759  
FXUS02 KWBC 060659  
PMDEPD  
 
EXTENDED FORECAST DISCUSSION  
NWS WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER COLLEGE PARK MD  
159 AM EST FRI DEC 6 2024  
 
VALID 12Z MON DEC 09 2024 - 12Z FRI DEC 13 2024  
 
***HEAVY RAIN THREAT ACROSS THE CENTRAL GULF COAST AND SOUTHEAST  
EARLY NEXT WEEK***  
 
   
..OVERVIEW
 
 
THE SOUTH AND EAST WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR POTENTIALLY SIGNIFICANT  
RAINFALL DURING THE EARLY-MIDDLE PART OF NEXT WEEK AS A NORTHERN  
PLAINS INTO WESTERN U.S. UPPER TROUGH AS OF EARLY MONDAY HEADS INTO  
THE EAST-CENTRAL U.S. THE LEADING WAVY COLD FRONT WILL LIKELY REACH  
THE EAST COAST AROUND WEDNESDAY WITH POTENTIAL FOR STRONGER WAVE  
DEVELOPMENT OVER/NEAR THE NORTHEAST LATER WEDNESDAY INTO EARLY  
THURSDAY. UPPER TROUGHING SHOULD LINGER OVER THE EAST INTO NEXT  
FRIDAY BUT WITH A WEAKENING TREND BY THEN. WHILE MOST OF THE EAST  
DRIES OUT BEHIND THIS SYSTEM (ASIDE FROM SNOW TO THE LEE OF THE  
GREAT LAKES), EXPECT THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TO SEE INCREASING  
PRECIPITATION AFTER MIDWEEK AS A MEAN TROUGH ALOFT APPROACHES.  
SYSTEM PROGRESSION WILL LEAD TO AN AREA OF WELL ABOVE NORMAL  
TEMPERATURES IN THE WARM SECTOR AHEAD OF THE CENTRAL-EASTERN U.S.  
COLD FRONT, FOLLOWED BY AN AREA OF BELOW NORMAL READINGS AND THEN A  
REBOUND TO ABOVE NORMAL OVER THE PLAINS LATE IN THE WEEK.  
   
..GUIDANCE/PREDICTABILITY ASSESSMENT
 
 
VERY EARLY IN THE FORECAST, 12Z/18Z GUIDANCE AS WELL AS THE NEW 00Z  
RUNS HAVE TRENDED STRONGER/FASTER WITH LOW PRESSURE NOW FORECAST TO  
REACH THE CANADIAN MARITIMES BY EARLY MONDAY. AS A RESULT THE  
TRAILING FRONT PUSHES FARTHER SOUTH ALONG THE NORTHEAST COAST WITH  
MORE HIGH PRESSURE WEDGING INTO NEW ENGLAND. LATEST CONSENSUS  
SUGGESTS THE GFS COULD BE A LITTLE OVERDONE WITH ITS SOUTHWARD  
EXTENT OF THE FRONT THOUGH.  
 
FOR THE UPPER TROUGH PROGRESSING INTO THE EAST AND ASSOCIATED  
SURFACE FRONT/WAVE DEVELOPMENT, GUIDANCE AGREES WELL IN TERMS OF  
THE LARGE SCALE EVOLUTION BUT SHORTWAVE DIFFERENCES LEAD TO SOME  
VARIABILITY FOR WAVE DETAILS AND FRONTAL TIMING. STILL, THERE IS  
DECENT MODEL CLUSTERING TOWARD EXPECTED MID-ATLANTIC THROUGH NEW  
ENGLAND WAVE DEVELOPMENT BY WEDNESDAY INTO EARLY THURSDAY, WITH THE  
MAJORITY OF 12Z MACHINE LEARNING (ML) MODELS ALSO SHOWING THIS LOW  
REACHING JUST NORTH OR NORTHEAST OF MAINE BY EARLY THURSDAY. SOME  
ENSEMBLE MEANS ARE NOT AS DEFINED WITH THIS LOW YET DUE TO SPREAD  
AMONG INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS. WITHIN THE UPPER TROUGH, ONE NOTABLE  
QUESTIONABLE DETAIL IS THE 12Z ECMWF'S UPPER LOW THAT DROPS INTO  
THE NORTHERN PLAINS/MIDWEST ON WEDNESDAY, WITH MOST OTHER GUIDANCE  
AND THE NEW 00Z ECMWF RUN SHOWING A MORE SHEARED DEPICTION OF  
ENERGY DIGGING SOUTH FROM CANADA.  
 
GUIDANCE SPREAD INCREASES NOTICEABLY OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC AND  
WESTERN U.S. DURING THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK. THE MOST COMMON  
THEME AMONG DYNAMICAL AND ML GUIDANCE AT THE MOMENT IS FOR A  
POSSIBLE WEAK SYSTEM OR TWO TO ARRIVE FROM THE PACIFIC AND THEN FOR  
A BETTER DEFINED EASTERN PACIFIC UPPER TROUGH TO APPROACH THE WEST  
COAST BY NEXT FRIDAY, WITH A SURFACE FRONT AND ANCHORING SURFACE  
LOW OF VERY UNCERTAIN LATITUDE. THE ENSEMBLE MEANS, 12Z AND 00Z  
GFS, AND 00Z/05 ECMWF PLUS A RELATIVE MAJORITY OF ML MODELS FIT  
INTO THIS MAJORITY CLUSTER. OTHER MODEL RUNS AND SOME ENSEMBLE  
MEMBERS SHOW DIFFERENT IDEAS SO CONFIDENCE IN SPECIFICS IS BELOW  
AVERAGE FOR NOW.  
 
