506 FXUS63 KMQT 110508 AFDMQTArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Marquette MI 108 AM EDT Thu Sep 11 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Areas of dense fog are possible across the U.P. through Thursday morning.
- High temps mainly in the 60s and 70s expected for the remainder of this week.
- Drier weather after today.
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.SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY/... Issued at 401 PM EDT Wed Sep 10 2025
Isolated to scattered rain showers continue to taper off across the area this afternoon as an upper level disturbance passes south into the Lower Michigan. The combination of abundant low level moisture from recent rainfall and lighter winds across the area has given way to patchy fog across much of the U.P. and Lake Superior today. Observations from around the area show visibilities generally above 4 miles for the most part, but have seen some localized areas dipping down below a mile or even a quarter mile at times along the Hwy 41 corridor in Marquette County this afternoon. Fog will remain a concern going into the overnight hours, particularly across the western half as the near surface environment remains conducive and subsidence begins to increase as high pressure builds in from the west. Will continue to monitor observational trends this evening and overnight for the need for a Dense Fog Advisory. Thinking lows will only drop down into the mid 50s in most locations tonight as ridging starts to build in and abundant cloud cover remains overhead.
Thursday looks to be a dry day as high pressure continues to build over the Plains and into the Upper Midwest. As a result, expect temperatures to warm into the mid to upper 60s and perhaps 70 degrees in a few locations, with the coolest temperatures found along the Lake Superior shoreline.
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.LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 401 PM EDT Wed Sep 10 2025
The warming trend continues into Friday as 850 mb temps increase to 10-12 C over the region, corresponding to daytime highs in the low to mid 70s across much of the U.P. Dry weather looks to hang on through the daytime hours, with a weak clipper system moving over top of upstream ridge arriving Friday evening and bringing a shot of light rain from west to east Friday night into Saturday morning. Do not expect much precip given the weak nature of the system and relative lack of moisture, with model QPF keeping all areas below a quarter inch through Saturday morning. Can`t rule out a few rumbles of thunder to accompany this system, but do not expect any strong thunderstorms given modest instability. The clipper will have a negligible impact on temperatures as the upper level ridge quickly becomes re-established overhead, keeping highs in the 70s through the weekend and into the early part of next week.
WPC ensemble clusters show good agreement in maintaining upper level ridging over the region through the first half of next week as the ridge axis slowly shifts eastward towards northern Ontario. The position of the ridge axis will be critical, as a farther east solution would potentially allow embedded shortwave disturbances to brush the area and bring periods of showers or thunderstorms during the first half of the week. This is reflected by NBM PoPs which keep a 15-30% chance of precipitation across the area Tuesday into Wednesday.
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.AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 107 AM EDT Thu Sep 11 2025
Flight restrictions to persist through this morning at all TAF sites due to lingering low level moisture. LIFR will be the predominant flight category with airport mins at times before daybreak. Gradual improvement will commence around mid-morning with slow improvement to MVFR. Fog and low stratus will break out to VFR during the late morning to early afternoon. Light winds and VFR skies are expected through the rest of the afternoon. Patchy dense fog is possible once again tonight.
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.MARINE... Issued at 401 PM EDT Wed Sep 10 2025
Light winds of generally 10-15 kt or less expected through the period as high pressure builds over the region. Available observations show areas of fog persisting over the western half of Lake Superior today. The Dense Fog Advisory has thus been extended through Thursday afternoon as conditions will remain conducive to fog formation. Patchy fog may also expand to the eastern half of the lake and northern parts of Lake Michigan tonight into Thursday morning. A weak clipper will bring some light rain and potentially a few thunderstorms to the area Friday night into Saturday morning.
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.MQT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Upper Michigan... None. Lake Superior... Dense Fog Advisory until 2 PM EDT /1 PM CDT/ this afternoon for LSZ162-240>244-263-264.
Lake Michigan... None.
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SHORT TERM...CB LONG TERM...CB AVIATION...BW MARINE...CB
NWS MQT Office Area Forecast Discussion