784 FXUS63 KEAX 091957 AFDEAXArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Kansas City/Pleasant Hill MO 257 PM CDT Thu Oct 9 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
* Temperatures continue to warm back above normal, peaking Sunday well into the 80s for many. - Normal this time of the year is upper 60s/low 70s for highs
* A pair of rain chances remain in the forecast... non-severe showers and thunderstorms - Late overnight tonight thru Fri morning - Late overnight Sunday into Monday
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.DISCUSSION... Issued at 257 PM CDT Thu Oct 9 2025
A generally quiet day across the area, but with some ongoing signs of change moving in. Big picture wise, mid-upper level ridging remained the dominant feature across much of the central CONUS, flanked by a large cutoff low pressure system off the PNW coast and troughing over New England. There is also shortwave trough beginning to dig southward through the Canadian Plains, and more on that feature in just a bit. At the surface, a pair of large/broad high pressure centers dominate much of the landscape, centered over the eastern Great Lakes and southern Alberta/Saskatchewan respectively. This results in broad southerly winds and moisture return over the Southern and into the Central Plains. For the remainder of today and into the evening, none of this will yield anything of note aside from some bits of cloud cover and winds remaining up a bit vs going light/calm.
Late overnight into Friday morning, the first of two precipitation opportunities will traverse the area. The aforementioned mid-upper shortwave digging southward through the Canadian Plains will continue into the Northern Plains and NW Great Lakes, eventually developing/forming a more organized surface low reflection. That development, in conjunction with the trailing surface high, will push a cool frontal boundary across the area Friday morning. The also above mentioned southerly flow/moisture return and isentropic lift ahead of this boundary will begin to prime the area for expected scattered shower and thunderstorm activity. No major changes for expectations for said activity, with predominantly generic thunderstorm activity anticipated. While full profile hodographs show good curvature and fair bulk shear, storms are likely to be rooted around/above 5kft, where effective shear profiles become much more unidirectional and lackluster in magnitude. Additionally, low level moistening looks to limit potential for evaporatively cooled/enhanced down drafts. With MUCAPE profiles around 1000 J/kt, a few of the stronger updrafts may be capable of small hail and some gusty winds, but short of strong/severe criteria. This activity will move from NW to SE from as early as 1am in NW Missouri to around the lunch hour exiting the SE CWA (such as Sedalia). For the KC Metro, a 4am-8am timing window may yield slowed morning rush/commutes. Once activity exits, temperatures remain expected to creep a few degrees warmer than today, into mid/upper 70s and even low 80s for some. This is primarily due to the weak and shallow nature of the frontal passage being overwhelmed by 925-850mb warming and subsequent diurnal mixing.
Into and through the weekend, mid-upper level ridging becomes more amplified large western CONUS mid-upper wave begins to come on shore and a pair of mid-upper shortwaves/lows affect eastern CONUS. Saturday temperatures to be similar to Friday for southern areas of the CWA. Northern areas may be a couple degrees cooler with easterly winds wrapping around surface high centered to the NE and before more substantial 925-850mb warming. Sunday will be the warmest day of the 7-day forecast with the mid-upper level ridging and 925-850mb warm nose angled overhead. Guidance is quite consistent on this and yields highs into the mid 80s for many. This would be as much as 15 or more degrees above normal for some locations. Normal this time of the year tends to be in the upper 60s to low 70s.
Second precipitation opportunity comes through overnight Sunday into Monday as the western CONUS trough lifts NE and induces broad area of Lee Cyclogenesis. Associated cold front drops through the Plains, reaching the area overnight Sunday. Uncertainty exists in how progressive the front may be, with some solutions stalling in/around the area and others continuing to drop southward. Regardless, expectation remains for additional shower/storm activity. Best synoptic scale lift will be displaced well northward with the parent wave, leaving the area more reliant on frontal depth/strength and LLJ details. NBM PoPs currently only yield slight to low chances (15- 25%) overnight Sunday into Monday, due to the variability in deterministic and ensemble solutions. At this time, do expect PoPs to gradually trend upward as deterministic and ensemble guidance to continue to get a better handle on general progression.
Beyond Monday, guidance continues to diverge in details, but deterministic runs all continue to depict an active pattern remaining. Generally an Omega Block look to the pattern with numerous shortwave ejected off a larger cutoff low over the W/SW CONUS. This may yield additional shower/storm opportunities, but far too variable to have any confidence at this point in time. This pattern too would tend to yield seasonable to seasonably warm temperatures.
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.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 1228 PM CDT Thu Oct 9 2025
A couple items of note within this TAF period. Initially, a high MVFR cloud deck that spread in from the south continues to linger around the KC Metro sites, but has recently shown growing signs of mixing out/lifting on visible satellite. So have mentions of MVFR ceilings for the next couple of hours before going VFR. Periodic gust up to 20kts through 00z, then easing overnight. Frontal boundary and TSRA chances move in late overnight, primarily from around 08z through 14z, as the boundary drifts from NW to SE. Ceilings should remain VFR, but periodic visibility restrictions may occur should heavier rain cores drift over the immediate TAF sites. Given scattered expectation and being on the SW edge of majority of activity, have PROB30 mentions for this issuance.
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.EAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...None. KS...None.
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DISCUSSION...Curtis AVIATION...Curtis
NWS EAX Office Area Forecast Discussion