Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Springfield, MO
Issued by NWS Springfield, MO
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120 FXUS63 KSGF 281140 AFDSGF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Springfield MO 540 AM CST Fri Nov 28 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Widespread precipitation chances (85-100%) tonight through Saturday. Most areas will remain as rain with areas along and east of Highway 63 seeing some brief snow or rain-snow mix Friday night into Saturday morning. No wintry impacts expected. - Breezy winds expected tonight through Sunday morning with gusts up to 25-35 mph. A few stray gusts up to 40-45 mph are possible (30-50% chance). This will result in single digit wind chills Sunday morning as a colder air mass moves in. - Another system will bring a 30-50% chance of precipitation Monday. Any precipitation that does occur will likely be snow (80-90% chance). Any accumulations would be light. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 300 AM CST Fri Nov 28 2025 The upper-level longwave pattern in place consists of a deep, energetic trough over the eastern CONUS, centered just north east of the Great Lakes. Over the western CONUS, the general flow is more zonal, but RAP analysis paired with water vapor imagery shows a weak shortwave near the Four Corners region, and a more compact and energetic shortwave entering the Pacific Northwest. This particular shortwave will be our main weather- maker this weekend. But first, the right entrance region of a jet streak associated with the eastern CONUS longwave trough is forcing a very weak surface low pressure center over our area. This is resulting in light and variable winds across the region. This will slowly change as the Pacific NW shortwave drops towards the region, kickstarting strong surface cyclogenesis and associated wind speeds and warm air advection. Widespread precipitation chances tonight through Saturday: Increasing synoptic ascent from positive vorticity advection ahead of the shortwave, and strengthening warm air advection and frontogenesis associated with the surface cyclone will force widespread precipitation across our area (85-100% chance), beginning this evening. The precipitation shield will move in from west to east, beginning at the I-49 area around 8-9 PM, the Highway 65 area around 10-11 PM, and the Highway 63 area around 1-2 AM. Confidence is high that this precipitation will fall mainly as rain for the vast majority of the area as the strong warm air advection keeps lows tonight in the middle 30s to lower 40s, and highs Saturday in the 40s. Model guidance is in pretty good agreement on most areas seeing between 0.25-0.75", with the greater amounts focused east of Highway 65. Some areas may see a bit higher amounts if a thunderstorm or two is able to develop. HREF mean soundings show very meager MUCAPE of around 100 J/kg. This is mainly due to the NAMNest showing 250-500 J/kg while most other models sit near 0. That said, this introduces a low chance for a few rumbles of thunder tonight and Saturday. Some minimally impactful snow may briefly mix in east of Hwy 63: While all rain is expected in the vast majority of our area, some snow may briefly mix in (or be dominant) along and east of Highway 63 where the best chance for near freezing temperatures exists. We say "best chance", because it`s still not very high with the HREF showing a 10-15% chance of surface temperatures near 32 F. Any snow that mixes in would occur between 1 and 8 AM Saturday before warmer air and all rain advects northeastward. With near surface temperatures likely just above 32 F, rain potentially mixing in, strong near surface winds, and wet bulb temperatures near 0 F, any snow should quickly melt upon impact with little to no accumulation expected. The only wintry impact that may occur is a period of slushy roads early Saturday morning, but even that is a stretch with >32 F near surface temperatures. The system is expected to exit Saturday evening as the main cold front sweeps through. During this period, some light snow showers may quickly move through, though most deterministic guidance from CAMs and the RAP show sub-freezing temperatures staying behind the cold front while precipitation stays ahead of the cold front, pointing to mainly rain as the system exits. Breezy winds with gusts up to 25-35 mph expected through Sunday: While the rain is ongoing, south-southeasterly winds will also pick up Friday night through Sunday as a roaring 50-60 kt low- level jet translates overhead (this is greater than the 99.5th percentile LLJ for late November/early December). BUFKit momentum transfers along with probabilistic guidance suggests frequent gusts in the 25-35 mph range. NBM QMD guidance does give a 30-50% chance for at least a few 40-45 mph wind gusts sprinkled in throughout the day, especially along the Ozark Plateau. This is supported by the EFI becoming >0.7 along the Plateau with one shift of the tail suggesting some members along the higher end of the gust spectrum. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... Issued at 300 AM CST Fri Nov 28 2025 Single digit wind chills Sunday morning with a colder air mass: The breezy conditions advecting in a colder air mass will bring low temperatures into the lower 20s Saturday night, with highs struggling to reach 32 F Sunday. This will allow wind chills to dip into the single digits late Saturday night into Sunday morning, so make sure to bundle up! Lows Sunday night are then expected to dip into the teens to lower 20s as cold air continues to filter into the region. 30-50% chance of light snow Monday into Monday night: Another shortwave trough is then progged to sweep through the region Monday. This trough is forecast to be positively tilted which will limit moisture return that will be locked near the Gulf from this weekend`s cold front. Additionally, the system is expected to quickly translate through the region. As a result, any precipitation would be light. Given the limited moisture return, some members keep our area mostly dry, leading to a 30-50% chance for precipitation Monday into Monday night. Any precipitation that does occur, though, would likely be snow as highs are forecast to be between 29 and 32 F across the region. If any precipitation does occur, NBM and LREF guidance give an 80-90% chance for it to fall as snow. Any accumulations, though, would be light given the limited moisture return and quick-moving nature of the system. Currently, the NBM has a 70-90% chance of less than one inch of snow. Below normal temperatures persist through the rest of next week: Following Monday`s system, model spread starts to increase, but the general pattern has modestly increasing heights in the wake of the system. This should allow a weak warm-up with highs ranging from the mid-30s to the mid-40s, and lows in the 20s for the remainder of next week. This would still be below normal for this time of year. Global deterministic models do show some signals for a few more shortwaves next week that may bring additional precipitation chances, but model spread is too high to mention anything appreciable. NBM chances therefore remain at or below 15%. && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SATURDAY/... Issued at 540 AM CST Fri Nov 28 2025 VFR conditions to prevail through at least 02Z with light and variable winds generally increasing throughout the period. These will settle out of the east-southeast after 14Z at 5-10 kts, increasing to 10-15 kts with gusts up to 20-25 kts after 00Z. Some LLWS may also become apparent after 06Z. Have included in the TAF now for awareness, though there is still some uncertainty in the magnitude given rain ongoing at the time. Cigs will gradually decrease as the coverage of rain increases after 06Z. At the moment, MVFR cigs look to be the lowest the cigs go during the TAF period (75-90% chance). The latest high resolution guidance gives pretty good confidence and agreement on widespread light rain beginning after 02Z, becoming more moderate after 06Z. During the time of moderate rainfall, there is a 10-20% chance of a stray thunderstorm or two. && .SGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...None. MO...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Price LONG TERM...Price AVIATION...Price