596 FXUS62 KCAE 271035 AFDCAE Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Columbia SC 635 AM EDT Sat Apr 27 2024 .SYNOPSIS... Weak high pressure will be over the region through Monday along with partly to mostly cloudy skies and a warming trend. A weak front is expected to bring a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms late Tuesday through Thursday, mainly northern and eastern areas. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Easterly flow will continue over the area today as the ridge of high pressure remains across east of the area along the coast with upper level ridging building over the eastern US. This will continue pushing moisture into the area and keep skies partly to mostly cloudy through today and into tonight. Main concern today is some guidance suggesting there could be a couple showers develop along the coast and move inland while the remainder of the guidance suggests near zero chance of showers. With the cloud cover expected coupled with an inversion around 10 kft and some drier air in the mid levels have kept mention of showers out of the forecast however have increased pops through the afternoon just below slight chance. This evening with the loss of heating all potential for showers dissipates and some clearing is expected overnight. High temperatures this afternoon will be in the upper 70s to around 80 with low tonight in the mid to upper 50s. && .SHORT TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/... High pressure and increasingly high heights will yield continued beautiful weather across the area. Mostly sunny skies are expected, but with southeasterly on-shore flow continuing, some fair weather cumulus is possible through the afternoon. Highs should only moderate a bit, largely owing to the surface & low- level high pressure system remaining to our northeast. Look for highs in the 79- 84F range for most, with overnight lows in the mid 50s. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... Long term continues to look very quiet, with high forecaster confidence in the pattern. Expectation is for meridional flow to continue to our west, becoming a bit more flat and zonal by early next week. As this happens, ridging will set up across the area and shift eastward as a weak cold front approaches on Tuesday & Wednesday. Very warm temperatures are expected to precede this feature, with the low-level flow veering out of the southwest as well. So a warm advection regime is likely by this point, and our highs should take a nice bump into the 87F-91F range Wednesday through Friday. Isolated showers and storms are possible with that front on Tuesday night but confidence is not high enough to deviate from the slight chance PoPs that the NBM gave out. Speaking of the NBM, only made minor tweaks here and there. Ensembles are in great agreement, with GEFS 500 hPa IQR range very low especially for how complex the upstream pattern is. So expected it to be warm and (mostly) dry through the end of next week. && .AVIATION /12Z SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... VFR conditions through the period. Satellite imagery and surface obs currently show some patchy low clouds around AGS/DNL however this should quickly dissipate with sunrise and onset of mixing. Confidence in impacts at either terminal remain too low to include. Easterly flow will continue through the period as a ridge of high pressure remains along the coast. This will keep clouds across the terminals through the day with cigs expected to remain VFR however there are some indications of some MVFR cigs at a few points through the day. Confidence in MVFR cigs developing remains low and plan to handle with a TEMPO group if necessary. Clouds will begin to lift this evening into tonight with mostly cloudy skies tonight again limiting fog potential. Winds through the period will be easterly at 8 knots or less. EXTENDED AVIATION OUTLOOK...Restrictions possible in early morning fog or stratus each morning. Slight chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms Tuesday onward. && .CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...None. GA...None. && $$