646  
FXUS02 KWBC 221855  
PMDEPD  
 
EXTENDED FORECAST DISCUSSION  
NWS WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER COLLEGE PARK MD  
155 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2025  
 
VALID 12Z TUE FEB 25 2025 - 12Z SAT MAR 01 2025  
 
   
..OVERVIEW
 
 
THE UPPER FLOW PATTERN SHOULD REMAIN RATHER PROGRESSIVE THROUGH  
MUCH OF THE MEDIUM RANGE PERIOD. BY TUESDAY, A NORTHERN STREAM  
SHORTWAVE WILL BE SHIFTING THROUGH THE NORTHEAST, WITH A SOUTHERN  
STREAM WAVE THROUGH FLORIDA AND THE WESTERN ATLANTIC. OUT WEST, A  
SHORTWAVE OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ON TUESDAY WILL PROGRESS  
DOWNSTREAM, WITH EVENTUAL DEEPENING OVER THE EAST BY THURSDAY WITH  
REINFORCING ENERGY FRIDAY. THIS ALLOWS FOR AN AMPLIFYING RIDGE  
UPSTREAM ACROSS THE WEST LATE WEEK, WITH A SOUTHERN STREAM TROUGH  
OR CUTOFF LOW MOVING INLAND ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FRIDAY-SATURDAY.  
 
   
..GUIDANCE/PREDICTABILITY ASSESSMENT
 
 
MODEL GUIDANCE SHOWS REASONABLE AGREEMENT IN THE OVERALL PATTERN  
EVOLUTION DESCRIBED ABOVE, THOUGH WITH TYPICAL DETAIL DIFFERENCES  
THAT COULD HAVE SENSIBLE WEATHER IMPACTS AT TIMES. FOR THE INITIAL  
PART OF THE PERIOD, MODELS WERE CLUSTERED WELL ENOUGH FOR A MULTI-  
MODEL BLEND BETWEEN THE 06Z GFS, 00Z ECMWF, AND 00Z CMC AS A  
STARTING POINT FOR THE WPC 500S/FRONTS FORECASTS.  
 
MODELS SHOW A BIT MORE SPREAD WITH THE DIGGING TROUGH OVER THE  
MIDWEST-EAST WEDNESDAY AND BEYOND, INCLUDING WITH THE POSSIBILITY  
OF SOME SOUTHERN STREAM ENERGY HANGING BACK ACROSS THE SOUTHERN  
HIGH PLAINS INTO THURSDAY. BUT MOST MODELS ARE REASONABLY AGREEABLE  
WITH THE EASTWARD MOVEMENT OF THE TROUGH AXIS INTO FRIDAY, WITH  
THE EXCEPTION OF THE NEW 12Z CMC THAT SEEMS TO BE A SLOW OUTLIER.  
ANOTHER SHORTWAVE COMING THROUGH THE DAKOTAS OR SO FRIDAY AND INTO  
THE GREAT LAKES NEXT SATURDAY SHOULD SUPPORT A SURFACE LOW/CLIPPER  
SYSTEM. WITH THESE FEATURES BECOMING BETTER ALIGNED, THIS FORECAST  
TRENDED THE SURFACE LOW DEEPER COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS FORECAST  
BASED ON THE NEWER GUIDANCE.  
 
FARTHER WEST, THERE REMAINS CONSIDERABLE TIMING UNCERTAINTY WITH A  
CUTOFF LOW INTO CALIFORNIA FRIDAY OR SATURDAY, THOUGH THERE IS  
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON THE PRESENCE OF THIS FEATURE. INTERESTINGLY  
THE 00Z/06Z GFS AND 00Z ECMWF WERE RATHER AGREEABLE ON SLOWER  
TIMING OF THE UPPER LOW, WITH THE CMC ABOUT THE SAME LONGITUDE BUT  
NORTH OF THE GFS/EC CONSENSUS...BUT ALL THE ENSEMBLE MEANS WERE  
QUITE A BIT FASTER, SO CERTAINLY LOTS OF FASTER ENSEMBLE MEMBERS.  
AI MODELS WERE SPLIT WITH SOME SLOWER AND SOME FASTER, LIKELY  
INDICATING THAT BOTH FASTER AND SLOWER SOLUTIONS HAVE HAPPENED IN  
THE PAST AND WOULD BE REASONABLE. PREFERRED AN IN BETWEEN SOLUTION  
FOR NOW, WITH THE EC MEAN AN OKAY PROXY. THE WPC BLEND GRADUALLY  
INCREASED THE PROPORTION OF ENSEMBLE MEANS (FAVORING THE EC  
ENSEMBLE MEAN) TO 60 PERCENT DAYS 6-7 GIVEN THE INCREASING SPREAD.  
THE NEWER 12Z DETERMINISTIC RUNS ARE A TAD FASTER THAN THEIR  
00Z/06Z COUNTERPARTS.  
 
