H H H H H H AFTER 18Z MONDAY... IFR conditions possible in rain and/or snow Monday night into Tuesday. && .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...None. OH...None. KY...None. VA...None. && $$ SYNOPSIS...TRM NEAR TERM...TRM SHORT TERM...TRM LONG TERM...TRM AVIATION...TRM