Extended Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
300 PM EDT Sat Aug 06 2022
Valid 12Z Tue Aug 09 2022 - 12Z Sat Aug 13 2022
...Potentially heavy rainfall and flash flooding are possible in
the Ohio/Tennessee Valleys Tuesday-Wednesday while monsoonal
moisture continues in the West...
...Overview...
The overall weather pattern across the contiguous U.S. next week
is forecast to amplify into a trough-ridge-trough pattern, as
shortwaves combine to deepen a trough in the East, a slow-moving
upper low off the West Coast lifts northeastward into the Pacific
Northwest around Wednesday-Thursday, and an upper high nudges
eastward from the central Rockies into the central/southern
Plains. Moisture lifted ahead of the eastern trough and
associated cold front will likely lead to areas of heavy rain and
thunderstorms mainly across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys
Tuesday-Wednesday with scattered convection spreading into the
Eastern Seaboard as well. Meanwhile, persistent monsoonal
moisture looks to continue across portions of the West, leading to
additional rainfall with a gradual northward expansion of the rain
toward the northern Rockies as the week progresses.
...Guidance Evaluation/Predictability Assessment...
Ensemble means from the GEFS, ECMWF, and CMC continue to show good
agreement with one another with respect to the aforementioned
synoptic scale evolution for next week. The largest model spread
continues to be located from off the West Coast to the Pacific
Northwest where an upper low is forecast to track through.
Ensemble means have generally slowed down the low track slightly
in the past few runs while the fast deterministic solutions from
the ECMWF and GFS have slowed down considerably to better agree
with their respective ensemble mean positions. On the other hand,
the CMC's forecast positions of the upper low is slightly slower
than its ensemble mean. Meanwhile, model spread remains modest
with the evolution of the East Coast trough late next week. Near
the Gulf Coast, the GFS was most enthusiastic with a tropical low
bringing tropical moisture onshore toward the latter part of next
week.
The WPC medium-range forecast package was based on, 40% from the
00Z ECMWF/00Z mean, 40% from the 06Z GFS/GEFS, and 20% from the
00Z CMC/CMC mean, transitioning to mostly a consensus of the
ensemble means by Day 7, and consensus with the NBM. The results
show good continuity with the previous forecast package.
...Weather/Hazards Highlights...
For the early part of the medium range period Tuesday-Wednesday,
an axis of locally heavy rain and thunderstorms ahead of a cold
front is expected to continue pushing southeastward across the
Ohio Valley to Northeast into the Tennessee Valley and
Mid-Atlantic region. The relatively slow push of the front could
lead to training storms that could cause flash flooding. Flooding
concerns are particularly enhanced across portions of
Kentucky/Tennessee/West Virginia on Wednesday, as they have
received abundant rainfall recently and are sensitive to
additional rain amounts. The front continuing to push
southeastward into the latter half of the week should clear
rainfall out of the northeastern quadrant of the country, but
scattered convective activity is forecast to continue in the
Southeast. Meanwhile, monsoonal moisture continues to impact the
Southwest with enhanced rainfall, with a trend toward gradually
less rainfall in areas like New Mexico but increasing chances for
rain farther north as the moisture plume expands into the
Intermountain West and Great Basin, with some locally heavy totals
possible here as well.
Very warm to hot temperatures around 10-15F above average, though
not quite to record-breaking levels, are forecast to shift from
the Northwest Tuesday into the northern and then central Plains as
the workweek progresses with the eastward nudge of the upper high.
Farther east, slightly below normal highs are possible in the Ohio
and Tennessee Valleys behind the cold front, while temperatures
along the Eastern Seaboard will flip from slightly above to
slightly below average. Given the rainfall and cloudiness over the
Southwest and Great Basin, highs are likely to be several degrees
below normal there through late week.
Kong/Tate
Additional 3-7 Day Hazard information can be found on the WPC
medium range hazards outlook chart at:
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/threats/threats.php
WPC medium range 500mb heights, surface systems, weather grids,
quantitative precipitation, experimental excessive rainfall
outlook, winter weather outlook probabilities and heat indices are
at:
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst500_wbg.gif
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst_wbg_conus.gif
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/5km_grids/5km_gridsbody.html
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/day4-7.shtml
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/#page=ero
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/pwpf_d47/pwpf_medr.php?day=4
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/heat_index.shtml