NWS Wilmington, OH Office (ILN)


Area Forecast Discussion/SKEW-T

          FXUS61 KILN 042338
          AFDILN
          
          Area Forecast Discussion
          National Weather Service Wilmington OH
          638 PM EST Thu Dec 4 2025
          
          .SYNOPSIS...
          High pressure will lead to dry conditions through Saturday. A low
          pressure system moving through the Ohio Valley will bring the next
          chance for precipitation on Sunday. Below normal temperatures will
          continue into next week.
          
          &&
          
          .NEAR TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY/...
          Evening update...
          Forecast remains on track with the well advertised drop in
          temperatures across the locations with snow on the ground and with
          clear skies overhead. Some locations across west-central and central
          Ohio are likely in the single digits within the next hour or two.
          Farther to the south, cloud cover inhibits cooling, with temperatures
          in the upper teens and 20s throughout the overnight. Along the
          boundary of clear skies and mostly cloudy skies, temperatures will
          vary quite significantly as winds go light and variable. As noted
          below, temperatures may bounce around depending on the cloud cover.
          If significant differences between observations and the forecast
          develop, adjustments will be made.
          
          Previous discussion...(1232 pm)
          Surface high pressure will be centered over the southern Great Lakes
          early this evening before shifting off to the east through tonight.
          As it does, a southern stream system will lift northeast into the
          eastern Tennessee Valley later tonight.
          
          While skies have partially cleared from the north this afternoon,
          some mid and high level clouds will continue to stream northeastward
          across the area at times this evening. Clouds will then begin to
          thicken up later tonight across at least our southern areas, ahead
          of a low pressure system moving off to our southeast. The temperature
          forecast for tonight will be a little tricky given the light winds,
          snow cover and variable cloud cover. Expect to see an early drop off
          in areas that remain clear enough, and then a steadying or maybe
          even slowly rising trend later tonight as clouds increase. Will range
          lows tonight from the lower single digits in our far northwest to
          the upper teens in our far south/southeast. The current forecast
          keeps temperatures just above the records, but we may get close in
          the north depending on cloud cover: CMH 8(1976), DAY 6 (1901), CVG 9
          (1886).
          
          &&
          
          .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT/...
          Surface high pressure will slowly weaken across the region through
          the day on Friday as a weak cold front approaches from the
          northwest through Friday night. Skies will become partly cloudy
          through the day on Friday as we remain cold, with highs ranging from
          the upper 20s north to the mid 30s south. Lows Friday night will be
          in the upper teens to lower 20s.
          
          &&
          
          .LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...
          Saturday looks to have a weak surface boundary clipping the lower
          Great Lakes and washing out over the CWA. Also noted with varying
          timing/intensity is a strongly sheared yet respectable h5 vort max
          found primarily during the daytime hours. Just enough information
          for me to add flurries to the forecast at this moment in time.
          
          Sunday is expected to see a sfc low over MO track east into OHVly
          and open into a relatively broad open trough ahead of a cold front.
          The front looks to cross in the afternoon, bringing with it the next
          chance for snow. European deterministic model at this time frame
          stands out. Looking at the ensemble MOS at DAY, the 00Z Euro has a
          standard deviation of 23 in 12 hour daytime pops ranging from 78% to
          13%. While not as drastic, temp standard deviation increases to 3 for
          the overnight lows (25 vs 12 deg) and remains at a 3 or higher going
          forward in time. Ultimately, this leads me to call into question the
          European and subsequently the NBM beyond Sunday.
          
          Ahead of the low, east/southeast wind should prevail and quickly
          shift w/nw by the afternoon. NBM was adjusted wrt temps being too
          warm in the south/southeast CWA which naturally introduced a
          rain/snow mix with an  unreasonable n/nwwd extension. Dropped temps
          on Sun which fell in line a little better with offices to the w and
          s, and pushed the r/s line a little higher using 35/37 sfc temps as
          thresholds.
          
          Another l/w trough is being offered up for Wednesday, and the
          trailing surface front looks to be equally strong. Given current
          solutions, warm air ahead of it should keep an all-liquid ptype. I
          would expect a changeover to snow before it ends, but this type of
          detail isn`t reasonable to convey this far out - let`s just
          call it warmer with rain.
          
          Coolest temps of the period occur on Sunday with highs in the 20s,
          near 30 in the far sern CWA and overnight lows in the single digits
          nw, mid-upper teens most other locations, near 20 in the far se.
          
          &&
          
          .AVIATION /00Z THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
          MVFR CIGs have pushed southward over the last few hours, stretching
          along the Ohio River as the low pressure passes to the south.
          Overnight, these MVFR CIGs gradually shift northward, providing MVFR
          CIGs to CVG/LUK and eventually ILN/DAY before daybreak. The extent
          northward is a bit unknown and adjustments may be needed based on
          satellite trends. Even now, CVG is observing a portion of the BKN
          MVFR deck with clear skies of LUK to the east. Confidence increases
          over the next few hours for MVFR restrictions to become more
          persistent at CVG/LUK.
          
          High pressure will build into the region through the day on Friday
          with VFR conditions expected through the tail end of the TAF period.
          
          Winds are light and variable tonight, swinging from northeasterly to
          southerly after 12Z. Winds are less than 10 knots throughout much of
          the TAF period, approaching 10 knots at DAY/ILN/CVG Friday afternoon.
          
          
          OUTLOOK...MVFR CIGs are possible Saturday into Sunday.
          
          &&
          
          .ILN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
          OH...None.
          KY...None.
          IN...None.
          
          &&
          
          $$
          
          SYNOPSIS...JGL
          NEAR TERM...JGL/McGinnis
          SHORT TERM...JGL
          LONG TERM...Franks
          AVIATION...McGinnis
          
          
          
Skew-T

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