825 FXUS61 KCLE 162344 AFDCLE Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cleveland OH 744 PM EDT Wed Apr 16 2025 .SYNOPSIS... High pressure builds in from the west tonight and persists for Thursday. Low pressure lifts into the Great Lakes on Friday, lifting a warm front through the region. This is quickly followed by a cold front Friday night or early Saturday. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... High pressure continues to build in from the northwest this afternoon through tonight. Any lingering cloud cover this afternoon should give way to clear skies today and mostly sunny skies on Thursday. A warm front approaches from the west Thursday night, should see gradually thickening cloud cover starting Thursday afternoon out west ahead of the front, followed isolated to scattered rain showers with the front itself late Thursday night. && .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... The local area will be in the warm sector by daybreak Friday behind a warm front that will have lifted north across the region Thursday night. The bulk of the day on Friday is trending warmer, drier, and breezy as mid-level dry air enters behind the warm front and cloud cover scatters out. Daytime heating Friday afternoon should allow for high temperatures to rise into the mid to upper 70s with a few spots making a run at 80 degrees. It will be breezy Friday afternoon as southwesterly winds are likely to gust to 35+ MPH, mainly across the I-75 corridor. By Friday evening and overnight, an upper level trough will begin to enter from the west with some some potential for strong to severe thunderstorms to initiate. The timing remains less than favorable for severe weather given the quick loss of daytime heating after sunset. Portions of northwest Ohio remain in a Day 3 Slight Risk (Level 2/5) for Severe Thunderstorms on Friday evening so this will continue to be something to monitor. The primary threat in any severe storm that materializes will be damaging wind gusts. A surface cold front will gradually glide southeast on Saturday before stalling south of the local area. For now have continued PoPs through Saturday evening given the location of the stalled front. Warm overnight lows on Friday night will settle in the upper 50s to low 60s. Highs on Saturday will be about 10-15 degrees cooler than Friday as they rise into the mid to upper 60s. Cooler overnight lows Saturday night behind the cold front as they dip into the mid 40s. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... A brief area of high pressure may build in from the north on Sunday before the next low pressure system arrives from the southwest on Monday. There remains a fair amount of spread across models late this weekend and early next week with the Canadian showing the cold front sagging further south and therefore leading to dry weather on Sunday, whereas the GFS and ECMWF continue to signal that the front will remain stalled across the Ohio Valley. Additionally, the ECMWF and Canadian show a faster progression of the surface low with GFS signaling a much slower progression. Given this, NBM has continued to keep chance PoPs in place across the region through much of the long term period before weak high pressure attempts to build overhead by mid-week. && .AVIATION /00Z Thursday THROUGH Monday/... Low level moisture has exited the region, and VFR prevails. Winds have also all come down below 12kts with the exception of ERI which has a couple more hours of 20kt gusts to around 02-03Z. Winds will eventually become southerly after 12Z Thursday. Outlook...Isolated non-VFR possible in rain showers Friday morning. More widespread non-VFR likely with some thunderstorms possible Friday night Saturday, followed by periods of non-VFR Saturday night through Monday. && .MARINE... High pressure will persist across Lake Erie through Thursday allowing for winds to diminish and waves to subside through this evening. Westerly winds will turn light and variable overnight tonight. A warm front will approach the lake from the southwest Thursday night/early Friday morning with southeasterly winds increasing Thursday night to 10-15 knots. By daybreak Friday, southerly winds increase to 15-20 knots. Southwesterly winds 15-20 knots will persist Friday night through Saturday evening. A cold front will sweep southeast across the Lake Friday on Saturday with winds turning northwesterly while decreasing to 10-15 knots behind the cold front. The front may stall just south of the lake through the remainder of the weekend with winds turning northeasterly on Sunday ahead of low pressure lifting northeast towards the Great Lakes region on Monday. && .CLE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OH...None. PA...None. MARINE...Small Craft Advisory until 8 PM EDT this evening for LEZ147>149. && $$ SYNOPSIS...Saunders NEAR TERM...Saunders SHORT TERM...13 LONG TERM...13 AVIATION...26 MARINE...13