185 FXUS63 KDVN 111911 AFDDVNArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL 211 PM CDT Thu Sep 11 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Summer heat returns this weekend, although without the extreme summer humidity. Hot temperatures last into next week.
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.SHORT TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY/... Issued at 210 PM CDT Thu Sep 11 2025
High pressure well to our northeast will continue pushing off to the southeast into New England through Friday. We`ll likely keep just enough wind flow overnight to prevent significant fog formation. Upper ridging nudges in from the east Friday, opening up some even warmer temperatures for us. We`ll see highs a few degrees warmer than today. Although the hottest temperatures are still to come.
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.LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 210 PM CDT Thu Sep 11 2025
The upper ridge crests over our area on Saturday into Sunday, likely bringing the hottest temperatures of this air mass. Widespread 90s are likely for highs both days, though humidity will be mercifully lower than what we typically see in summer. The worst of the humidity remains locked in over the Gulf where an easterly flow has pushed it into Mexico. More limited moisture has been transported northward through the Plains and we`ll start to get in on some low to mid 60s dewpoints as the ridge shifts east and southwesterly mid level flow begins. That will be enough to bring the heat index up a degree or two over the actual temperature, but likely remaining below critical thresholds. The GFS continues to struggle with mixing the low levels too deep and thus brings much warmer temperatures in the core of the ridge Saturday and Sunday. Now that we`re within a couple days of this forecast there are a few more sources which go into the NBM at this range, and thus NBM forecast highs have come down. We collaborated to lower these a bit further again, into the low to mid 90s in line with most non-GFS guidance sources.
The large trough upstream of our ridge will begin to break down and shift a significant chunk of its energy eastward into the Plains on Sunday. Guidance is now moving this trough a little more north and a little less east, so it`s less clear that we`ll get any precipitation out of this locally. However, hot and moderately humid conditions will lead to instability each afternoon, so we can`t rule out a few pop up showers or storms each day. With the trough now likely to stay mainly to our west, the ridge is also likely to remain in more firm control of our area extending into early next week. Thus the hot weather continues, though perhaps a couple of degrees cooler than this weekend.
Long range guidance varies considerably when it comes to multiple troughs to our west and the resulting impact on the ridge during the middle to later part of next week. As a result, we`re not very confident on how long the heat will last and when our next significant rain chances will be. When the ridge finally releases its grip and a trough moves in will be our best shot at more widespread rainfall and a shift toward cooler temperatures. At this point that doesn`t look likely until Wednesday at the earliest, but potentially not until the end of next week.
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.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 1202 PM CDT Thu Sep 11 2025
Light winds become a bit more southeasterly today under a mostly clear sky. We could see some patchy fog near DBQ again early tomorrow morning, but at the moment the wind direction is not expected to be ideal for upslope fog there. Otherwise VFR conditions prevail.
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.DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...None. IL...None. MO...None.
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SHORT TERM...Kimble LONG TERM...Kimble AVIATION...Kimble
NWS DVN Office Area Forecast Discussion