Extended Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
255 AM EDT Thu Apr 6 2023
Valid 12Z Sun Apr 9 2023 - 12Z Thu Apr 13 2023
...Synoptic Overview...
A large surface high will be in place across the northeastern U.S.
this weekend, and this high should remain in place across the
eastern U.S. through the middle of next week. Meanwhile, a
stalled front offshore will likely support a surface low well off
the southeast coast that will provide onshore flow from Florida to
the Mid-Atlantic. Across the western U.S., a Pacific front moves
inland followed by a building upper trough over the West Coast
region and a downstream ridge building over the Midwest and Plains
states. An upper low will likely develop near the Gulf Coast
region by the middle to end of the week.
...Guidance/Predictability Assessment...
The 00Z guidance suite is generally in good agreement on the
synoptic scale through Monday, with some mesoscale uncertainties
remaining near the southeast coast and the offshore low evolution.
There is now stronger model agreement for a closed low developing
near the central Gulf Coast by midweek, but disagree to some
extent on the building ridge north of it. For the western U.S.,
the ECMWF takes the developing closed low farther south, whereas
the GFS is a bit slower and the CMC weaker and farther east. The
WPC front/pressures forecast was weighted more towards the
ECMWF/GFS/CMC early on, and then gradually increased contributions
from the ensemble means to about 50% by next Wednesday and
Thursday.
...Weather/Hazards Highlights...
The proximity of the wavy front to the southeast coast should
support some additional precipitation across mainly coastal
portions of the Southeast Sunday, lingering mainly over Florida
into the middle of next week with continued onshore flow and the
presence of a weak upper trough/closed low. The models continue
to indicate the higher rainfall totals will likely be just
offshore the Southeast Coast, and therefore no need for any
Marginal Risk areas in the excessive rainfall outlook for this
region.
Things will likely be unsettled across western Washington and
Oregon with a potential atmospheric river accompanying the next
cold front to move inland, favoring moderate to locally heavy
precipitation across this region in the Sunday to Monday time
period. A Marginal Risk of excessive rainfall was introduced for
the Day 4 period Sunday from the central Oregon Coast to the
Olympic Peninsula with the potential for 1 to 3 inches of rain
across the southwest-facing terrain. As the week progresses, this
trough will move eastward across the northwestern U.S., and result
in snow for the northern Rockies.
Temperatures are expected to be slightly below early April
averages across the southeastern U.S. early in the forecast
period, owing to increased cloud cover and rainfall, and slightly
above average from the Desert Southwest to the Great Lakes region.
By Thursday, warmer weather returns to most of the central and
eastern U.S., with highs running up to 20 degrees above average
from the Upper Midwest to the eastern Great Lakes, and about 5-15
degrees below average for the Intermountain West.
Hamrick
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