Hail and Damaging Winds in North Dakota, August 9, 2006

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
220 PM CDT WED AUG 9 2006

.SHORT TERM...FORECAST CHALLENGES TO REMAIN CONVECTIVE CHANCES
THROUGH PERIOD. 12Z MODELS SHOW BASICALLY SIMILIAR SCENARIOS AND
WILL UTILIZE SOME SORT OF BLEND.

TWO MAIN SHORTWAVES EVIDENT FROM WATER VAPOR IMAGERY...WITH ONE
ACROSS CENTRAL ND AND THE SECOND ENTERING MONTANA. THESE TWO WAVES
TO INFLUENCE THE REGION THROUGH THU NIGHT. THEN...A MORE VIGOROUS
500MB TROUGH WILL PUSH A SFC TROUGH/COLD FRONT THROUGH THE FA ON
SAT.

TONIGHT...DEEP LAYERED LIFT WILL INCREASE ACROSS FA AS FIRST
SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH. THIS COMBINED WITH STEEP MID-LEVEL LAPSE
RATES WILL GIVE SCT THUNDER CHANCES THROUGH THE NIGHT. AT
19Z...SFC BOUNDARIES ARE NUMEROUS AND HARD TO PICK OUT WITH SUCH
WEAK SFC FLOW. HOWEVER...THERE APPEARS TO BE A BOUNDARY ACROSS THE
N FA WHICH IS SAGGING SOUTH. ISOLD CONVECTION HAS DEVELOPED ALONG
THIS LINE. EXPECT ISOLD-SCT THUNDER TO CONTINUE ALONG THIS LINE.
ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT BY LATE AFTERNOON POSSIBLE EVERYWHERE WITH
SFC HEATING AND APPROACHING SHORTWAVE. SFC DEWPOINTS HAVE RISEN TO
NEAR 70F ACROSS THE FA CREATING MLCAPES NEAR 2000 J/KG. DEEP
LAYERED SHEAR REMAINS WEAK (10-20KTS). CURRENT TREND OF MULTI-CELL
STORMS WITH STRONG INITIAL UPDRAFTS...THEN WEAKENING SHOULD
CONTINUE. AN ISOLD STORM MAY HIT SEVERE LIMITS FOR HAIL WITH THE
INITIAL UPDRAFT. ISOLD HEAVY RAIN ALSO POSSIBLE WITH WEAK FLOW
GIVING SLOW STORM MOVEMENT. THESE THREATS SHOULD REMAIN EXTREMELY
ISOLD AND NOT ENOUGH TO MENTION IN GRIDS/ZONES. A BRIEF BREAK
EXPECTED ON THU BEFORE NEXT SHORTWAVE APPROACHES. SIMILIAR
CONDITIONS AND TIMING EXPECTED...WILL GO WITH SIMILIAR POPS
THU/THU NIGHT.

MID-UPPER RIDGE BUILDS IN FOR FRI AND WILL KEEP DRY FORECAST
GOING. THUNDER CHANCES FRI NIGHT-SAT REMAIN VALID AS SYSTEM MOVES
THROUGH. THIS ONE BEARS WATCHING WITH MODERATE TO STRONG
INSTABILITY AND MODERATE TO STRONG DEEP LAYERED SHEAR.

.LONG TERM...(MON-THU)...FOLLOWED HPC LEAD IN THE EXTENDED WHICH
IS TO GO ALONG WITH CANADIAN/ECMWF FOR SFC/UPPER AIR PATTERN AND
IGNORE THE PCPN GFS IN THAT SUN-SUN NIGHT TIME FRAME. SO LEFT THE
START OF THE LONG TERM PERIOD DRY...WITH HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING
OVER THE FCST AREA MONDAY-TUESDAY. RETURN FLOW SETS UP ON
WEDNESDAY AHEAD OF THE NEXT TROUGH/FRONT SET FOR THURSDAY. TEMPS
LOOK TO RUN NEAR NORMAL THRU THE PERIOD AS MAINLY ZONAL FLOW
CONTINUES.

&&

.AVIATION...VERY TOUGH AVIATION FCST FOR 18Z TAFS AS HIGH
UNCERTAINTY IN REGARDS TO TSTM COVERAGE/TIMING THIS AFTN AND
TONIGHT AND TO AREAS OF LOWER CIGS WHICH ARE ONLY NOW SLOWLY
BURNING OFF IN THE FAR-GFK-BJI AREAS. PLAYED TSTM FCST PRETTY
CONSERVATIVE AND ONLY INSERTED TS INTO FARGO TAF AS THINK THAT IS
BEST LOCATION FOR TSTM COVERAGE THIS EVENING AS SHORT WAVE NOW
PRODUCING TSTMS NEAR MINOT MOVES SOUTHEAST. GFK-BJI AREA VERY IFFY
AS POP-UP TSTMS COULD OCCUR JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE AND DID INCLUDE CB
FOR LOWER CLOUD GROUP THIS AFTN BUT NOT THUNDER AS CONFIDENCE IS
NOT 50 PERCENT. COULD HAVE LOWER CIGS AGAIN THURSDAY MORNING SO
INCLUDED THEM AS HIGH DEW PTS REMAIN AND WINDS LIGHT.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ND...NONE.
MN...NONE.
&&

TG/RIDDLE

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
629 AM CDT WED AUG 9 2006

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-101130-
WEST POLK-NORMAN-CLAY-KITTSON-ROSEAU-LAKE OF THE WOODS-
WEST MARSHALL-EAST MARSHALL-NORTH BELTRAMI-PENNINGTON-RED LAKE-
EAST POLK-NORTH CLEARWATER-SOUTH BELTRAMI-MAHNOMEN-
SOUTH CLEARWATER-HUBBARD-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN-
WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-TOWNER-CAVALIER-
PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-NELSON-
GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-
RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-
629 AM CDT WED AUG 9 2006

...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL SLOWLY WEAKEN THIS MORNING ACROSS
EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. NONE OF THESE STORMS
ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE.

WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION
LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A WEAK AREA OF LOW PRESSURE
DROPS SOUTHWARD THROUGH THE REGION. ISOLATED STORMS MAY BECOME
SEVERE WITH THE PRIMARY HAZARD BEING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL PERIODICALLY AFFECT THE
REGION INTO THE WEEKEND. A FEW OF THESE STORMS MAY APPROACH SEVERE
LIMITS AGAIN ON THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

VOELKER