   
..WEATHER/HAZARDS HIGHLIGHTS
 
 
SOME LINGERING MOISTURE WILL BE PRESENT ACROSS THE PACIFIC  
NORTHWEST TO NORTHERN ROCKIES ON TUESDAY AS THE ATMOSPHERIC RIVER  
EVENT WINDS DOWN, SO RAIN AND SNOW WILL TAPER OFF INTO TUESDAY  
NIGHT. GUSTY WINDS ARE POSSIBLE AS THE SHORTWAVE MOVES ACROSS THE  
NORTHWESTERN TO NORTH-CENTRAL U.S. ON TUESDAY. THE HIGHEST WINDS  
ARE EXPECTED ALONG THE NORTHERN/CENTRAL ROCKIES RIDGES, WITH SOME  
WINDY CONDITIONS SPILLING INTO THE NORTH-CENTRAL PLAINS. THEN THE  
WEST SHOULD DRY OUT FOR THE MOST PART DUE TO THE UPPER RIDGE. THE  
MODEL VARIABILITY WITH THE SOUTHERN STREAM UPPER LOW APPROACHING  
CALIFORNIA AND MOVING INLAND LATE NEXT WEEK/WEEKEND LEADS TO  
UNCERTAINTY IN THE PRECIPITATION FORECAST FOR CALIFORNIA TO THE  
SOUTHWEST AND THE SOUTH-CENTRAL U.S. FOR THE LATE PERIOD.  
 
DOWNSTREAM, A ROUND OF NORTHERN STREAM ENERGY WILL SPREAD LIGHT  
PRECIPITATION FROM THE LOWER GREAT LAKES REGION THROUGH NEW ENGLAND  
TUESDAY. THEN A SURFACE LOW WILL MOVE ACROSS THE NORTHERN U.S.  
WITH A TRAILING COLD FRONT WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY, SPREADING RAIN  
AND NORTHERN TIER SNOW FROM THE NORTH-CENTRAL TO EAST-CENTRAL U.S.  
MIDWEEK AND ACROSS THE EAST BY THURSDAY. A CLIPPER SYSTEM IS THEN  
FORECAST TO BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF PRECIPITATION TO THE GREAT LAKES  
REGION FRIDAY.  
 
BY NEXT WEEK, MUCH OF THE LOWER 48 WILL BE MUCH ABOVE NORMAL IN  
TERMS OF TEMPERATURES, WITH DECENT COVERAGE OF PLUS 10-25 DEGREE  
ANOMALIES. THE NORTHERN/CENTRAL PLAINS CAN EXPECT THE HIGHEST  
ANOMALIES OF +20 TO LOCALLY +30 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL, WITH 60S FOR  
HIGHS AS FAR NORTH AS NEBRASKA OR PERHAPS EVEN SOUTH DAKOTA AT  
TIMES. THE SOUTHWEST AND GREAT BASIN CAN ALSO EXPECT WARMER THAN  
AVERAGE CONDITIONS UNDERNEATH THE BUILDING UPPER RIDGE. PARTS OF  
THE DESERT SOUTHWEST COULD REACH INTO THE 90S ESPECIALLY TUESDAY-  
THURSDAY, AND SOME SITES COULD SET DAILY RECORD HIGH MAX/MIN  
TEMPERATURES IN THE VICINITY. AREAS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI SHOULD  
ALSO SEE WARM CONDITIONS INTO MIDWEEK, BUT SHOULD COOL BACK TO NEAR  
NORMAL (OR SLIGHTLY BELOW IN SPOTS) BY LATE WEEK UNDERNEATH UPPER  
TROUGHING.  
 
TATE/SANTORELLI  
 
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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