GUIDANCE COMPARISONS AMONG THE 12Z/18Z RUNS LED TO THE UPDATED  
FORECAST STARTING OUT WITH AN OPERATIONAL MODEL BLEND FOLLOWED BY A  
TRANSITION TOWARD SOME ENSEMBLE MEAN INPUT (18Z GEFS/12Z ECENS) AS  
WELL AS A LATE-PERIOD SHIFT OF THE ECMWF COMPONENT MORE TOWARD THE  
00Z/05 RUN AND GFS TOWARD THE 12Z RUN DUE TO BETTER COMPARISONS TO  
THE ENSEMBLE MEANS/ML GUIDANCE ALONG THE WEST COAST.  
   
..WEATHER/HAZARDS HIGHLIGHTS
 
 
 
EARLY NEXT WEEK, UPPER TROUGH DYNAMICS REACHING THE WEST WILL  
SUPPORT A BRIEF PERIOD OF ENHANCED SNOW OVER THE CENTRAL ROCKIES,  
PRIMARILY IN COLORADO. THIS ENERGY WILL SWING EASTWARD WITHIN A  
LARGER SCALE UPPER TROUGH EVENTUALLY REACHING THE EAST, SUPPORTING  
A WAVY COLD FRONT AND EVENTUAL STRONGER NORTHEAST SURFACE  
DEVELOPMENT BY AROUND LATE WEDNESDAY INTO EARLY THURSDAY. LEADING  
MOIST FLOW FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO WILL INTERACT WITH THE UPPER  
TROUGH/FRONT TO GENERATE AN AREA OF POTENTIALLY HEAVY RAINFALL FROM  
THE CENTRAL GULF COAST INTO SOUTHEAST/SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS  
MONDAY-TUESDAY AND CONTINUING INTO PARTS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC AND  
NORTHEAST ON WEDNESDAY. DURING THE MONDAY-TUESDAY NIGHT PERIOD  
COVERED BY THE DAYS 4-5 EXCESSIVE RAINFALL OUTLOOKS, LOCATIONS  
ALONG AND A LITTLE INLAND FROM THE CENTRAL/EAST-CENTRAL GULF COAST  
ARE WITHIN A SLIGHT RISK AREA FOR BOTH DAYS, GIVEN A FAVORABLE  
COMBINATION OF ANOMALOUS MOISTURE AND SOME INSTABILITY PLUS A  
BRIEF PERIOD OF SLOWER FRONTAL PROGRESSION AS WESTERN U.S. DYNAMICS  
APPROACH--THUS LEADING TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME TRAINING/REPEAT  
CONVECTION. THE DAY 5 SIGHT RISK AREA ALSO EXTENDS A LITTLE FARTHER  
NORTHEAST INTO NORTH-CENTRAL GEORGIA. THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER  
IS MONITORING THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THIS REGION.  
 
AS THE MIDWEEK WAVE DEVELOPS NEAR THE EAST COAST, THE FAR  
NORTHWESTERN PART OF THE MOISTURE SHIELD MAY CONTAIN SOME SNOW.  
THEN EXPECT THE COLD AIR ARRIVING BEHIND THIS SYSTEM TO PRODUCE  
ANOTHER EPISODE OF LAKE EFFECT SNOW DURING WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY.  
OTHERWISE EXPECT MOSTLY DRY CONDITIONS OVER THE EAST LATE IN THE  
WEEK.  
 
RAIN AND HIGHER ELEVATION SNOW SHOULD RETURN TO THE PACIFIC  
NORTHWEST AND PERHAPS INTO THE NORTHERN ROCKIES LATER IN THE WEEK  
AS ONE OR MORE SYSTEM AFFECT THE REGION. THERE IS A LOT OF GUIDANCE  
SPREAD FOR SPECIFICS AT THE MOMENT, SO IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO  
GET BETTER RESOLUTION OF DETAILS IN TERMS OF PRECIPITATION COVERAGE  
AND AMOUNTS.  
 
AN AREA OF WELL ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE  
EASTERN HALF OF THE COUNTRY EARLY NEXT WEEK IN THE WARM SECTOR OF  
THE WAVY COLD FRONT LIKELY TO REACH THE EAST COAST AROUND  
WEDNESDAY. GREATEST ANOMALIES SHOULD BE FOR MORNING LOWS, REACHING  
PLUS 15-20F OR MORE AT SOME LOCATIONS. THEN AN AREA OF BELOW NORMAL  
TEMPERATURES (GENERALLY NEGATIVE 5-15F ANOMALIES) WILL PROGRESS  
FROM THE CENTRAL-SOUTHERN ROCKIES INTO THE EAST. THEN THE WEST AND  
PLAINS WILL REBOUND TO ABOVE NORMAL, WITH PARTS OF THE PLAINS  
SEEING PLUS 10-15F ANOMALIES BY LATE NEXT 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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