316 FXUS63 KDDC 132349 AFDDDCArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 649 PM CDT Sat Sep 13 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Windy and warm Saturday afternoon.
- Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected Saturday night through Sunday. Locally heavy rain, and some strong to marginally severe thunderstorms are expected.
- Seasonable late summer temperatures expected through next week.
- The next chance of showers and thunderstorms is expected with the next cold front Tuesday night through Wednesday.
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.DISCUSSION... Issued at 200 PM CDT Sat Sep 13 2025
Midday infrared satellite imagery displayed widespread cirrus across Kansas and the adjoining plains, ahead of an approaching trough axis near the Four Corners. Pressure gradients will continue to tighten through the afternoon, with south winds again gusting 30-40 mph. Forcing for ascent ahead of the trough is substantial, as evidenced by ongoing thunderstorms along I-25 and across New Mexico at midday. Showers and thunderstorms will increase in coverage across eastern Colorado and eastern New Mexico the next several hours, where some are expected to produce severe hail/wind gusts. Expectation is for storms to reach the KS/CO border around 5-7 pm, as 12z ARW and various other models suggest. The risk for any marginally severe hail and/or outflow winds will be highest adjacent to Colorado early this evening, per SPC 5% wind/hail probability.
The midlevel trough axis will continue to approach overnight, centered over southeast Colorado by 7 am Sunday. Forcing for ascent ahead of this wave will encourage at least scattered showers and thunderstorms to continue tonight, spreading from west to east. Instability and buoyancy will be limited, given mid/high clouds this afternoon and nocturnal timing tonight, but still efficient rain production is anticipated where storms track. Model agreement with rain/storm coverage tonight is rather poor, with many CAMs dissolving convection with eastward progress. ECMWF and its EPS ensemble members on the other hand are quite wet, and pops were increased further into the likely category tonight based on this guidance.
Any rain in progress Sunday morning will trend toward the northeast zones through Sunday afternoon, as the trough axis arrives over SW KS during the day. At least partially clearing is expected daylight Sunday, and the added sunshine combined with cooler mid level temperatures (500 mb as cold as -12C) will produce stronger instability midday/afternoon Sunday (CAPE to 2000 J/kg). As such, pops at least in the chance/scattered category persist through Sunday afternoon, with redevelopment likely into Sunday evening as shown by 12z NAM. With stronger instability and colder mid level temps, any storms will be more capable of marginally severe hail, per SPC Day 2 marginal risk. Sunday will be noticeably cooler beneath the passing trough, with afternoon highs reduced to the lower 80s.
South winds return quickly Monday, and with net warming of about +4C at 850 mb, temperatures will bounce back to the upper 80s Monday afternoon. Monday will be dry with no forcing evident. Similar temperatures on Tuesday, with the next approaching trough centered near SW Wyoming 7 pm Tuesday. NBM pops increase well into the chance category Tuesday night through Wednesday as the trough axis and associated cold front make progress through SW KS. Shear, flow and instability are all expected to be modest, typical of late summer, but still some strong to marginally severe storms are quite probable across the region Tuesday night through Wednesday. At least several degrees of cooling are expected Wednesday, with afternoon temperatures reduced to near 80.
Thursday through Saturday, broad midlevel troughing from the Corn Belt to the Midwest will ensure NWly midlevel flow continues, preventing any heat from returning, and keeping temperatures near late summer seasonal normals.
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.AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY/... Issued at 646 PM CDT Sat Sep 13 2025
Numerous showers and thunderstorms will continue to overspread much of west central and southwest Kansas this evening and through much of the night. As such, we will carry thunderstorms as a PROB30 group through the night and amend with prevailing or tempo TSRA as needed for individual airports until the thunderstorm threat exits the entire area, some time in the 09-12Z time frame.
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.DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None.
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DISCUSSION...Turner AVIATION...Umscheid
NWS DDC Office Area Forecast Discussion