661  
FXUS02 KWBC 150658  
PMDEPD  
 
EXTENDED FORECAST DISCUSSION  
NWS WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER COLLEGE PARK MD  
258 AM EDT SAT JUN 15 2024  
 
VALID 12Z TUE JUN 18 2024 - 12Z SAT JUN 22 2024  
   
..EARLY SEASON HEAT WAVE FROM THE MIDWEST TO THE EAST COAST
 
 
...HEAVY RAINFALL THREAT ALONG THE CENTRAL-WESTERN GULF COAST AND  
PARTS OF THE NORTHERN TIER INTO CENTRAL PLAINS...  
 
   
..OVERVIEW
 
 
GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO SHOW A STRONG UPPER RIDGE BUILDING OVER THE  
EAST THROUGH MIDWEEK AND THEN GRADUALLY DROPPING A LITTLE SOUTHWARD  
AND ELONGATING TO COVER THE SOUTH-CENTRAL PLAINS AND SOUTHERN  
ROCKIES BY THE END OF THE WEEK. THIS RIDGE WILL SUPPORT A BROAD  
AREA OF HOT AND DRY WEATHER NEXT WEEK, WITH THE GREATEST ANOMALIES  
AND POTENTIAL FOR DAILY RECORDS EXTENDING FROM THE OHIO  
VALLEY/LOWER GREAT LAKES INTO THE NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC AND  
NORTHEAST. BETWEEN THIS RIDGE AND MEAN TROUGHING ALONG OR JUST  
INLAND FROM THE WEST COAST, THE AREA FROM THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE  
PLAINS INTO UPPER MIDWEST MAY SEE MULTIPLE EPISODES OF HEAVY  
RAINFALL FROM A COMBINATION OF A PERSISTENT WAVY MEAN FRONT,  
ANOMALOUS MOISTURE, AND UPPER LEVEL IMPULSES. TO THE SOUTH OF THE  
UPPER RIDGE, UPPER LEVEL ENERGY AND ABUNDANT DEEP MOISTURE WILL  
BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR A PERIOD OF HEAVY RAIN ALONG AND NEAR THE  
WESTERN HALF OF THE GULF COAST.  
   
..GUIDANCE/PREDICTABILITY ASSESSMENT
 
 
MOST ASPECTS OF THE GUIDANCE ARE FAIRLY AGREEABLE DURING THE FIRST  
COUPLE DAYS OR SO OF THE PERIOD, ASIDE FROM SMALLER SCALE DETAIL  
DIFFERENCES. BY MID-LATE PERIOD THERE IS MORE NOTABLE SPREAD AMONG  
THE DYNAMICAL GUIDANCE OR BETWEEN THE OPERATIONAL MODELS AND  
12Z ECMWF-INITIALIZED MACHINE LEARNING (ML) MODELS. ONE DIFFERENCE  
THAT ARISES BY MIDWEEK IS FOR THE WESTERN GULF EVOLUTION, WITH THE  
NEW 00Z CMC A LITTLE NORTH FOR ITS SURFACE REFLECTION VERSUS OTHER  
DYNAMICAL SOLUTIONS, WHILE MOST ML MODELS SHOW A TRACK FARTHER  
NORTH THAN THE DYNAMICAL GUIDANCE (WITH CORRESPONDING  
NORTHWARD/NORTHEASTWARD SHIFT OF RAINFALL EMPHASIS). BY LATE WEEK  
INTO THE WEEKEND, A NUMBER OF OPERATIONAL MODEL RUNS HAVE BEEN  
STRONGER WITH ANOTHER UPPER WEAKNESS CROSSING THE GULF COAST  
REGION. THIS IS IN CONTRAST TO MOST ML MODELS THAT MAINTAIN  
STRONGER RIDGING A LITTLE FARTHER SOUTH THAN THE OPERATIONAL  
CLUSTER (OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND/OR SOUTHEAST BY NEXT  
SATURDAY) AND THUS SUPPRESS ANY WEAKNESS TRAVELING BELOW THE RIDGE.  
THE 12Z GFS, TO SOME DEGREE THE 00Z GFS, AND LATEST ENSEMBLE MEANS  
WERE CLOSEST TO THE ML IDEAS.  
 
EARLY-PERIOD MODEL CONSENSUS FAVORED A BLEND OF 12Z/18Z MODELS FOR  
THE FORECAST THROUGH MIDWEEK, FOLLOWED BY TRANSITIONING GFS INPUT  
FROM THE 18Z RUN TO THE 12Z RUN AND INCREASING WEIGHT OF THE 18Z  
GEFS AND 12Z ECENS/CMCENS MEANS WITH TIME. TOTAL ENSEMBLE MEAN  
WEIGHT REACHED 75 PERCENT BY NEXT SATURDAY.  
   
