449 FXUS62 KILM 051729 AFDILMArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wilmington NC 129 PM EDT Sun Oct 5 2025
.SYNOPSIS... High pressure will remain northeast of the area through Wednesday. A cold front will bring an end to the warm stretch of weather beginning Thursday. The front itself will only bring minor rain chances.
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.NEAR TERM /THROUGH MONDAY/... Wash, rinse, repeat... Surface high pressure north of the area and a coastal trough just offshore will continue to maintain steady east to northeast winds across the area through tomorrow. Aloft, a weak mid-upper anticyclone over eastern NC is expected to slowly drift southward to near or just east of the forecast area on Monday, turning the mid-upper flow from southeasterly to southerly. An impulse embedded in this flow may bring yet another round of scattered nocturnal showers mainly to the SC coastal areas overnight, where chance PoPs are located. At the jetstream level, southwesterly flow continues to send high cirrus across the area and this will continue through tonight before a ridge turns the upper flow northwesterly on Monday, cutting off this source of high-level moisture.
In terms of sensible weather, expect mixed clouds and sun to continue with above-normal temps and isolated showers possible near the coast as the large-scale pattern remains largely unchanged. Highs in the low 80s are expected this afternoon, followed by lows in the 60s. High temps on Monday should nudge another degree or two warmer than today as heights rise slightly and high cirrus abates.
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.SHORT TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... Healthy mid level ridge off of the MidAtlantic Coast with surface high nearly collocated. Some operational guidance has QPF in the resulting onshore low level flow but prefer the rain-free idea of the NBM given the riding and dryness above the BL. Should some light echoes make it ashore they will be in the form of non-measureable sprinkles and likely only when mixing is minimized at night or during early morning hours. Temperatures remain above climatology especially at night.
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.LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Wind veers and weakens on Wednesday as high to our north starts to get shoved eastward by an approaching cold front. Wednesday highs just about a carbon copy of Tuesday`s. Some vorticity centers stream by the the north Wednesday ahead of the front and guidance has trended slightly higher with rain chances, but they are still capped in the lower end of the `chance` range. Cool and dry advection Thursday will knock temperatures below climo each day while nighttime lows remain above it by just a few degrees as breezy conditions keep nights well mixed.
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.AVIATION /18Z SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... High pressure north of the area will maintain generally east winds through this afternoon, backing to northeast tonight as speeds subside somewhat. A 15-20kt LLJ should once again keep steady winds going through the night and preclude any MVFR mist impacts. However, a brief shower may impact the Myrtles overnight and with the previous night seeing MVFR cigs come with a batch of passing showers, a nudge in this direction was made for tonight`s cig forecast as similar conditions exist, but confidence is too low to explicitly mention. VFR should prevail, but brief restrictions near the coast cannot be ruled out.
Extended Outlook...VFR conditions are expected to prevail. May have some patchy fog during the early morning into the first half of next week. Low rain chances return around midweek as a cold front approaches from the west.
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.MARINE... Through Monday... Surface high pressure north of the area will maintain steady east to east-northeast winds at 15-20 kts through the period. Seas continue to hold mainly in the 3-5 ft range although outer portions of the waters are seeing peak heights waver around the SCA threshold of 6 feet. The primary driver of seas continues to be a 7-8 sec swell out of the ESE while remnant swells from Humberto and Imelda are keeping 1-2 ft at 12-13 sec out of the ENE in the mix.
Monday night through Friday... Sprawling high pressure still centered northeast of the area to start the period, with moderate onshore flow resulting. The easterly swell will be abating so conditions will be just shy of advisory levels. On Wednesday a cold front approaching from the north and west will start pushing the high eastward allowing for wind to drop off to light and variable locally, though as always waves will be slower to abate. Moot point though really as right behind the front winds pick up substantially. Winds and seas both in advisory criteria for the remainder of the period.
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.TIDES/COASTAL FLOODING... Onshore flow and rising astronomical tides due to the full moon on Monday will bring a risk for minor tidal flooding with each high tide cycle across the beaches and along the Cape Fear River near downtown Wilmington at least through the first half of the upcoming week.
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.ILM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...Coastal Flood Advisory from 6 PM to 9 PM EDT this evening for NCZ106-108-110. Coastal Flood Advisory from 7 PM this evening to midnight EDT tonight for NCZ107. High Risk for Rip Currents until 8 PM EDT this evening for NCZ108. SC...High Risk for Rip Currents until 8 PM EDT this evening for SCZ056. Coastal Flood Advisory from 5 PM this afternoon to 10 PM EDT this evening for SCZ054-056. MARINE...Small Craft Advisory until 8 PM EDT Monday for AMZ250-252-256.
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SYNOPSIS...ILM NEAR TERM...ABW SHORT TERM...MBB LONG TERM...MBB AVIATION...ABW MARINE...ILM
NWS ILM Office Area Forecast Discussion