724
FXUS61 KRLX 231840
AFDRLX

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
National Weather Service Charleston WV
140 PM EST Tue Dec 23 2025

.SYNOPSIS...
Mild pattern through the weekend with occassional showers and
even a thunderstorm or two. Cold front passes on Sunday bringing
a return of much colder temperatures for early next week.

&&

.NEAR TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...
As of 140 PM Tuesday...

Key Points:
* Light rain or drizzle hangs on through much of the night for
  southern WV and southwest VA.
* Patchy fog (maybe freezing fog?) develops as skies clear late
  tonight over the Mid Ohio Valley.

A cold front will sag south across the region overnight and
this will gradually push the intermittent light rain and
drizzle southward into the southern WV and southwest VA
coalfields where there remains at least a chance of rain most of
the night.

To the north, drier air will gradually filter in causing the
low stratus to scatter out from northwest to southeast
overnight in Wednesday morning. Patchy fog will then likely
develop over the Mid Ohio Valley as skies clear. The clearing
skies will also help temperatures fall to near freezing over our
southeast Ohio counties and this could allow for some patchy
freezing fog and/or freezing of residual moisture on bridges and
overpasses Wednesday morning.

Exactly how far south the low clouds errode Wednesday is not
real clear and there will be some high clouds moving in ahead
of the next system as well, so more clouds than sun is likely
but it should be dry.

&&

.SHORT TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/...
As of 140 PM Tuesday...

Key Points:
* Mild and showery Christmas Day.
* Instead of sleigh bells, we may be awakened on Christmas
  morning by rumbles of thunder.

Another upper disturbance travels into our region in the fast
northwest flow aloft. As a result showers will overspread the
region Wednesday night into Christmas Day. Models even indicate
enough elevated instability for some thunderstorms late
Wednesday night. In case you are wondering, the last time we had
thunder on Christmas in Charleston was back in 2015. Despite
the clouds and showers, temperatures will warm nicely reaching
the mid 50s to mid 60s for most locations outside of the
mountains.

&&

.LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
As of 140 PM Tuesday...

Key Points:
* Continued mild and showery Friday into Friday night with more
  thunderstorms possible.
* Mild and mostly dry on Saturday = the best day of the week.
* Cold front passes Sunday bringing much colder temperatures for
  early next week.

The persistant upper level ridge extending from the Gulf up
through the Central Plains will keep our weather mild through
the weekend before the pattern breaks down and a trough slides
into the Great Lakes and Northeast early next week.

Another in a series of upper level disturbances will drop into
our region Friday into Friday night bringing more showers.
Temperatures early Friday morning may flirt with freezing in
some of our normally colder valleys in the northeast mountains
but any freezing rain threat there will be brief. There will
also be another shot at some thunderstorms during the afternoon
and evening. We should then find ourselves in a break between
systems on Saturday, before a cold front races through on
Sunday with more showers. In advance of this front, it will
remain very mild with highs Friday through Sunday in the 50s and
60s. Behind the front, temperatures will tank and likely remain
below freezing Monday and Tuesday. There could be a little snow
behind the front Sunday night and maybe some flurries in the
cold air early next week.

&&

.AVIATION /18Z TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
As of 1234 PM Tuesday...

The main limiting factor for aviation midday is MVFR ceilings
and that should remain largely in place through at least the
evening hours. Temporary IFR conditions have also been occurring
under some patchy light rain and drizzle, but that potential
should diminish during the afternoon except across southern WV
and southwest VA where light rain and drizzle will remain
likely into the overnight hours.

Drier air will be filtering in overnight from the northwest and
that will erode the low clouds and bring a return to VFR
conditions from northwest to southeast into Wednesday morning.
Patchy fog is possible where this clearing occurs first over the
Mid Ohio Valley and PKB stands the best chance of seeing some
fog early Wednesday morning.

FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY...

FORECAST CONFIDENCE: Medium.

ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: The timing of the scattering out of the
low clouds from northwest to southeast tonight is low confidence.

EXPERIMENTAL TABLE OF FLIGHT CATEGORY OBJECTIVELY SHOWS CONSISTENCY
OF WFO FORECAST TO AVAILABLE MODEL INFORMATION:
H = HIGH:   TAF CONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL.
M = MEDIUM: TAF HAS VARYING LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY WITH MODELS.
L = LOW:    TAF INCONSISTENT WITH ALL MODELS OR ALL BUT ONE MODEL.

UTC 1HRLY       18   19   20   21   22   23   00   01   02   03   04   05
EST 1HRLY       13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   00
CRW CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H
HTS CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H    H
BKW CONSISTENCY  H    H    M    M    M    M    H    H    H    H    H    M
EKN CONSISTENCY  M    M    H    M    H    H    M    M    H    H    H    H
PKB CONSISTENCY  H    H    H    H    H    H    M    M    M    M    M    H
CKB CONSISTENCY  M    M    H    M    H    H    L    H    H    H    H    H

AFTER 18Z WEDNESDAY...
IFR possible in low ceilings Wednesday night into Thursday.

&&

.RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WV...None.
OH...None.
KY...None.
VA...None.

&&

$$

SYNOPSIS...ABE
NEAR TERM...ABE
SHORT TERM...ABE
LONG TERM...ABE
AVIATION...ABE