..WEATHER/HAZARDS HIGHLIGHTS
 
 
LOCATIONS FROM THE CENTRAL PLAINS THROUGH THE UPPER MIDWEST WILL BE  
ONE AREA OF FOCUS FOR HEAVY RAINFALL POTENTIAL DURING THE DAYS 4-5  
EXCESSIVE RAINFALL PERIOD COVERING TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT.  
DURING DAY 4 EXPECT CONVECTION TO EXPAND SOUTHWARD ALONG A COLD  
FRONT ANCHORED BY A NORTHERN TIER INTO CANADA SURFACE WAVE, WITH  
THE LATEST MAJORITY GUIDANCE CLUSTER FAVORING SOME SOUTHWARD  
EXPANSION OF THE EXISTING SLIGHT RISK AREA, NOW PLANNED TO EXTEND  
FROM PARTS OF MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN INTO EASTERN NEBRASKA/FAR  
NORTHEASTERN KANSAS. BY DAY 5 THE TRAILING PART OF THE COLD FRONT  
MAY STALL AND EVENTUALLY LIFT NORTHWARD WHILE ABUNDANT MOISTURE  
PERSISTS OVER THE REGION. THERE IS MORE SPREAD FOR CONVECTIVE  
DETAILS (THE 00Z GFS SHOWING MORE OF A DRY PUSH FROM THE NORTH  
VERSUS MOST OTHER SOLUTIONS), YIELDING ONLY A BROAD MARGINAL RISK  
AREA AT THIS TIME. THE WAVY FRONT MAY REMAIN NEARLY PARALLEL TO  
UPPER FLOW THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK, MAINTAINING THE POTENTIAL  
FOR ADDITIONAL EPISODES OF HEAVY RAINFALL FROM THE NORTHERN HALF OF  
THE PLAINS INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST FROM THURSDAY ONWARD.  
 
GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO SHOW AN AREA OF DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE AND  
SOME DEGREE OF UPPER LEVEL ENERGY SHIFTING WESTWARD ACROSS THE  
WESTERN HALF OF THE GULF OF MEXICO AND VICINITY DURING THE DAYS 4-5  
ERO PERIOD. THERE ARE STILL SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES FOR SPECIFICS  
OF ASSOCIATED HEAVY RAINFALL, BUT A COMPOSITE OF DYNAMICAL/MACHINE  
LEARNING GUIDANCE HAS AT LEAST PROVIDED ENOUGH OF A SIGNAL TO  
INTRODUCE A SLIGHT RISK AREA ALONG THE WESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE  
LOUISIANA COAST INTO EASTERN TEXAS COAST ON DAY 4, AND ALONG THE  
ENTIRE TEXAS COAST ON DAY 5. THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE TEXAS COAST  
HAS DRIER ANTECEDENT CONDITIONS BUT RAIN RATES MAY STILL BE HIGH  
ENOUGH TO CAUSE SOME RUNOFF ISSUES. RAINFALL ALONG AND INLAND FROM  
THE WESTERN GULF COAST SHOULD TREND LESS HEAVY LATER IN THE WEEK  
WHILE UPSTREAM ENERGY UNDERNEATH THE ELONGATING CENTRAL-EASTERN  
U.S. UPPER RIDGE COULD LEAD TO SOME REBOUND IN RAINFALL OVER  
FLORIDA/WESTERN GULF REGION BUT WITH LOW CONFIDENCE IN THE DETAILS.  
 
THE STRONG UPPER RIDGE BUILDING OVER THE EAST NEXT WEEK WILL TEND  
TO PRODUCE THE GREATEST TEMPERATURE ANOMALIES FROM THE MIDWEST AND  
OHIO VALLEY/LOWER GREAT LAKES INTO THE NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC AND  
NORTHEAST, WITH MULTIPLE DAYS OF READINGS 10-20F ABOVE NORMAL. THIS  
WOULD TRANSLATE TO HIGHS WELL INTO THE 90S, ALONG WITH LOWS IN THE  
UPPER 60S TO UPPER 70S PROVIDING LITTLE OVERNIGHT HEAT RELIEF.  
DAILY RECORDS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE ABOVE AREAS. WITH SOME  
TYPICAL DETAIL DIFFERENCES, THE AXIS OF GREATEST TEMPERATURE  
ANOMALIES IN THE CURRENT FORECAST SHOWS SOME SIMILARITY TO THE 1994  
HEAT WAVE THAT WAS OBSERVED AROUND THE SAME TIME IN JUNE. SOME  
FLATTENING OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE RIDGE BY THE END OF THE WEEK  
MAY MAKE THE HEAT A LITTLE LESS EXTREME OVER NEW ENGLAND, WHILE THE  
CENTRAL PLAINS MAY TREND A LITTLE HOTTER (BUT WITH SINGLE-DIGIT  
POSITIVE ANOMALIES). IN CONTRAST TO THE EASTERN HEAT, LINGERING  
UPPER TROUGHING WILL SUPPORT HIGHS 10-20F BELOW NORMAL OVER PARTS  
OF THE INTERIOR WEST/NORTHERN HIGH PLAINS ON TUESDAY WITH  
MODERATELY COOL READINGS OVER THE NORTHERN-CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS  
WEDNESDAY. THEN RISING HEIGHTS ALOFT WILL BRING A WARMER TREND TO  
MOST OF THE WEST, WITH THE REGION LIKELY SEEING HIGHS 5-12F ABOVE  
NORMAL BY FRIDAY-SATURDAY. MOIST EASTERLY FLOW SHOULD LEAD TO TWO  
OR THREE DAYS OF BELOW NORMAL HIGHS OVER THE WESTERN GULF COAST  
AND SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS BY MID-LATE WEEK.  
 
RAUSCH  
 
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 FORECAST (QPF), EXCESSIVE RAINFALL  
OUTLOOK (ERO), WINTER WEATHER OUTLOOK (WWO) PROBABILITIES, HEAT  
INDICES, AND KEY MESSAGES CAN BE ACCESSED FROM:  
 
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  
HTTPS://WWW.WPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/#PAGE=OVW  
 

 
 
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