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Forecast Discussion for Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
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537 FXUS64 KFWD 041945 AFDFWD Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 145 PM CST Wed Mar 4 2026 ...New SHORT TERM, LONG TERM, AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... - An unsettled weather pattern will bring daily rain and storm chances today through this weekend. - Isolated large hail and damaging wind gusts will be possible this afternoon and evening across parts of North and Central Texas. - After a relative lull in precipitation Thursday, multiple rounds of thunderstorms will bring a severe weather and flash flooding threat to much of North and Central Texas Friday into early next week. && .SHORT TERM... (This afternoon through Thursday) Issued at 144 PM CST Wed Mar 4 2026 The next couple days will be the start of an active 6-7 days across the region. There is a risk of severe weather today, but the overall severe threat is on the lower-end. Expect thunderstorms to develop early this afternoon, increasing in coverage by the mid to late afternoon and continue for parts of the area overnight into tomorrow morning. Additional storms are forecast tomorrow, but the strongest storms will remain to our west. Warm and moist flow developed over the Southern Plains last weekend, pumping plenty of available moisture into the region. A shallow cold front is currently moving into Western North Texas while southerly flow continues for the remainder of the forecast area in the open warm sector. Aloft, broad ascent brought about by weak diffluence in the upper-levels and a couple weak shortwave perturbations are helping develop widespread light rain as of this writing (~1 pm). Latest ACARS/Aircraft soundings still indicate a cap over the region, so we haven`t seen many thunderstorms yet. However, as lift works on the cap from above and below, we expect the cap to erode over the next few hours. Breaks in the cloud cover will also aid in destabilization/erosion of the cap and increased storm potential as well. We`ll be watching two main storm initiation zones today. One near the front and another generally near/east of the I-35 corridor within a broad region of low-level warm advection. Storms within the zone of warm advection should start as showers that gradually blossom into thunderstorms. Storms that develop near the front will develop a little quicker. The front should slowly move southwest this afternoon, stalling near a line from Sherman/Denison to the DFW Metroplex to Stephenville a couple hours before sunset. Once the front stalls, expect storm coverage along the front to increase. Any storm that develops today will have some severe potential. The main contributing factor to severe weather is steep mid-level lapse rates and modest instability with MLCAPE values between ~1500-2500. Deep-layer shear is weak and disorganized, so expect a broken line of disorganized clusters or multicells instead of organized supercells or a line of storms. With that being said, a few zealous storms may be able to have supercell characteristics and merging cold pools may form a pseudo-line of storms, but the overall convective mode should be messy. There will be a general movement of the larger-scale cluster of storms that develops near the front this evening, though. Expect it to slowly move east the first few hours after development, then retreat north and west in the evening and overnight hours with at least scattered storms continuing through the night for portions of North Texas. The severe threat will also be highest from about 4 pm to midnight, waning in the early morning hours as instability decreases. Scattered showers and storms are forecast to continue overnight across North Texas as the front begins to wash out and waft north. By daybreak, all precip should be near the Red River and eventually move north into Oklahoma by about mid-morning. Since staunch southerly flow will take hold of the region once again tomorrow and the moist airmass hasn`t gone anywhere, a few warm-advection showers or storms will be possible in the afternoon. We aren`t expecting any of this activity to be severe, but will monitor the latest data to assess the severe threat. The SPC does highlight an area of severe weather tomorrow, but to our west near a dryline in West Texas and the Panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma. && .LONG TERM... (Friday through Tuesday) Issued at 144 PM CST Wed Mar 4 2026 Update... The discussion below is still largely on-track and captures the main threats. The key messages to take away is that we`ll remain in an active pattern through at least Tuesday of next week. The main severe threats will be Friday and Tuesday, while the threat of flooding (both river and flash flooding) ramps up over the weekend, especially Saturday, and early next week. Bonnette Previous Discussion... Issued at 140 AM CST Wed Mar 4 2026 A more robust mid-level shortwave will enter the Central Plains on Friday increasing a belt of southwesterlies over North and Central Texas. A moist and unstable airmass will likely settle over the region east of a dryline expected to reside west of I-35 by Friday afternoon. The better synoptic-scale lift will remain north of our forecast area, so low-level convergence along the dryline will likely favor more scattered convection initially (especially with concerns on how cloud cover impacts overall daytime destabilization). 30-40 kts of effective bulk shear and moderate instability will promote the development of supercellular storms capable of producing large hail, damaging winds, and perhaps even a couple tornadoes. The greatest severe weather threat will exist north of I-20 nearer to the Red River where sufficient low-level SRH will likely overlap moderate instability for several hours late Friday afternoon into Friday evening. More widespread thunderstorm coverage is expected Saturday into Sunday as a cold front enters North and Central Texas and persistent shortwaves move through the southwesterly flow aloft. An anomalously moist airmass will lead to efficient rainfall rates and localized flash flooding, especially in areas that observe multiple rounds of storms and training storms. Keep an eye on the forecast this week as we nail down the areas that may observe higher rainfall totals (potentially 3+") this upcoming weekend. This active weather pattern will likely continue into early next week with rain chances in the forecast Monday through Wednesday. Langfeld && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 144 PM CST Wed Mar 4 2026 Ceilings this afternoon have largely lifted/scattered into a VFR Cu/TCU field with south flow prevailing. Expect scattered showers to continue through the afternoon, with showers gradually blossoming into thunderstorms over the next few hours across much of the region. A cold front is currently northwest of D10 that will slowly move southeast over the next few hours. Expect a cluster of storms to develop near/over D10 near sunset when the front stalls over D10. It`s hard to pinpoint exact thunderstorm timing and motions, but generally expect storms to develop, move southeast, then move back northwest a couple hours later. The chance of thunderstorm impacts at the D10 TAF terminals themselves is pretty high, ~60%. Storms are expected to continue pretty much all night for either northern D10 or over the northbound arrivals/departure gates. For ACT...the front will stay well to the northwest, so the main storm initiation will be due to the warm advection showers blossoming into thunderstorms. These are much harder to predict, but the most likely timing for storms on station is also late this afternoon into the evening. The cold front/thunderstorms will bring a northerly wind shift to most of the D10 terminals this evening, but expect south flow to return overnight along with MVFR ceilings. Additional scattered showers, or perhaps a few isolated storms, are possible tomorrow, but we will leave those details for future TAFs. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be requested across parts of North and Central Texas this afternoon and evening. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Dallas-Ft. Worth 79 65 80 66 / 50 70 30 20 Waco 80 65 81 65 / 60 60 30 20 Paris 79 63 79 63 / 60 80 50 10 Denton 77 59 79 62 / 60 80 40 20 McKinney 78 63 79 65 / 60 80 40 20 Dallas 80 65 80 66 / 50 70 30 20 Terrell 80 64 82 65 / 50 70 30 20 Corsicana 82 67 84 67 / 50 40 20 10 Temple 81 65 83 65 / 50 40 30 20 Mineral Wells 74 60 81 63 / 50 70 40 30 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Bonnette LONG TERM....Bonnette/Langfeld AVIATION...Bonnette |
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