Area forecast discussion National Weather Service Mount Holly New Jersey 228 am EDT Sat may 25 2013 Synopsis... low pressure along an offshore cold front will continue to slowly progress northeast tonight and over the weekend, reaching the Canadian Maritimes by Sunday night. Meanwhile, an area of high pressure will gradually build east through the weekend from around the Great Lakes region. By middle week, a warm front is expected to lift northward through our region, followed by a Bermuda type high pressure system building to our east for the end of next week. && Near term /until 6 am this morning/... an area of low pressure developing to our NE will continue to move northeastward through today. At the same time, high pressure will build in from the west. As a result, we will keep very strong northwesterly flow over the area. We have issued a Special Weather Statement for wind gusts around 45 miles per hour for the higher elevations of Carbon and Monroe counties. Mpo came in with a gust to 43 miles per hour late in the afternoon, and winds have been diminishing very slowly since. With the slow moving low to the NE it will keep an abundance of clouds over the region. Precipitation chances should gradually decrease from SW to NE. Overnight low temperatures will be quite crisp with most locations into the 40s and some even into the 30s. && Short term /6 am this morning through 6 PM Sunday/... on Sat, the aforementioned low will continue its slow progression away from the region. Clouds will be plentiful in the mrng, and decrease through the day. Precipitation chances will be highest in the NE to almost non-existent across the SW. Temperatures will only make it into the low to middle 60s which is generally 10 to 15 degrees below normal. && Long term /Sunday night through Friday/... to start the long term, a middle level low/trough will be moving away to the northeast, and we expect any lingering light showers over our northeast zones to be quickly diminishing by Saturday evening. Of note, a pronounced cyclonic flow will still be in place across our region through Saturday night, and the northwest winds will remain elevated through the night in the 10 to 20 miles per hour range. With this in mind, we generally took a blend of higher mav guidance with continuity across the forecast area for minimum temperatures, with lows ranging from the upper 30s and lower 40s for our northwest zones to the middle and upper 40s in the lower Delaware valley and Delaware-Maryland-Virginia region. Going into Sunday, the overall pressure gradient will begin to relax across the region, but another breezy day is in store with northwest winds in the 15 to 25 miles per hour range. Dry conditions are anticipated, but with a few shortwaves/vorticity maxes passing overhead in the still cyclonic flow aloft, some clouds will mix with the sunshine, especially north. Going into Sunday night, both the GFS and European model (ecmwf) show an area of high pressure from around the Great Lakes building east and over our area, with the gradient relaxing. With lighter winds and fairly clear skies, we anticipate another cool night for our northwest zones, with minimum temperatures again dropping into the upper 30s and lower 40s. High pressure will remain over the region through Monday, as the airmass begins to moderate, with light westerly winds and temperatures returning to late may normals. From there going into the middle and end of the week, maximum temperatures will be steadily climbing. Overall, Tuesday should feature mainly dry conditions for the forecast area; although, a warm front will be approaching our region from the south and west. We maintain the possibility for showers and isolated T-storms going into Tuesday night as the front begins to lift northward through the region, and we also kept some probability of precipitation in place for Wednesday. For the end of the work week then, a Bermuda high building over the Atlantic will spread its influence westward over the middle Atlantic and southeast states, with increasing humidity and above average temperatures expected. && Aviation /07z Saturday through Wednesday/... the following discussion is for kphl, kpne, kttn, kabe, krdg, kilg, kmiv, kacy and surrounding areas. Although a few patches of MVFR clouds were moving around the area late Friday evening, we expect skies to be VFR most or all of the time through the taf period at all of the taf sites. We will start out with low VFR ceilings that may erode toward daybreak and then re- develop during the middle-morning hours. Some shower activity also was moving around the area late Friday evening, but we expect visibilities in any showers that hit a taf site to remain VFR. Regarding the wind, surface low pressure developing south of Cape Cod late Friday evening established a pressure gradient with high pressure building in from the west. The resultant northwesterly flow will keep winds gusting in the 20s and 30s knots through the taf period. Outlook... Saturday night through Sunday...mainly VFR conditions expected with gusty northwest winds. Monday...VFR conditions with light westerly winds. Tuesday through Wednesday...mostly VFR conditions. Possible sub-VFR ceilings/visibilities in showers Tuesday night into Wednesday with a warm front lifting through the region. && Marine... gale warnings were raised with the afternoon pkg issuance. They are in effect over the southern waters and del Bay and will go into effect at 10z for the northern waters. Strong northwesterly flow will continue and strengthen from S to north as high pressure builds in from the west and low pressure develops along the cold front that passed through this morning. Outlook... a Gale Warning will be in effect for our coastal waters and Delaware Bay into at least the first part of Saturday night as a strong northwesterly flow will keep wind gusts around 35 knots over the waters. Seas will also be elevated in the 5 to 6 foot range for the Atlantic coastal waters, with seas ranging from 3 to 5 feet in Delaware Bay. Gale force gusts are expected to diminish heading through the early morning hours of Sunday, but we will likely need a Small Craft Advisory headline for a time on our waters from the early morning on Sunday through Sunday afternoon to early evening. For the remainder of the period then, from Sunday night through Wednesday, we anticipate sub-Small Craft Advisory conditions on our waters as high pressure spreads across the region, followed by a warm front lifting north during the middle week period. && Tides/coastal flooding... the strong northwest winds down del Bay have created negative water level departures of -1.5 to 2.5 feet. With the low tide approaching...we have decided to issue a low water advisory for early this morning. An Special Weather Statement will be issued soon...if it appears the the del river will be affected by the low water also. && Rip currents... there is a moderate risk of rip currents forecast for Saturday. && Phi watches/warnings/advisories... PA...none. New Jersey...none. Delaware...none. Maryland...none. Marine...Gale Warning until 2 am EDT Sunday for anz430-431-452>455. Gale Warning from 6 am this morning to 2 am EDT Sunday for anz450-451. Low water advisory until 8 am EDT this morning for anz430-431. && $$ Synopsis...Kline near term...nierenberg short term...nierenberg long term...Kline aviation...Kline/nierenberg marine...Kline/nierenberg tides/coastal flooding... rip currents...