Area forecast discussion National Weather Service New York New York 435 am EDT sun may 19 2013 Synopsis... low pressure developing over Quebec will track east dragging a warm front across the area late tonight. The low will continue across the Canadian Maritimes with its cold front dropping through the area on Tuesday. The front then remains in close proximity to the area before lifting back north as a warm front on Thursday. A cold frontal passage occurs late in the week or early weekend. && Near term /through tonight/... low pressure developing over Quebec early this morning will track eastward today with its attending warm front moving through the area tonight. Meanwhile a stationary frontal boundary extending from the Middle Atlantic States to the Midwest won't move much today...then dissipate tonight. Weak warm air advection has caused light rain to lift into NE New Jersey and metropolitan New York early this morning. 00z model guidance as well as hrrr are in good agreement and indicate a cloudy and wet day as this area continues to expand and gradually move across the area. Some uncertainty in timing of warm frontal passage tonight...so probability of precipitation may be on the high side after 06z although increasing Theta-E would imply abundant low clouds and areas of fog and drizzle once it moves through....highs will only reach the lower to middle 60s across the area...which is 5 to 10 degrees below normal. Lows tonight will be near to slightly above normal levels in the middle to upper 50s. && Short term /Monday through Tuesday/... the region will be warm sectored on Monday as a cold front approaches from the north. Expect at least partial clearing to occur...but this will determine how unstable we will get. The front will align with the flow aloft which is relatively weak (10-20kt) and could lead to training of slow moving thunderstorms. Precipitable waters are forecast to be around 1.5 inches which is around 175% of normal and could cause some minor urban flooding issues. Confidence in all of this is low at this time. Convection diminished Monday evening with the front dropping through the area. High uncertainty just how far S the boundary gets...so have kept the chance probability of precipitation for afternoon showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday...mainly north and west of NYC. Temperatures will be around 5 degrees above normal both Monday and Tuesday with a noticeably more humid airmass in place as well. && Long term /Tuesday night through Saturday/... predictability issues during this time period have to do with the interaction of eastern Canadian troughing and central US troughing this week. The interaction of these two energies will determine the magnitude of East Coast ridging for the midweek. Models signaling a return to East Coast troughing for the weekend as East Coast ridging builds offshore into the western Atlantic. Showers and thunderstorms could continue Tuesday night...with indications of a wave of low pressure tracking east along the sagging frontal boundary. Moisture pooling and steering flow parallel to the surface boundary would present a flash flood threat if this pattern materialized. Then for the middle-late week period the interaction of the earlier mentioned upper features will be critical to the location of the frontal boundary. Latest guidance has strongly converged on the backdoor cold front pushing south through the region Tuesday night...and then back north as a warm front on Thursday. If the front does pass south...onshore flow and clouds would likely drop maximum temperatures to seasonable or slightly below seasonable levels for Wednesday...several degrees cooler then forecasted. Regardless of where the warm front ends up...if this boundary remains close to the region...shortwaves at the southern edge of the westerlies may allow for convective complexes to form and track west to east along this boundary through the middle-late week period. Any mesoscale convective system would bring the threat for heavy rain and severe weather. By the end of the week...models are signaling varying degrees of phasing of the Midwest upper trough and eastern Canadian upper trough. This will have a cold front passing through the region sometime Friday into Sat...with shower and thunderstorm activity finally exiting in it wake. Degree of phasing of upper energies will determine timing and activity along the front. && Aviation /09z Sunday through Thursday/... high pressure passes to the east today as a frontal boundary remains to the south. Ceilings may bounce around from MVFR to VFR this morning...and trends will need to be watched. Do expect on and off light rain this morning for most terminals. Kgon may not see rain until this afternoon. Please see individual terminal forecasts for specifics and best deterministic forecasts...but MVFR ceilings likely prevail through much of the afternoon with a lower probability of ceilings under 1 kft. Do expect IFR or lower ceilings/visibilities by evening. Winds generally southeast...with higher sustained winds during the daytime hours. Outlook for 06z Monday through Thursday... Tonight...IFR or LIFR conditions...in periods of light rain and fog. Monday...improvement to VFR by middle to late morning. Scattered showers...and isolated thunderstorms with brief MVFR conds possible in the afternoon. Monday night...MVFR or lower conditions likely with low clouds and fog. Tuesday-Thursday...chance of MVFR of lower conditions in showers and thunderstorms. && Marine... high pressure passes east of the waters today. As it does so...southerly winds will increase to around 20 kts...mainly across the ocean waters. By tonight...low pressure passes to the north of the waters. Winds turn toward the southwest through Monday. A frontal boundary approaches from the north by Tuesday...and winds lighten and could shift around to the northeast or east depending on how far south the front moves. Eventually this front is expected to move back to the north resulting in a wind shift to the south once again by middle week. Wave watch has been running high...but latest guidance has captured the trends and slowly builds seas today. May undercut ocean sea forecasts slightly early in the week...but seas remain rather rough through Monday on the ocean waters due to persistent southerly fetch and swells. Will follow wind direction and speed climatology for sea/wave forecasts across Li sound and the surrounding harbors and bays. && Hydrology... up to 1/4 inch of rainfall is expected through tonight. Periods of showers and thunderstorms are possible Monday through Friday...which would be capable of producing locally heavy rainfall. There is currently a low threat of flash flooding from organized shower thunderstorm activity during this time period. && Okx watches/warnings/advisories... CT...none. New York...none. New Jersey...none. Marine...Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM EDT Monday for anz353-355. Small Craft Advisory from noon today to 6 PM EDT Monday for anz350. && $$