Scientific Forecaster Discussion

NWS Discussion
			
				

Area forecast discussion 
National Weather Service northern Indiana 
130 am EDT Wednesday Jun 19 2013 


Synopsis... 
issued at 331 PM EDT Tuesday Jun 18 2013 


A weakening frontal boundary will slowly drop into central Indiana 
by this evening. A disturbance will drop southeast along the front 
this afternoon...allowing for a chance of showers and 
thunderstorms...mainly south of US 24. High pressure will build in 
across the region with seasonable temperatures and dry conditions. 


&& 


Update... 
issued at 812 PM EDT Tuesday Jun 18 2013 


Updated to remove late afternoon wording from zone forecast product and to remove slight 
chance probability of precipitation from southern portion of County Warning Area this evening. Drier air advecting 
into southern portion of County Warning Area from the NE appears to have stabilized 
airmass sufficiently to prevent deep convection from developing in 
this area despite some forcing associated with vorticity maximum moving into 
Indiana as well as weak low level convergence along inverted trough 
and lake breeze. Minor adjustments also made to sky/temperature grids 
otrws no significant changes made to the rest of the forecast. 


&& 


Short term...(this evening through wednesday) 
issued at 331 PM EDT Tuesday Jun 18 2013 


Morning stratus deck across northern areas has given way to strong 
mixing...allowing temperatures to recover quickly and generally match with 
temperatures in the south where sunshine has been abundant. Main difference 
in terms of instability was higher surface dewpoints existed in southern 
areas closer to stationary boundary draped from central Illinois to 
southern Indiana. Widely scattered showers/storms have begun to 
develop along this boundary with the main focus expected to remain 
there as short wave energy continues to drift southeast into the 
same area. This makes for a difficult forecast for probability of precipitation into this 
evening across southern areas with boundaries to aid in development 
few and far between. Best potential lies with what appear to be lake 
breeze setup from near Kankakee Illinois into valpo and towards Benton 
Harbor. A few returns have been noted across north Illinois along this 
boundary which was drifting southeast. However this may only impact far SW 
locations with remainder of the area left high and dry. While I 
can't rule out a pop up shower or storms anywhere across the 
area...have trimmed probability of precipitation and confined to SW areas with greater 
potential. By middle evening any threat will be gone with dry 
conditions settling in for the remainder of the period. Dewpoints in 
the 40s and even a few 30s will move SW into the area overnight into 
Wednesday. 




&& 


Long term...(wednesday night through tuesday) 
issued at 331 PM EDT Tuesday Jun 18 2013 


A warming trend and mainly dry weather remain the primary highlights late 
this week into the upcoming weekend as a Southern Plains/intermountain 
west upper ridge builds northeastward into the Midwest and Great 
Lakes. Weak middle level disturbances spilling out over the ridge from 
a Pacific northwest/northern rockies negative height anomaly will 
interact with a developing instability gradient/frontal zone to 
produce a typical mesoscale convective system ring of fire type pattern across the northern 
plains east into the upper Midwest...eventually into the Great Lakes 
by this weekend. The local area will be in a somewhat precarious 
position on the northeast fringe of this feature Friday into 
Saturday morning as the Theta-E ridge mixes north...although expect 
approaching activity to dry up initially late Thursday night into 
Friday given lingering low level ridging/drying over the area. With 
this and nose of low level jet focusing well northwest of the forecast area left the 
forecast mainly dry through Friday night. 


The upper level ridge axis will fold east over the area Saturday and 
then just south and east Sunday into early next as the northern 
rockies shortwave trough lifts east-northeast into the northern 
plains and upper Midwest/Ontario. An active frontal boundary will 
lay out under deep west-southwest flow later Sunday into early next 
week. A model consensus favors better storm chances remaining north 
of the iwx County Warning Area in vicinity of this synoptic front for these 
periods...although hard to predict possible composite outflow 
boundaries pushing farther south from mesoscale convective system activity into an unstable 
environment. Lowered probability of precipitation in several periods as expect mainly 
dry/hot weather under capped ridge...although could not pull probability of precipitation 
completely (especially north) given above mentioned mesoscale 
uncertainties and pattern recognition. Otherwise...only minor tweaks 
to temperatures with preference to warmer highs over cool/climatology biased 
consall guidance. 


&& 


Aviation...(for the 06z tafs through 06z Wednesday night) 
issued at 130 am EDT Wednesday Jun 19 2013 


Ideal aviation conditions expected this taf period as large 
Canadian high pressure settles over the Great Lakes. 00z Michigan 
soundings show this is an exceptionally dry airmass. This will 
limit afternoon cumulus as well as any patchy br later this morning 
despite clear skies and light winds. Surface winds will be 
generally easterly except at ksbn where afternoon lake breeze may 
lead to a more variable wind direction. 


&& 


Iwx watches/warnings/advisories... 
in...beach hazards statement until 4 am CDT early this morning for 
inz003. 


Michigan...Beach hazards statement until 5 am EDT early this morning for 
miz077. 


Ohio...none. 
Lm...Small Craft Advisory until 5 am EDT early this morning for 
lmz043-046. 


&& 


$$ 


Update...jt 
synopsis...Fisher 
short term...Fisher 
long term...steinwedel 
aviation...agd 




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