Hail in Iowa, March 8, 2006

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
325 PM CST WED MAR 8 2006

.SYNOPSIS...
110+KT JET MAX EJECTING OUT OF ROCKIES TROUGH INTO PLAINS.
DIVERGENCE IN LEFT EXIT REGION AND DEFORMATION ZONE ASSOCIATED WITH
KS/NE SHRT WV AIDING UVM AND PCPN ACRS NE/NRN IA/NRN IL.  SOME
ELEVATED CELLS ARE TRYING TO DEVELOP ALONG H85/H7 THETA-E
ADVECTION/FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING AXIS A BIT FARTHER S.  20Z SFC
ANLYS PLACES LOW N OF KMHK WITH WRMFNT JUST S OF IA/MO BORDER...BUT
PUSHING NWD AS REFLECTED BY PRES FALL CENTER OVER SRN IA.  AMS IS
STRUGGLING TO REALIZE NEAR SURFACE BASED INSTABILITY WITH CAPPING
LAYER NOTED ON SGF/TOP 18Z SOUNDINGS.  20Z MLCAPE 500 J/KG JUST W OF
KMKC BUT JUST BARELY UNCAPPED...WITH SIMILAR VALUES OF ELEVATED
MUCAPE SPREADING A BIT FARTHER N AND E.

.SHORT TERM...TNGT THRU FRI NGT
EVOLUTION OF PCPN WILL BE PRIMARY FCST EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON.
EXPECT DEF ZN TO SWING ACROSS IA TNGT SO HAVE HIT FAIRLY HARD WITH
LIKELY AND CATEGORICAL POPS.  COULD BE A FEW ELEVATED HAILERS...BUT
DO NOT FEEL WE HAVE ENOUGH HEATING LEFT TO REALIZE ANYTHING SURFACE
BASED.  TRAILING EDGE OF DEF ZN SHOULD EXIT FCST AREA THU MORNING
WITH NEXT PCPN CHANCES HOLDING OFF TIL FRI NGT WHEN SLIGHT CHANCES
WERE KEPT GOING.  MODELS ARE NOT SHOWING MUCH OF A SIGNAL...BUT
H85/H7 THETA-E ADVCTN QUITE STRONG WITH SHOWALTERS NEUTRAL TO WEAKLY
UNSTABLE SO WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE WIDELY SCATTERED
SHWRS/TSTMS.

DID NOT STRAY TOO FAR FM GUIDANCE BLEND BUT SOME QUESTIONS ARISE BY
FRI.  GFS/NAM MOS SEEM TOO AGGRESSIVE FRI SWRN PORTIONS.  FCST
SOUNDINGS REALLY DO NOT SUPPORT READINGS IN THE MID 60S...EVEN WITH
STRONG MIXING.  HOWEVER DID LEAN TOWARD THE HIGHER END OF GUIDANCE
ELSEWHERE.  AIRMASS FAIRLY DRY ALTHOUGH WINDS DO NOT QUITE SWING FAR
ENOUGH TO THE S OR SWLY TO GET TOO EXTREME.

.LONG TERM...SAT THRU WED
MODELS IN DECENT AGREEMENT WITH PASSAGE OF WARM SEASON SYS TO START
THE WEEKEND.  12Z GFS PUSHES MLCAPES ABV 500 J/KG AND MINIMAL CIN
INTO ERN SECTIONS BY AFTERNOON SO HIT THUNDER WORDING A BIT HARDER.
SYS MAY LINGER INTO ERN PORTIONS SAT NGT BUT KEPT BREAK FROM PCPN
GOING ON SUN.

CONFIDENCE THEN DECREASES WITH APPROACH OF MAINLY COOL SEASON SYS
LATE IN WEEKEND INTO MONDAY.  THERMAL FIELDS AND POSITION OF DEF ZN
STILL IN QUESTION AND WILL HAVE BIG IMPACT ON FCST.  LAST TWO ECMWF
RUNS STILL 8-12C WARMER THAN 12Z GFS AT H85.  ECMWF LIFTING DEF ZN
TO OUR N BY 00Z TUE AS WELL WITH IA IN DRY SLOT WHILE 12Z GFS PUSHES
DEF ZN OVER SERN HALF OF IA.  12Z CANADIAN IS LEANING TOWARD THE GFS
DIRECTION-WISE BUT IS SLOWER AND EVEN FARTHER SOUTH LEAVING IA
MAINLY DRY.  THUS AM NOT INCLINED TO MAKE TOO MANY CHANGES TO FCST
AT THE MOMENT LEAVING CHANCE POPS IN PLACE SUN NGT INTO MON WITH
RAIN AND/OR SNOW WORDING.  WILL HAVE TO MONITOR THIS PROGRESSION
HOWEVER AS DECENT SNOW EVENT IS STILL IN THE WINDOW OF
POSSIBILITIES...ESPECIALLY IF ECMWF/GFS BLEND EVENTUALLY COMES TO
PASS.

TEMP WISE DID NOT CHANGE THINGS TOO MUCH BUT FOLLOWED GFS ENSEMBLE
MOS SUGGESTION OF GOING SLIGHTLY WARMER HEDGING TOWARD ECMWF TEMPS.

&&

.DMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

FAB/BSS

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
328 PM CST WED MAR 8 2006

IAZ025>028-033>039-044>050-057>061-070>073-081-082-092-093-092130-
WRIGHT-FRANKLIN-BUTLER-BREMER-SAC-CALHOUN-WEBSTER-HAMILTON-HARDIN-
GRUNDY-BLACK HAWK-CRAWFORD-CARROLL-GREENE-BOONE-STORY-MARSHALL-
TAMA-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-POLK-JASPER-CASS-ADAIR-MADISON-WARREN-
ADAMS-UNION-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD-
328 PM CST WED MAR 8 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A PORTION OF CENTRAL IOWA
MAINLY BETWEEN HIGHWAY 20 AND INTERSTATE 80.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED NON SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON
AND EARLY EVENING. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS UP TO A TENTH OF AN
INCH IS LIKELY WITH THE STORMS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF MAINLY NON SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

IAZ004>007-015>017-023-024-092130-
EMMET-KOSSUTH-WINNEBAGO-WORTH-PALO ALTO-HANCOCK-CERRO GORDO-
POCAHONTAS-HUMBOLDT-
328 PM CST WED MAR 8 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A PORTION OF CENTRAL IOWA
MAINLY NORTH OF HIGHWAY 20.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF MAINLY NON SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT.

IAZ062-074-075-083>086-094>097-092130-
POWESHIEK-MARION-MAHASKA-CLARKE-LUCAS-MONROE-WAPELLO-DECATUR-
WAYNE-APPANOOSE-DAVIS-
328 PM CST WED MAR 8 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A PORTION OF CENTRAL IOWA
MAINLY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

SCATTERED NON SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. AN ISOLATED STORM COULD BECOME SEVERE
THROUGH EARLY EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT WOULD BE MARGINALLY SEVERE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF MAINLY NON SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING FROM 6 TO 9 PM.

FAB