136 FXUS62 KCAE 091732 AFDCAEArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Columbia SC 132 PM EDT Thu Oct 9 2025
.SYNOPSIS... Cooler and drier air moves into the region today behind the cold front with gusty northeast winds. Cooler, drier and breezy conditions expected into Friday. Coastal low develops this weekend with continued breezy conditions but mostly dry weather expected.
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.NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Key message(s):
- Cooler, drier, and breezy.
- Lake Wind Advisory in effect.
Strong high pressure centered over the eastern Great Lakes this afternoon is causing a tight low level pressure gradient across the area, supporting breezy conditions out of the northeast. It will be choppy on areas lakes, with a Lake Wind Advisory in effect. Temps will be cool for this time of year, and the modified polar air mass is also quite dry, with dew points lower than they have been for a while. Overnight will be the coolest in quite a while, although the breeze will stay up enough over most places to keep the temperatures higher than they would be in calm conditions as a strong surface inversion will not be able to set up due to mixing.
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.SHORT TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... Key message(s):
- Developing low offshore will continue breezy conditions with some showers possible late Friday.
- More persistent showers possible across eastern SC on Saturday as the low strengthens.
A sharp digging shortwave will push offshore Friday, visible in the water vapor imagery this afternoon, and interact with a decaying baroclinic zone associated with Wednesday`s front. A fairly classic display of cyclogenesis is then expected as this trough tilts less positive and spins up along the strong thermal gradient. With a very strong surface high still in place across the NE CONUS, the low development will maintain a strong pressure gradient across the area Friday; wind gusts again 25-30 mph are expected Friday. The persistent northerly dry advection will steadily weaken from low to upper levels throughout Friday as well and some sufficient moisture advection will wrap around the developing low for a few showers across southern CSRA and eastern Midlands. Rain chances will continue overnight Friday and throughout Friday as the low steadily strengthens and lifts north. PWAT`s by Saturday morning will climb over 1.25", mainly along and east of I-95, and this is where the majority of showers should remain. Since much of our area will remain on the fringe of the deep moisture and strongest synoptic forcing, QPF totals should remain low with some waves of moderate showers likely. Despite the developing low, the surface high to our north with push far enough east to weaken the pressure gradient somewhat over the area, so while winds will remain gusty, they will not be as strong Friday.
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.LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... Key message(s):
- Coastal low pushes north and dry, breezy conditions fill in behind it.
The upper trough associated the lifting coastal low is expected to push off to the northeast by Sunday morning and will drag the plume of high PWAT`s away from our area. NAEFS and EC ensemble guidance shows fairly high confidence with a limited spread in high temperature forecast as upper ridging begins to strengthen over the central CONUS behind as the low ejects into the NE CONUS. This will likely lead to a steady warming trend with above average temperatures by midweek, despite northerly component low level flow. With this upper ridging, dry conditions are expected to continue with below average PWAT`s and some downsloping likely into the middle of the week.
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.AVIATION /18Z THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... VFR conditions expected through tonight, although northeast winds will be stronger than normal. Low level moisture will be returning from the east on Friday, bringing some low clouds back into the terminals. I think generally the cigs that develop tomorrow should still be mainly VFR, although they may dip low enough at OGB to bring in some MVFR conditions later in the morning. We are also likely to see wind gusts higher than 20 mph at times on Friday as strong high pressure holds on to the north while pressure begin to fall to the southeast off the South Carolina and Georgia coast.
EXTENDED AVIATION OUTLOOK...Dry conditions and predominantly VFR conditions are expected to continue through the extended. Gusty NE winds are expected again Thursday night and Friday.
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.CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...Lake Wind Advisory until 11 AM EDT Friday for SCZ016-018- 020>022-025>031-035-037-038-041-115-116-135>137. GA...Lake Wind Advisory until 11 AM EDT Friday for GAZ040-063>065- 077.
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SYNOPSIS... NEAR TERM... SHORT TERM... LONG TERM... AVIATION...
NWS CAE Office Area Forecast Discussion